Thanks R.E.M.

I just read that R.E.M. is splitting up. Very sad! I was
introduced to them by my daughter more than 20 years ago.
We have seen them live many times and will miss their
concerts. My favorite albums are from their middle-period,
Automatic for the People, New Adventures in Hi-Fi and
Around the Sun were very listenable, for me. Anyone who is
unfamiliar with this group should give them a listen. They
are great live and their appearances on Austin City Limits
and their DVD "Perfect Square" are great examples of that.

Automatic for the People is just a great album front to back. And, incidentally, I ate at Weaver D's last Wednesday. My wife is a UGA grad has wonderful memories about seeing them at fraternities and the local bars. She remebers thinking they hit the big time when they gigged at The Georgia Theater (that just reopened a few weeks ago after being closed for few years from a fire).

I remember hearing them for the first time on college radio in the early 80's and thinking, wow, this sound is new and fresh and it's not disco. The 80's really had some crappy pop music and radio but the "college radio" sound was refreshing, eclectic, rule breaking and different. A real change from 70's rock and disco . I remember listening INX's, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Squeeze.

maxnewid just listed the bands that turned me from casual listener to obsessive collector. for my money, those early 80s guitar bands (along with husker du, replacements, church etc.) were the high water mark. the windbreakers and rain parade in particular deserve to be elevated from obscurity.
i first caught the fledgling rem in chicago in 81 with lets active and chris stamey opening. still one of the best shows i've seen. my main issue with rem is that their early records (chronic town through lifes rich paegent) were so good that every subsequent release sounds a bit diluted.

Great body of work over the past 30 years.

One of the best concerts I saw was the "Monster" tour in 1995.

Opening for REM was a little known band called Radiohead.
:-)

They have been a cornerstone of rock for many years now. I lose interest in much of their newer stuff, but they were at the top of the game at their peak back in the 80's and early 90's, and probably were one of the biggest factors that helped preserve rock music as a thoughtful medium in the form of "alternative rock" when they broke on the scene back in the early 1980's. That is a historic part of their legacy and perhaps their biggest accomplishment in my mind. The "Beatles" of alternative rock, perhaps?

"Automatic For The People" and "Out of Time" are the two I know that can still hold my interest from start to finish. Some decent material on these also for use in evaluating audio systems. These albums played a big part in my discovering that smaller monitors from Dynaudio and Totem are capable of producing some very involving sounds!

Also worth mentioning is REM is one group whose more recent recordings have really been hurt by their apparent "loudness wars" tendencies. Accelerate and Live at the Olympia in particular are two I have that push the loudness wars barrier into questionable territory. A shame since much of their older and most popular stuff was pretty well done!