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.

New Adventures In Hi-Fi

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» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

R.E.M. New Adventures In Hi-Fi Warner Bros., 1996 RiYL: The Byrds, Radiohead, Marc Bolan, U2's Rattle And Hum

R.E.M. released New Adventures in Hi-Fi in the middle of its 16th year of existence. And like the diary of any 16-year-old, the album illustrates a band going through some major changes.

To begin with, Hi-Fi contains 14 songs and clocks in at just over 65 minutes. That makes it by far the band's most prolific work to date. Only three of the songs end before the four-minute mark and half of them make it past five minutes.

The second distinguishing mark of Hi-Fi is the bizarre manner in which it was created. Only four of the songs were actually recorded in a studio (Seattle's renowned Bad Animals), while the rest were drawn from various live shows and soundchecks throughout the course of the band's 1995 world tour, including a dressing-room jam for good measure.

The process of writing and fleshing out songs began during soundchecks and spare moments on the tour, which kicked off in Sydney, Australia, in January of '95. They recorded these soundchecks, and by the time the tour was finished (Atlanta, in November), the band had a number of recorded tunes that were ready to be mixed and put to tape.

The finished result, of course, is Hi-Fi, a hodgepodge of songs that are for the most part truly new adventures for R.E.M.

The four songs culled from live performances have a decidedly Monster-esque feel to them, since the band treated their shows on the tour with a near-conceptual approach, transmitting the guitar-oriented fury from their previous album into arena-rock power. All four were taken from U.S. performances and capture the fuzzed-out sound of the live performance, despite having been tinkered with to make the lyrics and other nuances audible.

Five songs taken from soundchecks include the speedy and ultra-catchy "So Fast, So Numb," simple and elegant closer "Electrolite" and the album's best track, seven-minute synth-driven odyssey "Leave."

The studio work captures the meandering feel of R.E.M.'s post-tour songwriting direction. "How the West Was Won And Where It Got Us," the album opener, is an adventurous percussion-based tune employing an ennio whistle, bouzouki and synthesizer. The first single, "E-Bow The Letter" muses darkly on fame and pop culture a la "Country Feedback" and features Patti Smith on guest vocals.

New Adventures In Hi-Fi displays R.E.M. at its most ambitious and willing to stray from formula. The album is not a cocksure effort made by a band who has perfected one style after a decade and a half of playing together.

On the other hand, it's part of a journey, a search for new avenues down which the band's music can travel. And half the fun is in the adventure, as R.E.M. would be happy to tell you.

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.