# The Strange Magic of: R.E.M.



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

The 1980s and much of the 1990s belonged to Bill Berry, drums; Peter Buck, guitar; Mike Mills, bass; and lead singer Michael Stipe, of R.E.M. The four got together as undergraduates at the University of Georgia in Athens GA (also the birthplace of the contemporaneous B-52s) and rapidly became one of the most influential and most beloved bands in America. It was often difficult to decipher Stipes' lyrics, or, once deciphered, to fully understand them, but the accessible musicality swept millions along, over album after album. The intense rapport between band and audience is perfectly captured here in their smash hit _Losing My Religion_.


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

Strange Magic said:


> The 1980s and much of the 1990s belonged to Bill Berry, drums; Peter Buck, guitar; Mike Mills, bass; and lead singer Michael Stipe, of R.E.M. The four got together as undergraduates at the University of Georgia in Athens GA (also the birthplace of the contemporaneous B-52s) and rapidly became one of the most influential and most beloved bands in America. It was often difficult to decipher Stipes' lyrics, or, once deciphered, to fully understand them, but the accessible musicality swept millions along, over album after album. The intense rapport between band and audience is perfectly captured here in their smash hit _Losing My Religion_.


Loved REM up to and including Automatic for the People.

This was my favourite track off that album


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

My favorite REM albums are "Automatic for the People" and "Up". It is so difficult to find a bad song from this band's enormous music output and even if they called it quits (for now), their songs live on. :angel:


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

My favorite band in my late teen years. Saw them live a few times. First stuff I ever got into that wasn't Classic Rock.

I pretty much believe Murmur is their best work and each successive album becomes somewhat less interesting. No doubt, a lot of this is me, not the band. Still, I think they were better before Michael Stipe actually started singing. Guy was World Class mumbler. There was something wonderfully democratic about the way his voice was used in the early days, as though he didn't want to be in the lead. Mike Mills was really the star for me. Great melodic bass lines, fine counter-vocals.

My favorite songs of theirs (Harborcoat and Shaking Through):


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I loved R.E.M. as a teenager and still do. My favorite album is _Reckoning_ but I really like everything they did through _Up_ - I never got around to listening to the ones after that, and have heard not great things.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Let's revisit Michael & Co. singing _The Great Beyond_. R.E.M.: Beyond Great!


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