Statistics show the average UK adult buys something like 1.43 CDs per annum. Back in 1983 that meant every other home possessed a copy of Dire Straits AOR opus 'Brothers In Arms'. This was linked to the imminent likelihood of nuclear death.
In 2003 things hardly seemed to have changed - for Dire Straits read Dido. Yet, a decade ago, eleven years to be precise, REM's 'Automatic For The People' was the record de jour. Does this tell us anything significant about current times? Probably. Just look at what those Straits' fans spawned...
Already the band's third compilation, 'Out Of Time' traces Stipe and co's major label career trajectory from superstars to elder statesmen. They still shift plenty of records but in the couple of millions as opposed to a zillion or so.
Yet the most noticeable, and probably most laudable fact about REM, is that, as they grew older they got weirder. Usually it runs the other way round. But the singles from 1989's 'Green' - their breakthrough album - were mainly big dumb pop songs. 'Pop Song '89' being a case in point. 'Automatic For The People', despite the inclusion of foot-tappers like 'Man On The Moon' and 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight', was a morbid song cycle built around recurring themes of death, illness and loss.
Now admittedly, the same adjectives could be applied to Dido (different context though), but 'Automatic' was an authentically weird record. 'Sweetness Follows', 'Ignoreland' and 'Star Me Kitten' were genuinely pushing the sonic and lyrical envelope. You couldn't say that about Oasis. Gratifyingly, their biggest UK hit was 'E-Bow The Letter' - a rambling sketch consisting of Stipe's oblique mutterings and a wailing chorus courtesy of Patti Smith.
Unfortunately this collection does play it rather straight. Though mercifully shying away from the inclusion of 'Shiny Happy People', 'In Time' does pander towards more populist tastes. REM's strength has always been their diversity and you feel the inclusion of a 'Hairshirt' or a 'Country Feedback' or a 'Try Not To Breathe' or a 'Let Me In' would have provided a more balanced picture. The new songs 'Bad Day' and 'Animal' are adequate without ever being amazing.
However, this is still a masterful collection of songs from probably the most important band of the last two decades. When the biggest stars of this generation make their dollars pimping soft drinks and trainers and utter things like: "Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that", (©B Spears) we probably need them more than ever. God knows what the most popular album of 2013 will be like.
