Collapse Into Now (Pt. 1)

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, to not caring for art or critique, and everything in between.They discuss how the band reacted to a renewed sense of purpose following Accelerate, their goals for the album, and how early in to the process it was decided that this would be their final record.They also explore the overarching themes of the album and hunt for clues that it was the end.When did the band know the end was near? How did that affect the album? Is Michael Stipe waving goodbye? Find out on this episode of What Is Music?Our next episode is out on Monday March 3rd and will continue our analysis of Collapse Into Now!Join the conversation on:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatismusicpod.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.net/@whatismusicpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatismusicpodE-mail: [email protected] access to more shows, exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes of this show, and more music discussion by subscribing to our Patreon!Head to patreon.com/whatismusicpod and receive up to two new episodes of our various shows every week (including our Album Club show, and our themed playlist show!), ad-free archives of What Is Music?, and access to our Patron-only Discord server for even more music (and non-music) discussion!Support our show when starting your own podcast!By signing up to Buzzsprout with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=780379Check out our merch!https://whatismusicpod.redbubble.comDonate to our podcast!https://ko-fi.com/whatismusichttp://whatismusic.buzzsprout.com/Support the show