R.E.M.

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Daryl Umberger

An Alternative rock band of the 1980s and 1990s, R.E.M. served up an eclectic mix of musical styles that included punk, rock, and even country and folk. Comprised of Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), and Bill Berry (drums), R.E.M. had a homegrown feel to its music, with a jangly guitar sound that was reminiscent of the Byrds. R.E.M.'s music also represented a link between the postpunk alternative music of the 1980s and punk forerunners Patti Smith (who appeared on 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi) and the Velvet Underground. According to Rolling Stone magazine, which selected the group as its 1992 Artist of the Year, R.E.M. ascended to "mainstream popularity without caving in to record-industry dictums or betraying its original college-radio constituency."

The group began the 1980s in Athens, Georgia, hometown to its members and a small college town with a vibrant and diverse music scene, one that rejected the southern rock establishment's sounds of barroom blues and boogie. Although R.E.M. recalled traditional American songwriting forms, like country and folk, the band was definitely shaped by 1977's punk scene. R.E.M.'s music had very little to do with punk, but the do-it-yourself ethic of punk rock carried tremendous influence within the band. "You have to remember," said Peter Buck, "growing up at the time I did, there wasn't anyone who made records like us. Rock & roll was full of super-rich guys that had mustaches and were ten years older than me."

Tiny HibTone Records released R.E.M.'s first single in 1981. Not a hit in conventional terms, "Radio Free Europe" still caused considerable excitement. Independent record labels had yet to become a mainstay in the United States, so the single's reach was nothing but astonishing. It almost singlehandedly revitalized the American independent recording scene. If the punk groups of 1977 showed Buck and Stipe that anyone could perform in a band, R.E.M. took things one step further by demonstrating that relative success could be attained without the support of a major record label. A year later, the band signed with I.R.S. Records, a larger independent, and released an extended play single called "Chronic Town."

R.E.M.'s first full-length release, 1983's Murmur, displayed the group's melodic guitar and harmonies. Stipe's vague lyrics, emphasizing subtlety over abrasiveness, added to the band's idiosyncratic manner. Passionate, atmospheric, and pensive, Murmur defined R.E.M.'s sound and set the standard for alternative guitar pop. The follow-up, 1984's Reckoning, had a clearer sound and used traditional song forms, like the country sound in "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville." The next two releases--Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), and Life's Rich Pageant (1986)--represented a transitional phase. Fables of the Reconstruction was depicted in the rock press as either an interesting experiment with dissonance and melody, or an unfocused and meandering mess. Correspondingly, Life's Rich Pageant was viewed by some critics as the band's renewal--a return to melodic songs, augmented by powerful guitar riffs--while for others, it was a stop on the way to the big time. All doubts about the band were put to rest in 1987 with Document's succinct pop and its hit single "The One I Love." What sounded at first to be a song of devotion was, on closer inspection, cloaked in spite. For years, people wanted to know what Stipe was singing. When Stipe was once asked if he wouldn't like people to understand him he replied, "I don't see any reason for it. I think music is way beyond rational thinking. It doesn't have to make any sense." Finally, R.E.M. delivered a clear mix with "The One I Love," another song whose meaning bypassed many listeners. By 1988, R.E.M. signed with Warner Brothers Records, becoming a major label artist. The promise of a larger audience made some fans worry that the group would dilute its sound for a new mass audience. They were not disappointed with the release of Green in 1988.

Having allayed fans' fears, the group's next series of releases challenged the expectations of their audience. Out of Time, released in 1991, featured rapper KRS-One in "Radio Song," and then proceeded to use string arrangements for a large part of the album. Automatic for the People (1992) switched moods by being elegiac. In 1994, the group responded to the suicide of Kurt Cobain, and the death of actor River Phoenix, with the furious electric guitar of Monster. Its next release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), had been recorded on the band's tour for Monster, during sound checks and live performances. That same tour witnessed a series of medical emergencies that affected three of the band's members, with Berry undergoing brain surgery, forcing his departure from the band, which began recording as a trio in 1998.

By helping revitalize the independent recording industry as well as bolstering college radio and local music scenes, R.E.M. contributed to several shifts in American rock. R.E.M.'s success from Athens, Georgia, and the achievements of Prince and the Replacements from Minneapolis, signaled to young musicians that relocating to New York or Los Angeles was no longer a prerequisite to breaking into the music business. R.E.M.'s success with roots-based, traditional forms marked a major shift away from the Anglophilia of album-oriented rock to a more organic, indigenous perspective that reached its full development in grunge rock.