These Clothes Don't Fit Us Right

R.E.M. L-R: Bill Berry, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills

I had no idea, but today is the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.'s first gig. These guys have been with me pretty much since my late-teens. I had heard of them when Murmur first came out. I read Rolling Stone religiously and Murmur kept showing up in their bands-to-watch columns and on the college charts at the back of the magazine. Some time later, they appeared on Solid Gold, performing South Central Rain, which made this a Reckoning-era appearance (album released in April of 84) . Solid Gold was a weekly show that counted down the week's top ten hits while the Solid Gold Dancers performed interpretive dances along to each track. Dionne Warwick, Marilyn McCoo and Andy Gibb were among the higher profile hosts. The show itself was pretty cheesy. I mean, we already had American Bandstand and Soul Train, but Solid Gold somehow lasted 8 seasons. 

In any case, my first listen to R.E.M. was via Solid Gold. I remember liking it but not loving it. After Reckoning (1984) came Fables of the Reconstruction (1985) and Life's Rich Pageant (1986), but it wasn't until Document (1987) where I really dove in. The One I Love and It's the End of the World and I Feel Fine were getting TONS of play on MTV. I got a copy of the album and it clicked with me immediately, so I went backwards from there and those dudes started soundtracking much of my life from the late 80s through the 90s. Green (1988). Out of Time (1991). Automatic for the People (1992). Monster (1994). New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996). So much fucking awesome.

Admittedly, I fell of the bandwagon after Up (1998). Reveal (2001), I felt, was largely lacking in spirit (I've sorta revised opinion that in recent years) and Around the Sun (2004) is easily the worst thing that happened to the R.E.M. brand. The last couple studio albums, Accelerate (2008) and Collapse into Now (2011) sorta had me interested again. And that last live album, Live at the Olympia (2009) is waaaaaay better than it has a right to be. I only listened to it out of curiousity and I was surprised at how much I liked it.

In any case, joyeux anniversaire to R.E.M., one of the best bands to emerge from this country. There are lots of album links here (spoiler alert: every major release is linked in this post). Click one and take it out for a drive if you haven't yet been initiated, or maybe get reacquainted if it's been a while. There are some really good compilations as well, if you just wanna do a greatest hits drive-by. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Stay safe, y'all. Shit is weird out there.