Belated birthday wishes it should be said, mind you.
30 years ago yesterday (April 5th) a little known quartet (now trio) played their first ever gig in Atlanta, Georgia.
How time flies eh?
Nowadays they sit proudly at the peak of rock music - legends in their own right, despite a poor run of releases since they lost a member.
Existing at the birth of indie rock, REM's popularity grew through college radio stations and saw knock on effects through everyone from the Pixies, Nirvana and dozens of bands down the line - take your pick from Neutral Milk Hotel, Wilco, the National, Band of Horses and almost any modern American alternative rock band. Without Michael Stipe et al the music scene today could have a very different complexion indeed!
And while I think even the most hardened REM fan would struggle to argue that their recent work is up to the standard of the classic early albums (Seriously, if you haven't already got them buy: Murmer, Reckoning, Document, Green, Automatic for the People and anything before the mid-1990s), they still manage the odd top notch song (Supernatural Superserious, for example) and are still among the best live bands in the world today - they stunned me at Oxegen 2008 while their recent live album and dvd is further testament to this.
The 30th anniversary of their debut album, Murmur, doesn't come round for another three years, but we can all look to April 5th, 1980 as the day it all kicked off.
Here's to another few years at the top!
Check out REM's first ever tv appearence on the other end of this link. They perform Radio Free Europe on David Letterman... The hair... Classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqfMWr96reQ
30 years ago yesterday (April 5th) a little known quartet (now trio) played their first ever gig in Atlanta, Georgia.
How time flies eh?
Nowadays they sit proudly at the peak of rock music - legends in their own right, despite a poor run of releases since they lost a member.
Existing at the birth of indie rock, REM's popularity grew through college radio stations and saw knock on effects through everyone from the Pixies, Nirvana and dozens of bands down the line - take your pick from Neutral Milk Hotel, Wilco, the National, Band of Horses and almost any modern American alternative rock band. Without Michael Stipe et al the music scene today could have a very different complexion indeed!
And while I think even the most hardened REM fan would struggle to argue that their recent work is up to the standard of the classic early albums (Seriously, if you haven't already got them buy: Murmer, Reckoning, Document, Green, Automatic for the People and anything before the mid-1990s), they still manage the odd top notch song (Supernatural Superserious, for example) and are still among the best live bands in the world today - they stunned me at Oxegen 2008 while their recent live album and dvd is further testament to this.
The 30th anniversary of their debut album, Murmur, doesn't come round for another three years, but we can all look to April 5th, 1980 as the day it all kicked off.
Here's to another few years at the top!
Check out REM's first ever tv appearence on the other end of this link. They perform Radio Free Europe on David Letterman... The hair... Classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqfMWr96reQ
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