R.E.M.

Over the course of the '80s, R.E.M. went from cult heroes of the underground to arena-filling harbingers of the alternative rock revolution. They began under modest circumstances in Athens, Georgia in 1980, when University of Georgia student Michael Stipe met fellow student Peter Buck and they formed a band as respectively, the singer and guitarist. Bringing along schoolmates Mike Mills on bass and Bill Berry on drums, they quickly became linchpins of the blossoming Athens underground music scene, which had already given The B-52's to the wider world. After establishing themselves as a live band on the regional circuit, they released their debut single "Radio Free Europe" in 1981 on the tiny Atlanta label Hib-Tone. The song earned national attention, and soon R.E.M. was snapped up by I.R.S. Records, which released the band's Chronic Town EP in '82. The combination of Peter Buck's chiming, Byrds-like riffs, the rhythm section's post-punk-informed momentum, and Stipe's inscrutable vocals captured the attention of the burgeoining indie-rock audience as R.E.M. helped carve out an independent national touring circuit that would benefit countless bands to come. The band's 1983 debut album, Murmur, really put them on the map, and was named Rolling Stone's album of the year. The band gained more and more ground over their next few albums, and 1987's Document brought them to a new level, giving R.E.M. a Top 10 single ("The One I Love") and album. Accordingly, they moved over to Warner Bros for their next LP, 1988's double-Platinum Green, which birthed the No. 6 single "Stand." But it was 1991's Out of Time that made R.E.M. mainstream superstars, hitting No. 1 and giving them their biggest hit ever, "Losing My Religion." The band's ascendance to the top of the rock heap helped push alt rock as a whole to the musical forefront. The rest of the band's '90s releases maintained R.E.M.'s star status, but Berry quit in 1997, and by the 2000s the bloom began to abandon the rose. 2011's Collapse Into Now would be the final R.E.M. album. The band split that same year.