R.E.M. worksheet

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Every Day is yours to win, R.E.M

The artwork of the album Collapse into now:

Album reviews:

Collapse Into Now isn't groundbreaking, but feeling comfortable in their old skin has produced R.E.M.'s best effort in years. (The Guardian)

What better band than R.E.M. to cover R.E.M? That's exactly what the longtime Athens, Ga. trio sound like it's doing on it's 15th studio album, collapse into now (Chicago Tribune)

Band's biography:

R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention because of Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals. R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release onI.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.

By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such asNirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre and released its two most commercially successful albums, catapulting it to international fame,Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound. R.E.M.'s 1994 release, Monster, was a return to a more rock-oriented sound, but still continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three band members. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. Its 1996 release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, though critically acclaimed, fared worse commercially than expected. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Buck, Mills, and Stipe continued the group as a trio. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success, despite having sold more than 85 million records worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling bands of all time. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. R.E.M. disbanded amicably in September 2011, announcing the split on its website.

Personal review for Everyday is yours to end:

Every Day is yours to end is a very calm and soothing song with its sweet guitar arpeggios and simple beat. Despite the quiet, sunny feel to it and the encouraging lyrics that make it really nice to listen, it relies in my opinion too much on parallelisms and repetition, and sometimes fails to catch the listener's attention before the bridge comes and brings us something a bit different.

The message of the song and the DIY feel of the video interact with each other undoubtedly. It is a song and a video about everyday life, about how it's repetitive and sometimes uneventful, sometimes too hard. But it also and especially reminds us that it is ours and that we make it, and can make it the best life we can just being aware of that and trying. It is seen in that video made with everyday tools, in everyday settings and featuring anonymous people, but people who really look like they are being themselves. It is one more of those pieces of XXIst century culture about anonymous heroes, people who don't lose their hope and make life better day after day.

Notions:

It can correspond to myths and heroes because of that idea of the everyday life heroe.

The idea of progress appears in the sense of personal progress and locations and forms of power could be seen through the power the lyrics remind that all of us have on our own life. Spaces and exchanges is the only notion for which I can't  find anything in the song and video.