Artist bio

In the '80s and '90s, when underground rock music on independent labels exploded with word-of-mouth popularity and critical acclaim and the opposing audience for mainstream pop also surged ahead to new levels of commercial enormity, a four-piece rock and roll band from Athens, Ga. forged an unforgettable career out of walking the line between the two.

R.E.M. was the acceptable edge of the unacceptable stuff; the hard-working college-rock band loved by critics from the start, and recommended by those in the know, until its gradually growing fanbase eventually made it one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

Throughout its career parabola -- from the raw, Southern art-rock of the early '80s to the singles-driven widescreen pop monoliths of its middle age, and down the slope of commercial success to the post-Bill Berry years -- R.E.M. has made engaging, self-respecting pop-rock songs and albums, staking out its claim as not the best rock band of its day, but one of the most consistent, and well-aging of its peer group.

R.E.M. also helped bring the concept of college-rock, or alternative rock, to the public consciousness. During its formative years, despite such accolades as its full-length debut Murmur being named top album of 1983 by Rolling Stone magazine, the band was largely ignored by commercial radio. But the R.E.M. bandwagon kept rolling and picking up new acolytes, largely due to the group's tireless touring schedule, and the embrace of college radio stations, which gave the band heavy airplay throughout the '80s. They were the visible face of this expansion of the music industry, in which bands that weren't incredibly popular by major-label standards could succeed by appealing to an "alternative" fanbase.

Ironically, as much as the band exemplified alternative rock, their subsequent crossover into mainstream pop stardom helped render that concept nearly obsolete. One could hardly call such latter-day R.E.M. albums like Out Of Time and Automatic For The People (each quadruple platinum) "alternatives," as would be the case with bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, dubbed with similar tags in the early '90s even as they topped the Billboard charts.

But name-calling aside, R.E.M.'s catalog, now some 13 albums strong, is one of the more accomplished of the modern rock era. And the apparent key to the group's success is that over two decades and counting, its members have always made the music that they wanted to make; what kept them interested and excited about rock. That in itself should be a fitting legacy.

Albums by this artist

Reveal (2001)

Up (1998)

New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)

Monster (1994)

Automatic For The People (Recommended) (1992)

Out Of Time (1991)

Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985)

Reckoning (1984)

Murmur (Recommended) (1983)

Chronic Town (Recommended) (1982)

Concerts

August 31, 1999
Chastain Park Amphitheater, Atlanta

August 20, 1999
New World Music Theatre, Tinley Park, Ill.

R.E.M.

Reckoning

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» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

R.E.M. Reckoning IRS, 1984 RiYL: Guadalcanal Diary, Let's Active, The Connells

R.E.M.'s debut Murmur stepped out of time and introduced a band with a new, original sound that would prove a benchmark for the new genre of "college rock." But the album, carefully crafted as it was, didn't accurately represent the live sound R.E.M. was becoming known for during its tireless (and often bacchanalian) touring of its early years.

When it came time to follow up the lauded debut, the band took songs it had honed on the road into a Charlotte, North Carolina studio for a fortnight-long recording session that produced a much more spot-on portrait of R.E.M. as they were in those days: Reckoning is slightly exhausted, bona fide southern rock and roll.

A lot of the murky shades that were found on the first album are present here, but the album never really sounds distant -- the production makes its eem like the band is playing live in your living room or the carpeted basement of your friend's house, with Michael Stipe maybe doing his vocals from the staircase.

While Reckoning may not be quite as varied or accomplished as the band's debut, it illustrates -- at a still-early point in the band's career -- R.E.M.'s ability to excel in a variety of musical styles. Here the group eschews all post-punk, art-rock tendencies to bring forth boisterous southern rock ("Pretty Persuasion," "Little America"), heartfelt ballads ("Camera," "So. Central Rain") and even pure old-school country ("(Don't Go Back To) Rockville"). And not once do they sound disingenuous.

Mike Mills' inventive harmonies are one aspect of the band's sound that doesn't get scaled back that much on Reckoning, and he shines up classic moments like the chorus of fiesty opener "Harborcoat" and offsets Stipe's staccato melody on the dignified "Letter Never Sent."

Pete Buck's guitar also comes to town in fine fashion due to the album's spare mix. Never had it sounded as ebullient as on the opening riff to "Pretty Persuasion" or the roaring jingle of closer "Little America," and he even drops in his first memorable guitar solo, a one-string lament in the subtly beautiful "Camera."

The simple nature of most of the songs gives the album a very laid-back, southern feel that marks Reckoning as the first deep dive into the country mythology that would haunt the imagery of R.E.M.'s mid-'80s albums. Some of the songs' lyrics were portraits of folks, like "Camera," a eulogy for a recently deceased friend of the band's, or "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville," a song Mills wrote about a girl who planned to move back to her Maryland home from R.E.M.'s college town of Athens, Georgia.

Reckoning isn't the best-sounding R.E.M. album or the most cohesive, but it has a down-home feel that might make it the most comfortable R.E.M. record. It's one you can relax to on a sunny Friday afternoon or listen to late at night in your bedroom, and the music on the album will speak directly to you always.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.