Cross - R.e.m.: the secret history

The city of Athens, Georgia, lies about an hour east of Atlanta. If you exit off Highway 29, you can get onto Broad Street, which is the main drag through town. A few blocks past the entrance to the University of Georgia, a street called Ocanee veers off to the right. Ahead on the left, just past the railway tracks at what used to be 394 Ocanee, are the remains of St. Marys Episcopal, whose steeple teeters precariously next to the Steeplechase condominium development.

It was hard enough saving that steeple. When the condo developer started work in the late 80s, he wanted to completely tear down the church, but some of the townsfolk would have none of that. The church was a shrinehow dare someone destroy it? These werent old parishioners or members of some religious sect. They were simply music fans who wanted to preserve Athenss most precious musical artifact: the location of the first-ever R.E.M. concert. That first giga birthday party for their friend Kathleen OBrien on April 5, 1980ultimately led to hit singles, platinum albums, world tours and Grammy Awards, not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars.

Like U2, R.E.M. carved out their niche as a household name by charting their own course through the music industry. Stylistically, they werent much different from the dozens of jangly post-punk college rock combos that popped up in the wake of new wave. And unlike the Ramones, the Sex Pistols or Kraftwerk, R.E.M.s sound didnt define a genre or a specific musical movement. They did, however, have a chemistry, a charisma, a cloak of mystery, that set them apart from the pack, and by the end of the 80s, they had proven that brainy postmodern indie rock had a place in the marketplace.

When he reported for work at Wuxtry Records at 197 E. Clayton Street, Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956), a punk fan from way back, would keep a guitar behind the counter to strum when business was slow. Set up with a place to sleep in the old church on Ocanee by Wuxtrys owner, Peter had entertained ideas of forming a band but couldnt quite make the commitment. Then John Michael Stipe (born January 4, 1960) started hanging out in the store.

Although he was born in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur, Michaelan Air Force brathad grown up on bases around the country and even in Germany. After the Vietnam War, the family settled in East St. Louis, Missouri, where he discovered the music of Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, Television and Wire. By the time he was 18, Michael was singing with a punk group called Bad Habits. When they fell apart, Michael moved back to Georgia (his parents had relocated to Watkinsville, just outside of Athens, in 1978) and enrolled in art and photography at the University of Georgia at Athens. He soon became a frequent customer at Wuxtry, where he and Peter had long discussions on the merits of Patti Smith versus the Stooges.

William Thomas Berry (born in Duluth, Minnesota, on July 31, 1958) moved with his family to Macon, Georgia in 1972. His first instrument was the ukulele, but in fourth grade he began playing drums in the school band. One of his bandmates was Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958), a sousaphone player originally from Orange County who took to beating up Bill after rehearsal. The pot-smoking, shit-disturbing, class-cutting Mike despised Bill for his goody-goody attitude towards teachers and school. When Mike switched to bass and found himself at the same jam session as Bill (a short-lived high school group called Shadofax), they decided to make the best of the situation. By the time the group broke up, Bill and Mike had become a fairly formidable rhythm section.

Rehearsals were organized and the unnamed group learned about 18 songs, mostly covers of the Sex Pistols, the Stones and Jonathan Richman. They would play with two other local groups: Side Effects and Turtle Bay.

That Saturday night was cold and rainyso cold that Peter remembers having to wear gloves for most of the night. Something like 125 people had been invited, but by midnight 300 or 400 had pushed their way into the church and, by most accounts, a good time was had by all. And that might have been that for Michael, Peter, Bill and Mike had it not been for the problem with the beer kegs.

When that gig turned out better than expected, the members of the newly christened group decided there was something to their new hobby and began to actively pursue new bookings. The rest of 1980 was spent playing shows in and around Athens, although they did make it into Atlanta from time to time. In fact, R.E.M. opened for the Police at the Fox Theater on December 6. Most of the time, however, the band stayed close to Tyrones, where the first known R.E.M. recording was made during a gig on October 6, 1980. By the end of the year, the group had close to 30 original songs. Some were pretty thrashy and punky, but otherssuch as Gardening at Nighthinted that the band had the potential to rise above mere frat-boy party-band stuff.

There was a major development in the spring of 1981. Bill Berry had grown tired of being the bands de facto manager, accountant and van driver. These jobs were assumed by Jefferson Holt, a big fan of the group who had once owned a failed record store. Once he had familiarized himself with R.E.M.s situation, he arranged for them to make some proper demos, booking time at a studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, called the Drive-In. After making the trip up I-85 the night before, R.E.M. made their first real studio recordings on April 15, 1981. One of the three songs committed to tape that day was Radio Free Europe, a song inspired by the years Michael Stipe spent listening to European radio while living on that Air Force base in Germany. Four hundred cassettes were run off and tarted up with photocopy artwork before being sent off to anyone they could think ofincluding, believe it or not, such long shots as Womens Wear Daily. There were few responses.

And third, although the song rocked, it had a weird country and folk tinge. Whatever the case, many critics and college radio programmers recognized this as fresh and exciting stuff for 1981. At the end of the year, Radio Free Europe was named independent single of the year by The Village Voice (way up there in New York City!). A cult following was starting to build.

R.E.M. was quickly leaving their punk-ish leanings behind. Although the change in sound and attitude had been dramatic over the first 12 months of their existence, one particular event changed things even more. It became known in R.E.M. lore as the Nashville Incident.

In late 1981, R.E.M. was booked to play a show in Nashville. The venue was a tent with a very low ceiling, and the stage was nothing more than a few tables lashed together with duct tape. When R.E.M. went on, Peter Bucks attention was immediately fixed on a gorgeous woman down front in a virtually transparent plastic shirt. And wonder of wonders, she appeared to be flirting with him. Loaded on beer and adrenaline, Peter began to show off, leaping into the air and executing fancy split-leg maneuvers. Unfortunately, one jump was a little too high and he smashed his headand the neck of his guitaron one of the steel supports holding up the tent. His headand pridewould eventually heal; the Fender Telecaster would not. His only guitar was ruined beyond repair.

This was a disaster. A series of gigs was now in jeopardy because their lead guitarist had destroyed his guitar. Peter scraped up $175 and headed over to Chick Pianos in Athens in hopes of finding a decent used guitarhopefully, a new Telecaster. As it turned out, the only guitar in stock in his price range was a Rickenbacker, an instrument with a different feel and sound than a Telecaster. A Rickenbacker was not very punk rock; its what the Beatles and the Byrds used. But with shows lined up, Peter took it.