Great Moments in Vinyl plays tribute to R. E. M.

May 24, 2017 • Martyrs', Chicago, IL

There was a time when R. E. M. was just a scruffy young band from some far off place in Georgia named Athens.  Peter Buck once described his group as “the acceptable edge of the unacceptable stuff.”  But within only a few years of their debut, R. E. M. broke through to national recognition and mainstream success, overturning expectations along the way.  As journalist Anthony DeCurtis once wrote, “fans had heard their own ‘Radio Free Europe’ – a blast of revolutionary fervor broadcast behind enemy lines to rally a previously dormant population.”

Great Moments in Vinyl celebrates Lifes Rich Pageant and Document, two albums that started transforming R. E. M. from college rock heroes into arena-filling rock stars.  Whether it’s Buck’s jangly guitar lines or Michael Stipe’s “Finnegans-Wake-by-way-of-Faulkner” lyrics or Mike Mills’ well-considered countermelodies or Bill Berry’s propulsive drumming, R. E. M. gave us a lot to sink our teeth into as lovers of music.