For Those About To Rock: 'What the frequency, Kenneth?' — R.E.M. is greatest American rock band

I’ve said it aloud before, but this time I’m committing it to print: R.E.M. is the greatest American rock band of all time.

Sure, Americans invented rock ‘n’ roll, but the British perfected it. A roster of the best rock bands of all time is a merry ol’ love fest: The Clash, Radiohead, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones.

Bloody ’ell, that’s a strong list.

Maybe R.E.M. isn’t the first group to come to mind, but I thought about the group’s career recently, reminded as I listened to its 15th and latest LP, Collapse Into Now.

The Georgian trio falls near the top on any scale you want to use to measure it. They’ve had a long, successful career. They’ve been innovative, creative, original and influenced legions of bands to follow, including — “hey, Andy, did you hear about this one?” — grunge pioneers Nirvana.

Any respectable discussion of the topic has to include R.E.M. as well as The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, Metallica, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Ramones, Santana, Talking Heads and The Velvet Underground, to name a few.

R.E.M.’s career longevity is unquestionable. Next year marks 30 years since the group’s debut EP, Chronic Town. If being influential is the defining measure, that’s no matter. Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain numbered them among his influences, as well as The Beatles. That’s nice company.

Radiohead’s “How to Disappear Completely” is directly influenced by how Michael Stipe told the British band’s singer, Thom Yorke, to deal with the unbearable burden of fame: When it’s spiraling out of control, tell yourself, “I’m not here. This isn’t happening.”

R.E.M.’s career is defined by attempting an array of styles and doing them well. They have bubble gum pop such as “Stand” or “Shiny Happy People,” weepies such as “Everybody Hurts” or “At My Most Beautiful” and enduring hits such as “The One I Love” or “Losing My Religion.”

Plus, there’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” which has led generations of karaoke singers to mental breakdown.

They can do heavy rock, as the sludgy Monster proved. They can be alien- ated and sad, as Up showed. New Adventures in Hi-Fi ranks as one of the great overlooked records of the '90s.

Before that, they were the poster children for the ’80s D.I.Y. mentality, using their first single, “Radio Free Europe,” to establish themselves as a force on college radio stations when bigger ones wouldn’t play their hits.

They defined jangle pop rock of the ’80s. By the end of that decade, they inked a multiple-album deal with Warner Bros. that ends with Collapse Into Now.

And I haven't even yet mentioned their masterpiece, 1992's Automatic for the People, a lush, bittersweet song cycle that includes "Hurts," "Man on the Moon," "Drive" and one of my personal favorites, "Sweetness Follows."

What separates them from their competitors is not that they’re the most innovative, the most original or the most successful. It’s that they have been all of those things consistently, in the face of criticism and praise, for so long.

It’s also that they are the rare breed of artist that has maintained artistic credibility and respectability long after breaking into the mainstream.

Few groups are able to walk the tightrope. It’s fitting that there is the allegiance between Yorke and Stipe as both have achieved this sort of high-wire feat, as demonstrated by the infinite patience and relentless spins the music world is willing to grant Radiohead’s challenging new LP, The King of Limbs.

Sure, a new slate of R.E.M. songs in 2011 doesn’t mean the same thing it did in 1994. The band felt unstoppable and that was the height of its career.

But their window to be trailblazing innovators has closed. They’ve done that.

Now they’re working on aging gracefully.

It’s appropriate that many of the reviews of Collapse Into Now have called it a career retrospective. It’s a blend of many things that the band does well — the propulsive “Discoverer,” the lilting “Überlin” and the sunny pop of “It Happened Today.”

For a band on the cusp of its 30th anniversary to still be relevant and churning out quality records is an achievement few groups — even some of those mentioned earlier — can say.

It’s also another reason, along with their originality, respectability, credibility, creativity, innovation and enduring success, why R.E.M. should be given serious consideration as the greatest American rock band of all time.

R.E.M., "Discoverer"