REM - Automatic for the People

Listening to Automatic for the People tonight for the first time in years (Man on the Moon is a great song, and film come to that) it occured to me that REM are one of the few bands that have managed to make more than two decent albums. Innovation and freshness are generally more important than ability in popular music and most bands have run out of fresh ideas by their third album. There are, of course, some notable exceptions alongside REM, the Beatles and Rolling Stones come to mind, but on the whole you can safely bin a band after they have made their second album (and often after one to be honest).