On July 28, 2026, R.E.M.‘s 4th album, Life’s Rich Pageant, turned 40. To celebrate the occasion, my friend shared a clipping of a bad review from SPIN magazine that has saved. He also explained that the many small holes in the paper were the result of him having thrown darts at the review after he affixed it to a dart board in his parents’ basement.
Maintaining that kind of grudge for 40 years is the kind of dedication, loyalty, and unwavering values that I can get behind.
I don’t know if I agree or disagree with this review, but I like it.
I like it because Cummings is basically aping Gonzo Journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
I think she is completely full of shit when she says “after punk, we were tired of degradation.”
If that is her idea of punk and what she took away from it, she barely scratched deeper than Sid and The Dead Boys.
I too stuffed things inside album jackets, and recently found some correspondence from Jello Biafra. There are a couple that are multiple typed pages, very thoughtful stuff. Hardly the “punk rock degradation we all became tired of”.
And of course there are many, many others besides Biafra, but he happens to be my North Star.
Punk came about in large part because people were sick of the degradation of Arena Rock, the pretentious, lame, and overblown music, and the degradation that happened backstage and in hotel rooms.
Punk went a long way towards ending the degradation of women in pop music, too. Women became more than groupies, and were “allowed” to be more than girl groups if they were brave enough to make the music that they enjoyed. Punk took a big step towards “liberating us girls from male, white, corporate oppression”.
So now, after I have typed this, yeah, Fuck Sue Cummings.
I Googled Cummings and a “Where are they now” article came up. Also included was Manohla Dargis, the main film reviewer at The New York Times. Dargis is un-fucking-readable!
I searched her too – apparently she’s a nurse practitioner in Seattle now. A noble change of career. – my friend
If she knows medicine like she knew punk rock, I’ll bet she’s the No. 1 customer for leech providers in the Pacific Northwest. – me
Here’s the full review/image posted by my REM-loving friend:
REM – Life’s Rich Pageant
Side one – “Dinner side”
“Begin the Begin” – 3:28
“These Days” – 3:24
“Fall on Me” – 2:50
“Cuyahoga” – 4:19
“Hyena” – 2:50
“Underneath the Bunker” – 1:25
Side two – “Supper side”
“The Flowers of Guatemala” – 3:55
“I Believe” – 3:49
“What If We Give It Away?” – 3:33
“Just a Touch” – 3:00
“Swan Swan H” – 2:42
“Superman” – 2:52
(My fave R.E.M. album is Document, their 5th. It contains my fave R.E.M. song Exhuming McCarthy.
You’re beautiful more beautiful than me
You’re honorable more honorable than me
Loyal to the Bank of America
– Michael Stipe
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