R.E.M.

R.E.M. is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in early 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and vocalist Michael Stipe. more...

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Throughout the 1980s, the band worked relentlessly, releasing a record a year for seven consecutive years, from their debut EP in 1982 (Chronic Town) through 1988's Green. They also toured constantly, playing a variety of venues, from theaters to backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from jangle pop groups of the mid-'80s to alternative rock bands of the '90s. At the same time, the band was admired for its slow, steady rise to stardom, rare in an industry that grew to expect overnight success.

R.E.M.'s politics, aesthetics, and hardworking ethos—largely inspired by punk rock and art rock of the 1970s—allowed the band to establish itself as a key element of the burgeoning alternative rock scene of the 1980s. With major label success at the turn of the '90s, the band found themselves able to put forth political and environmental concerns from within a popular music scene that often chose not to take a stand.

History

Formation (1980-1982)

R.E.M. formed at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, in January 1980. Discovering they had similar tastes, vocalist Michael Stipe, 20, and guitarist Peter Buck, 23, began working together, eventually meeting bassist Mike Mills, 21, and drummer Bill Berry, also 21. In April 1980, the band formed under the name Twisted Kites to play a twentieth birthday party for their friend Kathleen O'Brien, rehearsing a number of garage, psychedelic bubblegum, and punk covers in a converted Episcopalian church on Oconee Street. By the summer, the band had settled on the name R.E.M. after flipping randomly through the dictionary (R.E.M. is an abbreviation of rapid eye movement). Around the same time, the band met Jefferson Holt, who became their manager after witnessing the group's first out-of-state concert in North Carolina. Eventually, the band members dropped out of school to concentrate on their musical career.

Over the next year and a half, R.E.M. toured throughout the South, playing a variety of garage rock covers (including tourmates Mission Of Burma's 1979 single, "Academy Fight Song") and folk rock originals. At the time, the band was still learning how to play, as Buck began to develop his distinctive, arpeggiated jangle and Stipe ironed out his cryptic lyrics. During the summer of 1981, R.E.M. recorded their first single, "Radio Free Europe", at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios. Released on the local indie label Hib-Tone, "Radio Free Europe" was pressed in a run of only 1,000 copies. The single became a hit on college radio and topped Village Voice's year-end poll of Best Independent Singles. Their country/folk music sound was contradicted by a driving bassline and an urgency that suggested The Who in their early mod phase. Paired with the distinctive voice of Stipe and his almost indecipherable lyrics, R.E.M.'s sound was unique in the post-punk era of the early 1980s.

Read more at Wikipedia.org