I watched this as it happened. I was a DJ in a new wave/punk dance club. We’d been playing REM since Chronic Town an we loved ‘em. We had a TV over the bar and when REM came on we stopped the dancing and watched. That sort of music wasn’t played on mainstream outlets and we had no “College Radio”as it came to be.
Remember watching them live on David Letterman. Shifted how I viewed rock and my taste for it. I was an immediate fan. Even promised my best friend, "R.E.M. will be a huge band." Fortunately caught one of their early shows at the Bronco Bowl in DFW. Between songs, you could hear the bowling alley machines above the back row seats, rumbly sorting pins, all of us eagerly awaiting where Stipe and Buck would take us next.
Mills and Berry, too. Every one of them contributed equally. This is a fabulous tale, John. You truly captured the times, and what it was like to be part of them. Thank you.
Anything new that R.E.M. dropped was always worth the trip to the record store. But I’ll always have a fondness for the IRS years.
Amen, brother.
I watched this as it happened. I was a DJ in a new wave/punk dance club. We’d been playing REM since Chronic Town an we loved ‘em. We had a TV over the bar and when REM came on we stopped the dancing and watched. That sort of music wasn’t played on mainstream outlets and we had no “College Radio”as it came to be.
It was exciting times.
Wow! Thanks for sharing this story, Dan! You truly caught the times.
And like the Ramones, they were absolutely what we needed at the time.
Absolutely!
Remember watching them live on David Letterman. Shifted how I viewed rock and my taste for it. I was an immediate fan. Even promised my best friend, "R.E.M. will be a huge band." Fortunately caught one of their early shows at the Bronco Bowl in DFW. Between songs, you could hear the bowling alley machines above the back row seats, rumbly sorting pins, all of us eagerly awaiting where Stipe and Buck would take us next.
Mills and Berry, too. Every one of them contributed equally. This is a fabulous tale, John. You truly captured the times, and what it was like to be part of them. Thank you.