Is R.E.M. underrated by new music nerds?

Seola30.. since you are new here let me give you some unsolicited advice. This forum can be a very good source of information if you are trying to learn more about audio gear and accessories. Music, not so much. As soon as I read your post I thought " oh s*** here it comes ". What followed was an onslaught of a bunch of boomers screaming "get off my lawn" and "that's not music now this is real music"(insert band here). For what it's worth I myself am in my mid 50s and although I read the forum daily because I am interested in gear I rarely post for this reason. REM was a magnificent band and just because they became popular does not make this less so. Don't let anybody tell you different. You seem sincere and decent. I must respectfully say that this is not the place for you.

@roxy54 

Yes.  You apparently are confused.  Clear thinking has nothing to do with one's subjective likes and dislikes.

In this case it didn't take much to clear my brain of over-rated, low talent, gimmicky groups whose time is well past.  And before you say I'm too young to appreciate such obvious talent, I was born 5 years before you, if your handle is indicative.

I’m with mksun. I was one of thousands of college DJ’s who were swept away by their first EP release Chronic Town and saw them live a bunch of times those years. To my younger ears, REM, along with a few lesser known bands such as the Replacements and Hüsker Dü, revolutionized a pretty stagnant music scene (bad hair bands, Huey Lewis et al & Talking Heads/Police/Clash/E Costello with 1 album remaining). I always felt that Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables.... & Lifes Rich Pageant are among one of the best album runs in music history. And although they would still make some great songs afterwards (What’s the Frequency, Man on the Moon, etc), I lost much of my interest afterwards as Michael Stipe’s lyrical style abruptly changed from more his more dreamy, rhythmic poetry towards to a more overt, literal political sermons. The politics of such rarely ages well (see Sting’s "Russians").

@seola30, I welcome your posting here and encourage you to do more.  Not everyone will agree about musical taste and preferences, but that really shouldn't be surprising.  What can come out of this type of discussion are other musicians that you might like.  For instance, Dreams So Real was another group out of Athens, GA.  Search them out and give a listen.  Peter Buck was involved in the earliest recordings.

There are always going to be haters, but talking about music is far more interesting than talking about power cords.

A shout out to Don Dixon's wife, Marti Jones, who should have been bigger. I read that the record label only had the money to push one artist and chose Tracy Chapman instead.  Nothing wrong with Tracy at all, but it shows how which artists become household names and which ones fall through the cracks is a crapshoot.