R.E.M. were the band to watch come the turn of 1984. Issued the previous April, debut LP Murmur had put the Athens, Georgia quartet at the forefront of a new strain of alternative American guitar-rock: raw, mysterious and strangely melodic. On one level, R.E.M. were leftfield classicists, drawing from The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith and 70s post-punk. But they were also markedly different, refracting their influences through a murky Southern prism that involved disjointed narratives and, in the case of enigmatic singer Michael Stipe, inscrutable lyrics.
Despite selling less than 200,000 copies, Murmur made R.E.M. darlings of US college radio. Critics tended to adore the band too, with Rolling Stone declaring them winners of both Best Album and Best New Artist in their end-of-’83 polls. Their profile was further spiked by debut shows in London that November and their first national TV spot, Late Night With David Letterman.
