My first introduction to R.E.M. was courtesy of the Police; I was lucky enough to get tickets to see them at Shea Stadium in the summer of ’83 with about 10 friends from high school. The Police were at their peak of relevance (“Every Breath…”) and they brought along two openers – Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and….R.E.-who?? We were all expecting the Fixx to be the first opener and word was they got sick. None of my friends or neighbors in the outfield had heard of R.E.M., and the crowd was mostly uninterested. “Radio Free Europe” was the standout for me from their short set, along with Peter Buck’s jangly guitar. I remember thinking to myself: “I could do this.” Easily the best stadium concert I’ve ever attended. 

At the time my musical tastes ranged from mainstream new wave, Police & U2, to AOR. It took me a while to return to R.E.M. and it was probably influenced by a Village Voice review of Reckoning. I remember hearing the first tracks, “Harborcoat,” “7 Chinese Bros.,” and being mesmerized by the sound; “So. Central Rain” remains my favorite R.E.M. song. The lyrics seemed so cryptic – “wrap your heels in bones of steel” – that is, when you could make out the words. To me it was a perfect album and I played it constantly. Next came Murmur (yeah, I bought the albums out of order), which I didn’t enjoy as much, but it had “Radio Free Europe” on it along with “Moral Kiosk,” which was so profoundly named. 

Around this time, I started to play guitar and I developed the desire to be in a band. In the spring of ’85 I visited Williams College, where my sister had graduated a year earlier, to see R.E.M. and visit the campus. I had already been accepted to Wesleyan but the promise of seeing R.E.M. was too great to resist. The show was in a hockey rink and it was unbelievable to get to see them in such a small space. Before this show I had only seen bands in arenas, as clubs in NYC did not offer “all-ages shows.” The Preconstruction tee shirt I got that night saw a lot of use during my last weeks of HS and my first year at Wesleyan. The memories from these first two R.E.M. shows may have faded a little over the years, but the experience remains profound.  And there is a blue Rickenbacker 360 in my dining room which always reminds me of those days. 

RON GUTIERREZ played guitar in Never On Sunday, a band at Wesleyan University, in the second half of the 1980s (and is featured in a certain “unabridged story” available in the FAQ).  He is now a social worker and family man living in San Francisco.

The mighty Never On Sunday, live on campus, 1986
(Ron G. at far left // Photo credit: Unknown Wes U. student)

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