Within six months of the release of Thriller R.E.M. released their debut LP Murmur. The two albums could not be more different and yet both are probably two of the defining albums of the ’80′s. Thriller propelled Michael Jackson into another stratosphere of stardom and arguably served as a progenitor of modern dance music and hip hop. Murmur, on the other hand propelled R.E.M. into a stratosphere pretty much consisting of college kids looking for a) something more accessible than Hüsker Dü, b) something not as heavy as The Cure (but still cool), c) something they could discover first, or d) all of the above. Murmur may not have set the world ablaze from a mainstream perspective but it certainly changed the way that college rock could be incorporated into mainstream radio stations. And somehow, in a musical landscape that included Quiet Riot, Yes, Culture Club, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, U2, Duran Duran, and Madonna, R.E.M. was able to carve out a nice legacy of music. And it begins with “Radio Free Europe” and its deliberate pace and muted sound.
“Radio Free Europe” was one of the first songs that R.E.M. wrote, having performed it live as far back as 1981. Additionally, the band recorded a version of it that predates their signing with I.R.S. Records. (The original version, called the Hib-Tone version, can be heard on the compilation disc Eponymous.) The I.R.S. version—and the one that starts Murmur—begins with a low humming noise that was recorded by accident and it runs for about ten seconds until the music begins in earnest. The track itself can best be described as “almost.” Michael Stipe’s lyrics are almost decipherable. There are parts of the song that almost sound like The Byrds. The song at times almost shifts in to a quicker speed. This song almost sounds like an ’80′s song (again, see above at the other artists of the time and ask yourself how this song fits in with this era).
R.E.M. is not your typical successful American rock band and “Radio Free Europe” is not your typical single. First, you have the strange and nonsensical lyrics (“Keep me out of country in the word/Deal the porch is leading us absurd”…?). Second, you have the overall sound of the song—again, it was released in the early ’80′s but it doesn’t really sound like an ’80′s song. It almost doesn’t even sound like a ’60′s or ’70′s song either. What this song did do, though, was provide a door in which people could walk through.
“Radio Free Europe” introduced many people to college rock, which subsequently introduced them to anyone ranging from The Replacements to Sonic Youth or The B-52′s to Minutemen. It was a window into a world where the art kids, stoner kids, and other outcasts could escape to if the bigness of U2, the ambiguity of Culture Club, the sadness of The Cure, the complexities of Yes, the simplicity of Quiet Riot, the polish of Michael Jackson, or the glamour of Duran Duran seemed a bit too much.
In their early I.R.S. Records days R.E.M. was a band that had some pretty cliquish fans but they would eventually become a band that could be accessible to just about everyone with songs like “It’s The End Of The World (And I Feel Fine),” “Losing My Religion,” “Nightswimming,” and “Everybody Hurts.” And when you listen to “Radio Free Europe” now—with its deliberate, clear music alongside quasi-gravelly and unclear vocals—you cannot help but to be impressed with how far the band progressed through the years.
“Radio Free Europe” may have been the anti Thriller but the success of it and the four kids from Athens, Georgia opened countless doors for bands from Anycollegetown, USA to have a shot at getting some radio or MTV airplay, which in turn helped act as a tipping point for the success of 120 Minutes, and the subsequent embrace by the pop culture world at large for independent rock.[1]
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[1] It is also worth noting here that R.E.M. had a hand in giving some musical guest legitimacy to Late Night With David Letterman by appearing on an October 1983 show performing “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry).”
