What do prog fans think of U2 and REM?

These are two of my favorite non prog bands. They were both popular around the same time(late eighties early 90's). However, I can't imagine many prog fans enjoying them. I'd like to be proven wrong though. 

Pass.

REM are ok, I guess.

Not a fan of either, though U.2. far surpasses R.E.M. for me. I used to listen to, I think the albums War, Boy (?) and Joshua Tree.
I cringe whenever I hear R.E.M. Admittedly, I only hear the radio stuff like Everybody Hurts and Sugar King and they are annoying as f.u.c.k.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Catcher10 wrote: I only own The Joshua Tree (vinyl and CD), nothing by REM. Songs that I have heard I like, but nothing enough to invest in buying their albums, does not mean I turn the dial when they come one. Enjoy their music, don't let mental proggers ruin your opinion of them  Yeah, I'm seeing the kind of responses I expected.   The thing is I'm not a real big fan of most pop stuff and usually when a band gets big it doesn't interest me(radiohead might be an exception)but with U2 and R.E.M I think they were both very good bands and both very talented and deserved the success they got. Other than them there was some stuff that was ok but most eighties bands kind of bored me or just rubbed me the wrong way(especially most of the hair metal stuff).

Love R.E.M. What a run they had in the '80's - Chronic Town, Reckoning, Fables of The Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant, Document, Green.

Love REM.

Don't like much U2 did after Unforgettable Fire, with the exception of a few songs, for example 'Where the sreets have no name' which is a glorious song. Bono is a complete tw&t IMO.

Personally, I never really cared for REM, except for maybe Losing My Religion and Monsters


But U2 is a different thing altogether, IMHO

From Unforgettable Fire until Achtung Baby , they did four excellent albums, though they suffered from overexposition (espicially Joshua Tree), and I still have an excellent souvenir from viewing on the silver screen the Rattle & Hum movie.

But then they screwed things up with that Zooropa and that Passeners thing (with Eno) thingies and they were new the same afterwards. Nowadays I couldn't care less of their new albums, though I heard a sizeable amount of each to make sure I'm not missing out on something. 

Both had classic periods then tailed off - U2 after Actung Baby and REM after New Adventures (although I quite like Reveal).

BaldFriede wrote: Not too fond of either. Not because they are not prog though; I like a lot of non-prog. But I consider them to be lukewarm. They don't take any risks.