Smells Like Alternative

FYI: R.E.M.

by acostill on September 7th, 2007

The Athens, GA natives will release a live album from their recent Dublin performances on October 16 and they just donated a track for the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.

• The band made their first public performance in April of 1980 at a friend’s birthday party.
• Before settling on R.E.M., the band considered the names Twisted Kites, Can of Piss and Negro Wives.
• In May of 1980 R.E.M. headlined their first show at Tyrone’s Club in Athens, GA.
• The band open up for The Police in Atlanta in December, 1980.
• By April of 1981 they have recorded their first demo.
• May, 1982 their debut EP, Chronic Town, is released. Around this time, the band also signs with I.R.S. Records.
• R.E.M.’s first full debut, Murmur, is released in April, 1983.
• In 1983, the band opens up The Police at Shea Stadium and make their national televsion debut on The Late Show With David Letterman.
• Reckoning, the band’s second album, is released on April 16, 1984.
• The song “Without” appears in the Tom Hanks classic Bachelor Party.
• In 1985 the band’s “Preconstruction” college tour previewed songs from their third album, Fables of the Reconstruction.
• 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant extended to a wider audience.
• 1987 was a big year for R.E.M.; they began a U.S. tour in January, a compilation of rarities, Dead Letter Office, is released, as well as, their breakthrough album Document.
• “The One I Love” reaches #9 on the Billboard charts by December of 1987.
• R.E.M. signs with Warner Bros. in June of 1988.
• I.R.S. releases the compilation Eponymous in 1988.
• Green, the band’s 1988 debut with Warner Bros., would go on to double platinum status.
• 1991’s Out of Time would hit #1 on the U.S. charts.
• The single “Shiny Happy People” features Kate Pierson of the B-52’s.
• R.E.M. releases their eighth studio album, Automatic for the People on October 6, 1992.
• Former Led Zeppelin bassist, John Paul Jones, composed the string arrangements for “Drive”, “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite”, “Everybody Hurts” and “Nightswimming”.
• In the Kurt Cobain biography, Heavier Than Heaven, it states that Cobain was listening to Automatic for the People before his suicide.
• Monster released on September 27, 1994.
• “Let Me In” was written about Kurt Cobain, in fact, Cobain;s guitar (a Fender Jag-Stang) was given to Peter Buck and used on this song. The guitar can also be seen in the “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” video.
• In 1995 R.E.M. embarks on their first tour in six years.
• R.E.M. re-signs with Warner Bros. for a reported $80 million contract in 1996.
• New Adventues in Hi-Fi is released on September 10, 1986.
• Patti Smith appears on the single “E-Bow the Letter”.
• Drummer Bill Berry leaves the band in October of 1997.
• 1998’s Up was the first album without Bill Berry and the first album to come with lyrics.
• Up featured drummer Barrett Martin from the Screaming Trees and Beck’s touring drummer Joey Waronker.
• The band contributes “The Great Beyond” and wrote the instrumental score for the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon.
• Reveal is released on May 15, 2001.
• Warner Bros. releases In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 in October of 2003.
• Around the Sun is released on October 5, 2004.
• R.E.M. is part of the Vote for Change Tour, touring with Bright Eyes, John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band.
• 2005 marked the band’s first full length world tour in ten years.
• In 2006 And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 is released.
• R.E.M. contributes a cover of John Lennon’s ”#9 Dream” for Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.
•  On March 12, 2007 the band is inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Eddie Vedder.
• The band is currently working on their fourteenth album.

Share This

Related Stories

No related posts

POSTED IN: FYI, R.E.M.