LET'S BEGIN AGAIN

So, the end of R.E.M. sent me scurrying down to the sliced tongue vault in search of artifacts from the early days. Here's some of what I dug up.

The earliest review I could find was a quick and complimentary write up of the original Hib-Tone Radio Free Europe single. This appeared in the "America Underground" section of the April, 1982 issue of Trouser Press:



The December, 1982 "Green Circles" column in TP contained a favorable review of Chronic Town:



The same issue also contained a flexi disc of Wolves, Lower, the other side of which featured one of the two good Lords of the New Church singles (Russian Roulette).



I realize that these black flexis don't scan particularly well. Someday soon I'll do a more comprehensive post on the Trouser Press flexis, which came in a rainbow of cool colors beyond basic black...

Finally, here's a Creem profile from October, 1984, just for kicks:

RAPID EYE MOVEMENT

It was about a week and a half ago, and I was driving home on 7100. My family had returned at the end of August, but I was still experiencing pockets of the anxiety I typically feel when they're out of the country.

My rational mind knows that they will come back from Japan, but while they're gone I tend to get weighted down by a foundational loneliness that does not answer to reason. And I was still stuck in that rut...

I came to a red light and slid my way through the iTunes menu, looking for something I needed to hear. Looking for anything I needed to hear.

“That's it!”

I selected the track, and the drum fills came tripping through the speakers.

“That's great, it starts with an earthquake...”

Now, I don't quite understand the Tufnelian logic behind my car stereo, but I immediately turned the volume up past 40. Loud. It felt good.

Folks did not know what to make of It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) when it came out back in '87. Hell, R.E.M. didn't know what to make of it. I can remember reading an interview with Peter Buck right before Document was released, and he said that it was either the best or the worst thing they'd ever done.

The beauty of the song is that beyond its nihilistic feint, it's propulsive and metallic and goddam life affirming.

It's not the end of the world, remember. It's the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine.

So thank you, R.E.M., for all the murmurs and reckonings and fables and documents you've left behind.

I just know that somewhere right now at some red light someone is turning the volume up past 40...

“That's great, it starts with an earthquake...”