"THE BEST DAMN BAR BAND IN THE SOUTH" I had just moved to North Carolina in 1981, and was listening to several college radio stations (WFDD in Winston-Salem was great). Another band, possibly Let's Active, was set to play in Charlotte at an empty store-turned-bar called, I believe, Viceroy Park. Myself and two buds drove the hour to Charlotte, but that band couldn't appear. The guy on the club's phone said, "R.E.M. is playing. They're the best damn bar band in the south." Talk about understatement! Who knew? Needless to say, we three and the 40-50 other folks in the big empty store were in for a treat. Stipe was still long-haired, and he was moved by the spirit, whirling about on the little riser stage. I was moved enough to buy Murmur when it came out 1 or 2 years later. Absolutely one of my favorite groups, and surely one of my top five concerts, if only for being there that early in their career.
My wife is DD Thornton. She was the most popular DJ on WFDD at the time and went on to do New Generation on WKZL. We are still close with many music people of that time.
@@rickfoster8128 I was at Appalachian and had the new music show on WASU. I also was on WQFS from Guilford College. We are good friends with Mitch Easter. We brought Todd Rundgren to meet Mitch about 7 years ago. That was fun.
@@BillyLeather Wow. Todd Rundgren and Mitch Easter! Some serious talent. Very cool. I was a late-night announcer on WVCW, a campus station at VCU in Richmond, Va, in the late 1970s. Small potatoes, but loads of fun. I've been an avid fan of college radio wherever I've lived, including a stint as a reporter at a paper in the foothills of western Carolina. It was there that I discovered WFDD. I still have several cassette tapes I made of broadcasts there. I know I had some with Deacon Light with D.D. I assume she is your wife? She was a wonderful d.j., introducing us to lots of good artists during a very vibrant time in music. If she is your wife, tell her I am the guy that stopped by unannounced one night at the station and took her photo sometime between '81 and '84. I stopped by while on my way home to Richmond. I asked her if I could take a fan photo of her. She said yes, I did, and thanked her for her music and hit the road. I have worried that it came off creepy, but there was no ill intent. She was this fount of wisdom on new music for this guy liviing in a back-water small town deep on rural Carolina. Please let know if she remembers this. I will look for a print of the image and get back to you if you like.
@@rickfoster8128 Would love to see the print. She is currently working on a history of WFDD. We did much of the work around 2003.. Wake Forest Magazine wants to do a history on the station and she put the DD in WFDD. We had two guys drive up from Charlotte years ago to meet her. We have had a great 31 years together and have two talented daughters that live in NYC. I will let her know about the photo. If you are on Facebook send me a friend request, William Thornton Kenny. I took her last name as my middle name.
@@gnlout7403Grew up on LRP. IMHO one of the best college albums ever. Saw them live in Williamsburg VA in '87. ❤❤❤ Then in Hampton a few years later for the Green tour. What shows!!❤
I was so utterly in love then...REM was an obsession, then they went mainstream, Stipe went bald, and I sorta broke up with them. Same thing happened with U2... It's great to see this video and sigh again like the dewy-eyed college coed that I was.
That;s an elitist, snob statement. They did not sell out to go mainstream. They always truly believed in their music. It was just, after years of them working their asses off, and playing for peanuts, they got discovered for the incredible talent that they were, which they totally deserve. I imagine, from their first album release, they would have loved to have the record sales of Document.
They had a great career...I do have a soft spot for that early era...At the time, this seemed so...new...I would see something like this and think: "This is really exciting...This is really different...I like this...Is anybody besides me getting this?" Then I would look around and see all the girls dancing to it. "Oh, fuck yeah, it has that, too? I'm in!"
First time I saw them live they played a two hour set which contained a fifteen min medley of surf garage psyche covers which seamlessly segued into a fifteen min medley of velvet underground covers, oh and they flung in a couple of country tunes for good measure during the first encore including Charlie rich's Behind Closed Doors. What a fucking night that was ,blew me away ,Edinburgh 1984/5 or thereabouts.
This is one of many great R.E.M songs - my other favorites are: WE WALK, Wolves Lower, Pretty persuasion, Carnival or sorts, Laughing, Harbor Coat, Maps and Legends, Green Grow Rushes Grow, I BELIEVE, What if we give it away, Begin the Begin, Ages of You, Exhuming McCarthy, Finest Working, Texarkana, Turn you inside out, Stand, Man on the moon, EVERYBODY HURTS, IMITATION OF LIFE and Whats the frequency Kenneth and CRAZY
The period from chronic Town, up into fables is just so rich , like, life's rich pageant , but so underrated and generally misunderstood, unless you are a true fan
I'm a huge fan myself, so I can see why they're your favorite, but such things are subjective. "Best band ever" is statistically inaccurate. That honor goes to The Beatles.
Heh, that was actually Jason & the Scorchers, with the first shot close up on my old friend Perry Baggs. Jason does look like Dwight in that shot though.
To top off the wonderfully muddy lyrics, the only copy I ever owned in the 80's was a commercial cassette version, which was muddier still, bought at the PX at Ft. Eustis, VA. And yet I loved this song. I could sing along with anything that remotely rhymed! Over time it dawned on me that the lyrics were not that important.
so sad to say music is dead its been long dead music and groups like REM that were big in the 80's sadly its evident will never be again,, the 80's in music was the best and no decade will ever sad to say match that greatness :-(
i was kind of mired in synthpop at the time of murmur so i was slow to appreciate them. if i had seen this great performance that may have been different. i came around to them after seeing the video for so. central rain. bought reckoning soon after.
@ugeauxgrrl89 Me too - I sorta lost interest at "Monster". But everything they did before then still gets plaid to death on my computer and stereo. Absolutely loved R.E.M. Loved, loved, loved.
Let Me In is on Monster in addition to three or four other very good songs. I myself am a bigger fan of their earlier stuff but they proved they could keep the bar high with Automatic For The People as they achieved worldwide popularity.
@@ChrisShafi This name I got we all agreed C could stop, stop it well read We could bind it in the scythe We could gather, throw a fit Up to par and Katie bar The kitchen signs but not me in Sit and try for the big kill A waste of time sitting still I'm the sun and you can read I'm the sign and you're not deaf We could bind it in the scythe We could gather, throw a fit Up to par and Katie bars The kitchen signs but not me in Sit and try for the big kill A waste of time sitting still I can hear you I can hear you I can hear you This name I got we all agreed C could stop, stop it well read We could bind it in the scythe We could gather, throw a fit Up to par and Katie bars The kitchen signs but not me in Sit and try for the big kill A waste of time sitting still I can hear you I can hear you I can hear you You can gather when I talk Talk until you're blue You could get away from me Get away from me I'm up to par and Katie bars The kitchen signs but not me in Sit and try for the big kill A waste of time sitting still I can hear you I can hear you I can hear you I can hear you I can hear you I can hear you Can you hear me?
There is a handful of bands who created a sound that was, and remains, uniquely their own. It's usually at it's least distilled in their early work, and however great and big and popular a band becomes, the purity of the first few records can never be replicated. Even by the band themselves. REM are one of the best examples of this - Automatic For The People is a truly great record, but for the unadulterated bliss of the singular REM sound, nothing tops the Chronic Town/Murmur era.
Perfect example of lyrics that let you decide what they are about. Funny how that approach rivals and sometimes wins over pointed/realist lyrics in terms of creating emotion.
Michael Stipe has one of the coolest voices in the world. The self-conscious dancing from some of the audience members makes me nervous and makes me cringe. That one chick looking at her feet thought she looked so cool... 1:14
A friend of my brother's had them sleeping in his basement! I know I saw them in venues large and small, down to a gym at Drew University, which was not much beyond a high school gymnasium.
Who the hell is the first band being spun off screen at the start - hilarious! some american 70's rock act, and then here come the 80's. saw them in 85, it feels like a long time back
![R.E.M. - "Imitation Of Life" [Live from Austin, TX]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/udn8Nj_7zjg/mqdefault.jpg)
I never tire of Mike Mills' backing vocals.
He really was their MVP
Neither do I
Agreed. Bill Berrys also.
"REM's secret weapon" - Eddie Vedder
Nailed it on this preformance.
Never tire seeing Peter Bucks awesome on stage energy, especially early in their career
And The Crocodile is still up & running!!! 🐊🍸
That is called pressure. Ask him about it.
Saw these guys on this tour in an elementary school cafeteria for $3............great show
10 years later and I'm here to tell you you have no idea how lucky you are to have witnessed that. Probably thought nothing of it at the time.
Chuffed you was, eh Watson? It's elementary!
Are you kidding
Are you kidding me? The only thing I got is seeing Pat Benatar for 4 dollars in 1980 in Central Park in NYC.
Perfect..love this.
"THE BEST DAMN BAR BAND IN THE SOUTH"
I had just moved to North Carolina in 1981, and was listening to several college radio stations (WFDD in Winston-Salem was great). Another band, possibly Let's Active, was set to play in Charlotte at an empty store-turned-bar called, I believe, Viceroy Park.
Myself and two buds drove the hour to Charlotte, but that band couldn't appear. The guy on the club's phone said, "R.E.M. is playing. They're the best damn bar band in the south." Talk about understatement! Who knew?
Needless to say, we three and the 40-50 other folks in the big empty store were in for a treat. Stipe was still long-haired, and he was moved by the spirit, whirling about on the little riser stage.
I was moved enough to buy Murmur when it came out 1 or 2 years later. Absolutely one of my favorite groups, and surely one of my top five concerts, if only for being there that early in their career.
My wife is DD Thornton. She was the most popular DJ on WFDD at the time and went on to do New Generation on WKZL. We are still close with many music people of that time.
@@BillyLeather Thanks for the update. Did you work at WFDD too?
@@rickfoster8128 I was at Appalachian and had the new music show on WASU. I also was on WQFS from Guilford College. We are good friends with Mitch Easter. We brought Todd Rundgren to meet Mitch about 7 years ago. That was fun.
@@BillyLeather Wow. Todd Rundgren and Mitch Easter! Some serious talent. Very cool.
I was a late-night announcer on WVCW, a campus station at VCU in Richmond, Va, in the late 1970s. Small potatoes, but loads of fun. I've been an avid fan of college radio wherever I've lived, including a stint as a reporter at a paper in the foothills of western Carolina. It was there that I discovered WFDD. I still have several cassette tapes I made of broadcasts there. I know I had some with Deacon Light with D.D. I assume she is your wife? She was a wonderful d.j., introducing us to lots of good artists during a very vibrant time in music.
If she is your wife, tell her I am the guy that stopped by unannounced one night at the station and took her photo sometime between '81 and '84. I stopped by while on my way home to Richmond.
I asked her if I could take a fan photo of her. She said yes, I did, and thanked her for her music and hit the road. I have worried that it came off creepy, but there was no ill intent. She was this fount of wisdom on new music for this guy liviing in a back-water small town deep on rural Carolina.
Please let know if she remembers this.
I will look for a print of the image and get back to you if you like.
@@rickfoster8128 Would love to see the print. She is currently working on a history of WFDD. We did much of the work around 2003.. Wake Forest Magazine wants to do a history on the station and she put the DD in WFDD. We had two guys drive up from Charlotte years ago to meet her. We have had a great 31 years together and have two talented daughters that live in NYC. I will let her know about the photo. If you are on Facebook send me a friend request, William Thornton Kenny. I took her last name as my middle name.
R.E.M.'s music is so exquisite. It's hard to even express how much their songs meant to me.
Love the old stuff. Murmur. Life's rich pageant. Awesome
@@gnlout7403Grew up on LRP. IMHO one of the best college albums ever. Saw them live in Williamsburg VA in '87. ❤❤❤ Then in Hampton a few years later for the Green tour. What shows!!❤
REM used to be so great. One of the most important bands in my life.
Wish I was there. This has always been one of my favorite R.E.M. tunes. First album is definitely their best IMO.
*Reckoning* was THE best
I remember seeing them play live in December 1984 in London, they were magnificent, Murmur and Reckoning were amazing❤
Don't forget the album they recorded in London town-Fables of the Recons/truction of the Fables
I was so utterly in love then...REM was an obsession, then they went mainstream, Stipe went bald, and I sorta broke up with them. Same thing happened with U2...
It's great to see this video and sigh again like the dewy-eyed college coed that I was.
That;s an elitist, snob statement. They did not sell out to go mainstream. They always truly believed in their music. It was just, after years of them working their asses off, and playing for peanuts, they got discovered for the incredible talent that they were, which they totally deserve. I imagine, from their first album release, they would have loved to have the record sales of Document.
U2's singer going bald was most deserved, though
@@williambullock4077 Well...I think they had to a little..their label made them
Wow, I forgot how much I loved R.E.M in these years. Stipe should grow his hair like this again:) This is what....about 1983?
Sitting Still.............my favorite activity! ;)
They had a great career...I do have a soft spot for that early era...At the time, this seemed so...new...I would see something like this and think: "This is really exciting...This is really different...I like this...Is anybody besides me getting this?" Then I would look around and see all the girls dancing to it. "Oh, fuck yeah, it has that, too? I'm in!"
Legendary Song!
Each one of them give something special. Peter's jumps! Love it.
Oh to be young again, eh?
Thank you for giving me a reason to live guys.
R.E.M was my group of the 80s and beyond
got all their albums/cassettes
I saw them, Live, during the Monster tour
First time I saw them live they played a two hour set which contained a fifteen min medley of surf garage psyche covers which seamlessly segued into a fifteen min medley of velvet underground covers, oh and they flung in a couple of country tunes for good measure during the first encore including Charlie rich's Behind Closed Doors. What a fucking night that was ,blew me away ,Edinburgh 1984/5 or thereabouts.
Saw them on the same tour in Liverpool. 1984 at The Royal Court there. Incredible.
I shoulda seen them at Mabel's in Champaign when I had the chance.
"Hey, did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the World? And if you did, was she crying...... crying.....?"
@@theplasticpodcasts1655 Saw them at the Lyceum Balltoom supported by The Lyres, what a night 😀 December 1984.
My kingdom for a bootleg @remhq
Michael's voice makes the angels cry.
or just anyone with ears
This is such a great song. It is always treated as a "deep cut". It is a front runner.
Those 80's hairdos. Those 80s clothes. 80's dance moves. Ahhhhh, yes. I know them well.
Loved all their early stuff like this and other songs from Murmur and Reckoning.
Just stumbled across this....probably saw R.E.M. 10 times....early to mid-eighties was hard to listen to anything else.
I remember going to see them in the early 80's and all the hot alternative chics that would show up in droves!!!
Fell in love with it the very first time I heard the original single version on college radio in 1982.
This is one of many great R.E.M songs - my other favorites are: WE WALK, Wolves Lower, Pretty persuasion, Carnival or sorts, Laughing, Harbor Coat, Maps and Legends, Green Grow Rushes Grow, I BELIEVE, What if we give it away, Begin the Begin, Ages of You, Exhuming McCarthy, Finest Working, Texarkana, Turn you inside out, Stand, Man on the moon, EVERYBODY HURTS, IMITATION OF LIFE and Whats the frequency Kenneth and CRAZY
bruh i love we walk
page c We Walk is kinda terrifying too, makes it even better imo
The period from chronic Town, up into fables is just so rich , like, life's rich pageant , but so underrated and generally misunderstood, unless you are a true fan
I saw Natalie Merchant & Michael Stipe sing a duet on We Walk for an encore of a 10,000 Maniacs/R.E.M. concert. It was on the Document tour.
The best band ever. The best voice ever. I will die happy knowing that music can never improve on this.
I'm a huge fan myself, so I can see why they're your favorite, but such things are subjective. "Best band ever" is statistically inaccurate. That honor goes to The Beatles.
@@ScottJ794 Some of the Beatles stuff is pure genius but my subjective heart is elsewhere.
The Armed
I love those 80's videos.REM is my favorite band and they only played in Brazil twice.
great song. great band.
and dwight k. schrute at 0:04
onemorebrando it's a cross between beck and that actor from juno lol
good catch
Heh, that was actually Jason & the Scorchers, with the first shot close up on my old friend Perry Baggs. Jason does look like Dwight in that shot though.
To top off the wonderfully muddy lyrics, the only copy I ever owned in the 80's was a commercial cassette version, which was muddier still, bought at the PX at Ft. Eustis, VA. And yet I loved this song. I could sing along with anything that remotely rhymed! Over time it dawned on me that the lyrics were not that important.
I have no idea what he's singing, but I LOVE it
This is honestly so moving to watch
so sad to say music is dead its been long dead music and groups like REM that were big in the 80's sadly its evident will never be again,, the 80's in music was the best and no decade will ever sad to say match that greatness :-(
That’s true!🦁🦁✌️✌️
Michael... great freaking hair!
[it's a wig]
I love the audience--they have no idea what to make of this song. The times, they were a changin.
Try putting this song on as you drive down a motorway. It's brilliant
Just brilliant
00:48 I wanna go back to '84 and meet her right now!
[was a guy]
I love love love this song. I wish I kenw the lyrics!
Mike Mills and Pete Buck were the magic of early REM.
Kind of but it was Michaels voice
@@BennyTheBall8899 And Bill's drums
Love the entire album Murmur.
What a great early performance!
The origins of Alternative Rock!
I liked this song when it was called "Radio free Europe".Thanks R.E.M.
Oh that was a different song 🙂
Mike Mills is amazing
Yes to those plus also at KO Jams in Murfreesboro!
Great version
i was kind of mired in synthpop at the time of murmur so i was slow to appreciate them. if i had seen this great performance that may have been different. i came around to them after seeing the video for so. central rain. bought reckoning soon after.
Memories!!!
awesome song, sounds amazing live
What a golden sound...
@ugeauxgrrl89 Me too - I sorta lost interest at "Monster". But everything they did before then still gets plaid to death on my computer and stereo. Absolutely loved R.E.M. Loved, loved, loved.
Let Me In is on Monster in addition to three or four other very good songs. I myself am a bigger fan of their earlier stuff but they proved they could keep the bar high with Automatic For The People as they achieved worldwide popularity.
Same with me Scott.....hey,,,do you know the lyrics of this song? 🦁🦁☘️☘️✌️✌️
@@ChrisShafi This name I got we all agreed
C could stop, stop it well read
We could bind it in the scythe
We could gather, throw a fit
Up to par and Katie bar
The kitchen signs but not me in
Sit and try for the big kill
A waste of time sitting still
I'm the sun and you can read
I'm the sign and you're not deaf
We could bind it in the scythe
We could gather, throw a fit
Up to par and Katie bars
The kitchen signs but not me in
Sit and try for the big kill
A waste of time sitting still
I can hear you
I can hear you
I can hear you
This name I got we all agreed
C could stop, stop it well read
We could bind it in the scythe
We could gather, throw a fit
Up to par and Katie bars
The kitchen signs but not me in
Sit and try for the big kill
A waste of time sitting still
I can hear you
I can hear you
I can hear you
You can gather when I talk
Talk until you're blue
You could get away from me
Get away from me
I'm up to par and Katie bars
The kitchen signs but not me in
Sit and try for the big kill
A waste of time sitting still
I can hear you
I can hear you
I can hear you
I can hear you
I can hear you
I can hear you
Can you hear me?
@@MrRustyspot Thanks Scott!! That seems correct. We all agree lol..🦁🦁😂😂😜😜💜💜😁😁🤘🤘
@@MrRustyspot Thanks Scott!!🦁🦁☘️☘️🤩🤩✌️✌️
Dude..Bill is a' standin'
There is a handful of bands who created a sound that was, and remains, uniquely their own. It's usually at it's least distilled in their early work, and however great and big and popular a band becomes, the purity of the first few records can never be replicated. Even by the band themselves. REM are one of the best examples of this - Automatic For The People is a truly great record, but for the unadulterated bliss of the singular REM sound, nothing tops the Chronic Town/Murmur era.
Michael´s hair
Stipe BFCL [Before Complete Follicle Loss]
Wow this hair 😍😍😍
When they weere still the best "unknown" American band
+Bob Caston *were
*werewolf
Perfect example of lyrics that let you decide what they are about. Funny how that approach rivals and sometimes wins over pointed/realist lyrics in terms of creating emotion.
This will be my soundtrack when I land in Vegas in October.
Been listening to and loving this song for 35+ years. Still haven’t a clue what the f*ck Michael is saying.
Moj omiljeni bend. Uvijek sam volio R.E.M. Za mene oni su mnogo vise od benda. R.E.M.
Wow. Old live REM. Its better than crack.
Too right. It sometimes is the only thing to scratch the itch.
*nothing* is better than crack
“Just say no to drugs and alcohol” - nancy Reagan
@@dasdead "Just say yes to drugs and alcohol" - Nancy Spungen
Michael was the perfect balance between the beauty male and female
Michael stipe novinho,ouvi o album murmur no spotify,excelente disco, o rock está vivo!
Richard, that my friend is hilarious!
Epic
Bellissima
i WANT mike's Bass
Michael Stipe has one of the coolest voices in the world. The self-conscious dancing from some of the audience members makes me nervous and makes me cringe. That one chick looking at her feet thought she looked so cool... 1:14
Lol you know what she thought 💭? Haha
... as cool as a supernova
k
Rickenbacker heaven.
Hilarious seeing such an inscrutable song played in a Dance Party U.S.A. format. I would worry about toppling over when the stage rotates.
2:36 Young Buck!
Uncle
Wish I’d have seen them once.
A friend of my brother's had them sleeping in his basement! I know I saw them in venues large and small, down to a gym at Drew University, which was not much beyond a high school gymnasium.
I'm the sun and you can't read
We can bondin in the sits
We can gather through a pill?
*CORRECT, sir*
I’m not sure if that is correct!...but it might be🦁🦁☘️☘️✌️✌️
@@sexobscura Do you know the lyrics? Send them my way please 🦁🦁☘️☘️✌️✌️
I’m the Son and you CAN Read,,,,not Can’t! And it’s We can gather throw a Fit! Not what you said! 🦁🦁☘️☘️✌️✌️🔥🔥
Great song,great hair
You could getaway for me..GETAWAY..
Look at that hair. Love this vintage gem of a tune. Is that Ian Curtis on MM's tee? (KEXP's 1983 day brought me here.)
Sitting Still R.E.M 2021
I love stipes hair !
I wish I was murmur/reckoning era peter buck, he was the boss back then
Nice Dwight cameo at the beginning.
there's a reason they got super famous.
wow i never saw Stipe with hair!
Good Bye REM you will be missed.
Who the hell is the first band being spun off screen at the start - hilarious! some american 70's rock act, and then here come the 80's. saw them in 85, it feels like a long time back
+VC1 Jason And The Scorchers.
+kelime nice!
Jack Starr haha he really does
precursor of grunge!
It sucks getting old...
This was the early 80's, when music was stripped down and hair styles got punky. REM looked and sounded fifteen, twenty years ahead of their time.
congratulation for the misfit
at their best
good song, lyrically it makes absolutely no sense, im not sure stipe can even explain what he's singing..but i still love it.
What can i say?! 👌
Need a time machine!
I have one! Lol..🦁🦁☘️☘️🤩🤩✌️✌️
LOL That is him!!!!
Stipe had jangled hair and Buck played Jingle Jangle guitar 🤣🎸👏🏻😎
Is Mike Mills wearing a "Morrissey" T-shirt?
I think it's Elvis. This performance was done before The Smiths were big.
@@carlzson299 well, Morrissey wore Elvis t-shirts, too
The Smiths were active 1982-1987
Elvis
what is Dwight Schrute doing onstage at the beginning of this video?
he's leaving because he can hear REM coming
b still, and know that I AM God
Stipe is quite animated for this performance considered they eschewed shows like these, but at least they're playing live.
@facelesshorseman
New York New York in Augusta, GA in '81
@fairandpale no one will ever make sense of the lyrics in this song, but its a god song.
Stipe was 24, Mills was 26, Buck was 28, Berry 26
Who is the dude on the ground at the start of the video ? Is that Jason Riggenberg ? From Jason and The Nashville Scorchers ...?
Most of the crowd here doesn't get it but fuck them. Fantastic rendition such a great song!