The lengths that I will go to

I first stumbled into R.E.M. when a lot of people did, It was the late 80s when”It’s the End of the World as we know it (and I feel Fine)” that and “The One I Love” were in heavy rotation on MTV’s “120 Minutes”, (2 hours out of MTV’s week to show up and coming indie rock and college radio hits). As I think back on that period when “120 Minutes” was appointment TV on a Sunday night, I remember R.E.M., The Pixies, and other Alternative Rock not on the radio I listened to at the time.And Then, Out of Time came along, and R.E.M really joined the Zeitgeist with songs like “Losing My Religion” (Still widely misunderstood at the time). Eventually I had the cassette of Eponymous, The format of the day. It was essentially a best of compilation of their early records. The lyrics are complex and a fun ride. Balanced harmonies and steady rhythms round out one of America’s last rock bands. Under the surface are some Southern rock notes. Oft overlooked in discussions of great American music. In new music, I’m always looking for an onramp into the flow of a musicians’ body of work that I may have only a basic surface-level understanding of their catalog. I’m hoping to use this site to share those onramps as I explore them. For R.E.M. I would start with Out of Time. It’s a balanced record with some familiar tracks and some signature songs like “Country Feedback” or “Texarkana” to show a slightly darker side to the band’s work. As I said, Out of Time is a record from the early 90s, and soon after they released Automatic For The People, a departure of sorts, again with familiar cuts like “Everybody Hurts” and “Man In The Moon” and closing out with 2 of my favorite songs “Find The River” and Nightswimming” I was a Sr. in High School when AftP came along and those last tracks take me back to the Oregon Coast and very specific camping trips in the final summer before friends go off to college and we all start building our future lives apart. Add Green and Monster to that collection and you’d have a solid sample of R.E.M’s catalog, though many superfans don’t appreciate those records.