Reflecting in 1985 on what it was that really made R.E.M. tick, frontman Michael Stipe said it was a matter of the unconventional. “Nothing in this band really does what it’s supposed to do,” the singer told Musician magazine. “The guitar doesn’t necessarily play the parts a guitarist is supposed to play. The bass is much more melodic than bass is supposed to be in rock’n’roll.”
At that point, the Athens, Georgia quartet were only three albums in but a pillar that remained right the way through to their split in 2011 had been set: R.E.M. were always the band who never did what they were supposed to do. A leftfield college-rock group weaving arty sensibilities and FM melodicism are not meant to go on to become one of the world’s biggest and most important rock bands.
