In honor of R.E.M.'s induction into the Rock Hall of Fame, here are a couple clips from their first ever television appearance, on the David Letterman Show in October 1983: Radio Free Europe and So. Central Rain. Notice the painfully introverted Michael Stipe; this is the Stipe of my youth, who mumbled lyrics purposefully (and perhaps a bit abstrusely), leaving their interpretation up to the listener. NB also the fact that 'So. Central Rain' is so new that it does not yet have a name.
For me R.E.M. is essential to my personal growth, as I'm sure it is for many, many others. Listening to those early R.E.M. albums, esp., 'Murmur,' 'Fables of the Reconstruction,' and 'Life's Rich Pageant,' made me eager to experience the weird, wide world beyond smalltown Indiana. But it also helped me realize, perhaps paradoxically, and certainly more significantly, that place is important. Being from somewhere is important, a point of pride.
I didn't actually make it out to Athens, Georgia until just a couple years ago, but I got a pretty good sense of the place--gothic, lugubrious, dilatory, prideful and passionate--from those early R.E.M. albums. The Midwest isn't any of those things, so the discovery was all the more fascinating for me as a boy.
Here is a picture I took of soul food sage Weaver D.'s sign, which inspired what most people consider to be R.E.M.'s greatest album. (It's great, but I would probably vote for 'Fables' or 'Pageant.' And I've always said that 'Monster' was underappreciated.)

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