PULL QUOTES!
“I saw/first heard of R.E.M. in 1983, opening for the Police (& Joan Jett) at Shea Stadium. They replaced the Fixx last minute. Everyone in the crowd was like, ‘RE-who?’”
—Ron G.
“Looking back now, R.E.M. represented endless possibilities at that time in my life. [Murmur] helped spark something in me—it led to starting a band, writing songs, playing shows, and making records.”
—Vince N.
“Starting college the year Murmur came out, it was impossible not to get swept up in all that R.E.M. represented… when I heard the first guitar riff of ‘Sitting Still’ in the fall of 1983—and then Stipe singing something I couldn’t fully decipher but still knew I loved—I was hooked.”
—Alan H.
“The music felt like it didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. R.E.M. existed in its own strange, magnetic orbit. I devoured Murmur, then Reckoning, playing them until every crackle felt like a secret language.”
—Dee N.
“It was my sophomore year of high school, and I’d convinced my parents to let me go with friends to see R.E.M. play the Omni in Atlanta on their Green tour. That Monday at school, I wore the concert tee I’d bought with babysitting money; it seemed like everyone there had on an R.E.M. t-shirt. It was the one day of high school that I felt I actually fit in.”
—Monica M.
“Also, I do remember somebody yelling, ‘Freebird!’ and Stipe saying, ‘Aw, blow it out your ass!’”
—Steve K.
INTERNET MEME:
“I’d trade 50 Def Leppards for….that’s not enough. I’d trade 150 Def Leppards for one R.E.M. It’s as simple as that.”
—Pete Townshend, in 1989