Remember the rash of people falling off dorm balconies when REM's Superman came out?

[taterguy]

Fuck you Michael Stipe. People can not do anything.

Granted, it's no great loss when a drunk college student dies but that's no reason to use your influence to make them think they can fly.

Back in 1987 you were the Messiah. Everything you said was the gospel truth. You could have used your power for good. Instead you thought it would be funny to see how seriously people took you. Sometimes you could really be an asshole.

[Bucky]

1. Define "rash"

If you don't see the pun in the word "rash", then define "Darwinism."

The idea that REM or Stipe is any way responsible for drunk idiots thinking they could fly is silly.

[taterguy]

11. This is the Lounge, silly is good

If I wanted to be taken seriously I would have posted this in GD

[Bucky]

17. "D'Oh!"

I'll get you back for this. It may not happen today. It may not happen tomorrow. But always, always I will be lurking, waiting for you, preparing to strike. You shall never post in DU again without feeling a little tremor of doubt running down your back. Will this be it? Will this be the day Bucky gets his revenge? Be afraid, my potatoish friend, be very afraid....

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

15. Rash. Definition:

What I had, in spades, after the 1981 Texas Jam, where I worked backstage all day with the surface temperature reached 140 degrees.

Now THAT was a rash. Everything else pales in comparison. ;-)

[LostInAnomie]

2. I don't think anyone can honestly be held responsible for another's stupidity.

Evolution teaches some cruel lessons.

[mark414]

3. ....

:rofl:

[fishwax]

4. they've made it clear throughout their career that they have no conscience

They promoted conspiracy theories about the moon landing on Automatic for the People, ridiculing you "if you believe they put a man on the moon."

Then they glorify random violence against unarmed journalists on Monster.

I'm sure I'm missing some ...

[taterguy]

16. Cuyahoga encourages people to swim in one of the world's most polluted rivers

[fishwax]

19. I think it's also pretty reprehensible that in

Nightswimming they didn't bother to include a warning about waiting one hour after eating.

[taterguy]

23. And what was up with them shilling for Orange Crush?

Sure, it was a tasty beverage but corporate sponsorship and rock and roll do not mix.

[IntravenousDemilo]

5. If these students are that stupid, WTF are they doing in college in the first place? n/m

[mark414]

6. have you been on a college campus lately?

you'd be surprised.....

[taterguy]

9. It was a crazy time back then

If you didn't live through the mid-80s there's no way I could explain the Zeitgeist.

[IntravenousDemilo]

13. I'm 48. I went to university in the late '70s and early '80s, and later was a TA.

No need to explain the Zeitgeist.

[taterguy]

14. Just be thankful that you're a lot smarter than the average American

Didn't that come in handy a few months ago on a certain TV show?

[IntravenousDemilo]

18. Well, gee, thanks!

Actually, I believe the people I was playing against were just as smart, and we all pretty well knew the same things, but I was faster on the buzzer. So much for losing your reaction time when you get older -- most of the people I beat were younger than I was.

[ghostsofgiants]

29. Being book smart doesn't mean you're not a moron.

And being in college doesn't necessarily mean you're book smart.

[Ava]

7. this is a joke right? right?

:rofl:

[taterguy]

28. Perhaps

[RetroLounge]

8. and then Stipe shaved his head. Selfish bastard.

:wtf:

RL

[Sugar Smack]

32. Michael Stipe was the King lemming.

He just put on the brakes at the edge of the cliff, that's all.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

10. You must be kidding?

I mean, how many people jumped off of high places due to hearing this? You said a "rash" -- was it more than 5?

R.E.M. - the Messiah? Just another imaginary friend...

What kind of fuckwit leaps from a building because of the lyrics in a song?

Who the hell thought that these guys were anything more than 2nd rate cliche' musicians? The rash of jumpers, that's who.

[taterguy]

12. I'm seriously appalled by your bias against drummers

How much trouble would it be to post a pic that featured all four members of the band?

[jpak]

20. Ummm...Mike Mills - not Michael Stipe - did the vocals for that *cover* track

FYI

[Deja Q]

21. Were the college kids dopeheads and lit up at the time?!

That would explain a rash for some, and the inability to think rationally by pretty much all of them...

Can't blame Michael for that...

[taterguy]

25. No

Just poor kids with a dream whose lives were shattered by that prick Michael Stipe

[leeroysphitz]

22. Ah I remember summers in Athens in the late 80's... If I had a dime for every

balcony my friends and i leaped from.
What a great time and place to be alive. Drinking at the 40 watt until midnight (ON SATURDAYS) wandering through the humid (sultry?) night looking for easily accessible balconies to jump off of and then ending the revelries with a vegetarian breakfast at The Bluebird (or juice at the hospital, depending on how the balcony thing worked out).

Then the frat boys began to get into the REM/balcony jumping scene and it all turned phony and corporate.

[mike_c]

31. YES YES YES!!!

Oh man, I loved Athens-- nights at the 40 Watt and the Georgia Bar, mornings at the Grit. What a great place to go to grad school.

My ex and family are still there so I visit regularly-- it's not quite the same anymore, but it's still Athens.

[jpak]

34. Yes, I too remember the Milledge Ave frat/REM jumpers - but the real sick fucks were

The Normaltown "Flyers"...

:evilgrin:

[Aristus]

24. And did Stipe ACTUALLY think one of his listeners named Kenneth

really knew what the frequency was? And if so, how was Kenneth supposed to get his answer to the band?

Sheesh! :eyes:

[Richard Steele]

26. STIIIIIPE!!!!

[taterguy]

27. Shatner's a musician with talent and a conscience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y5eBRWQerY

[JVS]

38. exactly opposite of REM, who have neither

[taterguy]

43. Damn straight

[Sugar Smack]

30. You author some of the best threads I've ever read.

I love your soccer thread in GD. It's lasted for days. Too bad it's too late to reccommend it. :loveya:

[taterguy]

33. Thank you very much, feel free to add your input to the soccer thread

[taterguy]

35. 57 young lives from this building alone were snuffed out

Stipe lied.

People died.

[Sugar Smack]

36. CHRIST, that's in UNC!

We breed smarties, eh?

[taterguy]

44. A lot of the victims were from out of state

Yankees, lured South by the idyllic sounds of Fables of the Reconstruction.

[JVS]

37. They should be burned!

[taterguy]

39. Already been done with one great Southern band

RIP Ronnie Van Zandt

[Generic Brad]

40. I witnessed one such incident in the 80's

I was eating dinner in the cafeteria when I saw a guy hit the pavement headfirst. Everyone sat there stunned while my buddy called 911 and I ran and got a blanket to cover him with. He was convulsing and blood was coming out of his ears.

But the next night he was back in the dorm heavily bruised but ok.

[taterguy]

41. Life's Rich Pageant was in his Walkman right?

[Generic Brad]

42. I don't know what he was listening to that day

But I do recall that he was celebrating the receipt of his student loan check.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

45. I don't know which was worse.

That, or those mass suicides after they released "It's the End of the World as We Know It"

[taterguy]

46. Along with the folks who ran up huge credit card debts when that song came out