By Tina Leach, GGR Contributor

[This has been one hell of a hiatus and bold of me to do it after just one column, but I’m back and promise to be more consistent in the future. Completely unrelated, every one of my previous editors just laughed in unison.]

Me: Okay, so time to get started on the next column. I’m gonna write about—

My Brain: Hey…we need to listen to REM.

Me: But I’ve got to write this new column and—

My Brain: Pilgrimaaaaaaaage! Has gained momentuuuuum!

One really long rabbit hole later, where I ended up having to purchase a new remastered version of Murmur for proper car stereo quality sound, and I guess we’re writing about REM now.

Note: We’re only covering the 80s. If I even get a hint of mandolin, I’m shutting down this whole column. Not that I don’t like later REM, it just feels like Out of Time was a turning point and I wanna talk about the pre-turning point. Just dirgy songs about trains. (All of their songs are probably not about trains. “Driver 8” is. I don’t always listen to lyrics. I’ve listened to White Zombie’s albums a billion times and I’m still not sure what they’re about. Death, cars, and horror movie monsters is a safe guess though).

If you’ve only heard the high points like It’s the End of the World as We Know It, Stand, etc., you’re going to quickly realize that their music is a lot less poppy. It’s more 80s college alternative, sometimes miserable. A lot of times miserable. Not stopped in traffic yelling “Everybody Hurts” miserable but still miserable nonetheless. And I love it.

Back in the days before Spotify and iTunes, if you wanted to hear something other than singles, you just took a chance and bought an album. Once you’d done that enough times and got burned, you found another option: checking out CDs from the library. The first one I grabbed was REM’s Fables of the Reconstruction, which I still sometimes have to look up to confirm that the title isn’t Reconstruction of the Fables, since the cover art has the title written in a square with “of the” on both sides. (I still think about it sometimes).

But hearing that album took me out of the pop REM I knew and into the college rock REM. The first notes of “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” were a game changer. It’s still one of my favorites.

REM’s lineup, simplified because there are crossovers with instruments and vocals:

Michael Stipe on vocals
Peter Buck on guitar
Mike Mills on bass
Bill Berry on drums

Now, on to the songs. I’m not covering all of them because I’m not a very good music writer. So I’ll probably just write about the ones I like or make swipes at ones I don’t like and add way too many of my own memories, because it’s what I do.

If you forced me to name my favorite REM album, I’d likely say Life’s Rich Pageant, but I’d be wrong and if this article does anything, it lets me know that I’m lying. Murmur is the one with my songs on it.

So let’s go with 1983”s Murmur.

If you paid attention to the beginning of this, you’d note that I referenced “Pilgrimage.” It’s poppy but minor key poppy and one of the best REM songs in my inconsequential opinion. “Radio Free Europe” is the first song on the album and it very much sets the tone for the rest. “Moral Kiosk” fits right in with this minor key poppy sound. “Catapult” is another personal favorite.

I think “We Walk” is probably the catchiest tune on the album. It’s one of those that makes your head bob side to side in 4/4 time.

1984, Reckoning.

This one starts with “Harborcoat,” and almost has a bit of a ska beat going. But like a ska band that got horribly depressed and fired the horn section. It doesn’t quite set the tone of the album like Murmur. I still maintain that “So. Central Rain” belongs on Fables of the Reconstruction and I won’t hear otherwise, which is fairly easy for me to say, considering I’ve never once got into an argument on REM song placement. And I’m pretty confident that it won’t happen in the future. Reckoning is a very good mix of styles. “Pretty Persuasion” is a fun one. You can dance to it. I mean, probably only in a Michael Stipe type of dance, but dance nonetheless. Basically what I’m saying is Reckoning doesn’t have a real tone and is just an REM sampler platter. And then there’s “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.” Is that a banjo? We’ve covered the multi-instrumentalists part already, so yeah, it’s probably a banjo, why not?

1985, Fables of the Reconstruction

“Feeling Gravity’s Pull” is the perfect first song. Maybe this is my favorite album. I dunno. Each one I listen to for this column basically makes me question my earlier statement. But this one is special because it was the first full REM album I ever listened to. The first track got me and that was it. The whole album has that classic REM sound. Sometimes catchy, sometimes slow and dirgy, always college rock before college rock had a name. Good solid baselines. Every song is worth a listen. I’m not going to single them out. Just listen from beginning to end.

Life’s Rich Pageant, 1986. My official favorite but maybe not.

Honestly I think I consider this my favorite because it starts with “Begin the Begin.” “Fall on Me” is the best known single, and it feels like this album is a bit more mainstream…kinda? As mainstream as REM can be. “Just a Touch” you should listen to if just to hear Michael Stipe sounding like a hyena, which can be confusing since there’s also a song called “Hyena.” “Underneath the Bunker is like a minute and a half long, but it’s worth a listen. I think Stipe is singing through a megaphone like a 1920s crooner. Not quite, but there is something distorting his voice and it sounds cool. For like a minute and a half. And then it’s on to “The Flowers of Guatemala,” which is one of those songs where the tune just makes you stop what you’re doing and rethink your life choices. It look me a half hour to type this sentence.

So that about covers it, I guess. So now I’ll add personal info that you’ve never needed to know and will continue never needing to know. I’ve actually been to Philomath, Georgia, which is mentioned in “Can’t Get There from Here.” (Fables of the Reconstruction). I didn’t really do much other than take a picture in front of the sign. It’s a short drive from Athens, GA, which is where the REM boys are from. So, “if you’re needing inspiration,” I guess go to Philomath? I’m not sure if I was inspired per se, but that was a good year creatively, so…maybe.

Music

Tina’s Tape Deck: REM