From The B-52’s to Wire: The bands that proved pivotal to REM’s early sound
1980s babies would probably tell you that REM proved pivotal to their listening habits and love of rock music as they grew up, with their pioneering approach reconstructing whatever people thought the genre consisted of up to that point, and subsequently laying the blueprint for future heavyweights including Nirvana.
Yet surely, to have bridled this level of sheer ingenuity, REM must have been rooted in other equally original sounds in order to understand what it took to capture such a high point of sonic imagination. It was true—frontman Michael Stipe cites many massive artists who played a significantly influential role in his own life, particularly the early sound of the band.
But who exactly were these esteemed rockers? Many would argue that no one could compare to REM’s ingenious approach when they first burst onto the scene, but Stipe was steadfast when he told Pitchfork in 2021 that he wouldn’t have been anywhere if it wasn’t for a very specific group of bands releasing bands over a particular seminal period.
He began by naming The B-52s’ debut self-titled album as his leading light when it came to defining his own musical style, as it came just when he had moved to Athens – Georgia, US, not Greece – which didn’t exactly live up to his expectations. He explained: “I thought Athens was just this very small college town full of hippies and granola. Everything was beige. It must’ve been the most boring place on Earth for an 18-year-old punk rocker like me. But as it turns out, Athens was the home of the B-52’s and this whole underground scene.”
Stipe enthused over the album by saying: “That first B-52’s album still hasn’t gotten the recognition that it deserves as one of the most groundbreaking and influential records of all time—most certainly on me and everyone around the Athens scene.” Later, when the beloved band ventured to the heights of New York, they returned with news of fresh new bands and tunes that would further shape nascent musician Stipe.
He continued: “There were all these records that came out around then that were so profoundly important. A lot of it had to do with the B-52’s travelling up to New York and coming back and saying, ‘You gotta hear this unbelievable record by this band called Joy Division’.”
After that, the REM singer explained, there was “Wire, [who] put out their third album, 154, which was not punk rock at all. It was more Kraftwerk-y and electronic, very soft music. That was very shocking. And back in Athens, Pylon had this very art-school approach that I was looking at and listening to and taking notes on. I definitely pulled a great deal from them.”
In the earliest days of REM with their fairly muted success in the first part of the 1980s, these influences were completely vital to the band persisting through to their breakthrough in 1988 with the album Green, defined by experimentation and a collage of quirky sound that would quickly become their musical calling card. As it turns out, Stipe moving to what he called the most “beige” place in the world was the catalyst for a life with more colourful results than he could have ever imagined.
