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What Is Music?: A Music Podcast About R.E.M.
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© 2025 What Is Music?: A Music Podcast About R.E.M.
Description
A podcast about discographies. A different artist every season. Currently in Season 6! Join Adam, Steve, and Lucas, as they go album by album, track by track, to find out if context can change your experience of music, how people become obsessed with artists, and to ultimately answer the question 'what is music?' Expect in-depth analysis, tedious tangents, controversial music opinions, and an exhaustive attitude to context. Also expect to find out more about the artists (and the hosts) than anyone could ever want to know! Previous seasons have covered Manic Street Preachers, Muse, Billie Eilish, and Radiohead!
273 Episodes
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The Big Mates take a brief pause to discuss ratings, rankings, audience demands, and the career of R.E.M. from 1997 - 2011. Adam, Steve, and Lucas talk about their feelings so far on the band, having now covered the five records that encompass the second half of their career at Warner Bros. They place each album previously covered into the context of this era, they return to each album with more experienced ears, and they talk about how they feel about them now. They chat context, albums, p...
The Big Mates discuss addictive games, compilations, goodbyes, and the last few months of R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by looking at how the band ended their long and storied career. Starting with a quick commentary, they watch the final full-band performance from R.E.M. in Hansa Studios, Berlin and then discuss how the band announced that they would be calling it a day. They then examine the band's career-spanning co...
Adam and Steve chat with Scott McCaughey to discuss the 17 years he spent playing in R.E.M. as an additional musican. They talk to Scott about his long and productive relationship with Peter Buck, how he joined the band at the height of their fame, and what it was like to jump in on a staidum tour. They also talk about the process of recording albums like New Adventures in Hi-Fi and Accelerate, the experiemtnal sessions for Up and Reveal, and how it felt recording Around the Sun. Scott als...
The Big Mates discuss reality television, etymology, Austin Powers, and Collapse Into Now by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by concluding their analysis of the band's fifteenth and final studio album, released in 2008. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and...
The Big Mates discuss endings, the 20th century, Moose Juice, and Collapse Into Now by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by starting their analysis of the band's fifteenth and final studio album, released in 2011. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and music, ...
The Big Mates provide nice and good audio commentary for some footage from the 2008 R.E.M. World Tour. Adam, Steve, and Lucas discuss a couple of videos from the final R.E.M. tour, and also talk about how the band undertook this tour, the kind of setlists they played, and Adam talks about seeing them for the last time! Here are the two videos we watch, if you'd like to watch along: Fan Club Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGUNU7M5Eg4 R.E.M. Live in Mexico City 2008 https://www.you...
BONG. In this bonus episode The Big Mates discuss the newly released album Critical Thinking by Manic Street Preachers - out today! They give their first impressions on the album and the individual tracks, compare it to previous works, and try and figure out some of the themes and subjects the band explore. Purchase or Stream Critical Thinking now - and come and let us know what you think... Join the conversation on: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatismusicpod.bsky.social Threads:...
The Big Mates discuss commercial pressure, word sandwiches, revenge fantasies, and Accelerate by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by concluding their analysis of the band's fourteenth studio album, released in 2008. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and musi...
The Big Mates discuss modern rock music, digital promotion, tiny umbrellas, and Accelerate by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by starting their analysis of the band's fourteenth studio album, released in 2008. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and music, to...
The Big Mates discuss introductions, bullies, beef, and Live at the Olympia, a live album by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by deviating from the timeline and exploring the document of the band's "public rehearsals" in Dublin in 2007. They talk about what R.E.M. did after Around the Sun, the time they spent apart, and how they went about preparing for their next recording sessions. They look at the 2006 Best Of Compilation A...
The Big Mates provide fun and cool audio commentary for R.E.M. Live, the live video release by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas discuss the live album and film as originally presented on CD and DVD and also dig into how it was made, how R.E.M. performed the songs from Around the Sun, and explore the whole 2005 World Tour. Dig out those official DVDs to watch along... Or don't - the episode works fine either way! Our next episode comes out Monday January 27th! Join the conversation on: Bluesk...
1The Big Mates discuss death threats, protest songs, milk toast, and Around the Sun by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by concluding their analysis of the band's thirteenth studio album, released in 2004. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and music, to not c...
The Big Mates discuss Coldplay, Maroon 5, Robbie Williams, and Around the Sun by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by starting their analysis of the band's thirteenth studio album, released in 2004. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and music, to not caring f...
The Big Mates present one of their Patreon shows on the main feed... The Ultimate Playlist. Join us as we continue to explore a broader range of music from many genres and numerous artists, with each month focusing on 8 songs centred around a different theme. Each host picks 2 songs, and 2 songs come from our subscribers! The theme is picked randomly from a pool of subscriber suggestions, but for these episodes (Part 1 came out last week!) we focussed on the appropriately festive theme of Xm...
The Big Mates present one of their Patreon shows on the main feed... The Ultimate Playlist. Join us as we explore a broader range of music from many genres and numerous artists, with each month focusing on 8 songs centred around a different theme. Each host picks 2 songs, and 2 songs come from our subscribers! The theme is picked randomly from a pool of subscriber suggestions, but for these episodes (Part 2 out next week!) we focussed on the appropriately festive theme of Xmas! To hear more...
The Big Mates get festive once again. Join us for another Christmas of mostly the same stuff as the previous ones. Are you ready for Christmas? Are you feeling Christmassy? What are your favourite Christmas songs? Plus, we explore some of the festive offerings from R.E.M. from across their whole career! It's all here, and it's all the same! Some games, some memories, and some mentions of the holiday season! We'll be having a little break over the holiday period - but from next week you c...
Adam and Steve are joined by April Richardson for a far-reaching, fun chat about teenage obsession, problematic artists, magazine wallpaper, stadium bands, reformations, the American south, Brighton, performing comedy, cultural webs, and R.E.M. Our next episode is out on Monday December 16th! Find more of April here: https://www.patreon.com/aprilrichardson Join the conversation on: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatismusicpod.bsky.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@whatismusicpod...
The Big Mates provide sparkling and artistic audio commentary for Perfect Square, the live video release by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas discuss the film as originally presented on DVD and also dig into how it was made, how R.E.M. have progressed as a live band, and explore the whole 2003 World Tour. Dig out those official DVDs to watch along... Or don't - the episode works fine either way! Our next episode comes out Monday December 9th! Join the conversation on: Bluesky: https://bsky.ap...
The Big Mates discuss writing home, adolescence, compilations and Reveal by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by concluding their analysis of the band's twelfth studio album, released in 2001. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and music, to not caring for art...
The Big Mates discuss blood collection, hot weather, Frutiger Aero, and Reveal by R.E.M. Adam, Steve, and Lucas continue their deep dive into the career and discography of R.E.M. by starting their analysis of the band's twelfth studio album, released in 2001. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and music, to not caring for...
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This is great. I laughed so much my mascara ran and I now have Richey-style panda eyes. I've been a fan of the Manics since GT but don't have all the albums so this is a useful guide. Looking forward to the next episode.