 | Beat ItMichael Jackson |
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Saturday, April 30, 1983
“Beat It” became Michael Jackson’s second #1 from Thriller
Muddy Waters died: April 30, 1983
Originally posted April 30, 2012.
Awards:
Resources and Related Links:
McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, was born on 4/4/1915 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Some sources indicate his birth year as 1913, but the bio on MuddyWaters.com cites 1915. He died on April 30, 1983.
Waters ranks second only to Robert Johnson as the top blues acts of all time. Waters was pivotal in the development of the Chicago blues style. He taught himself to play harmonica in the early 1920s and picked up guitar in the early 1930s.
Among his most significant songs are “I Feel Like Going Home” (1948), “Rollin’ Stone” (1950), “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954), and “Got My Mojo Working” (1957). All have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The latter three and “Mannish Boy” also made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. “Hoochie Coochie” is also in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress and made NPR’s list of the Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century. “Mojo” is also among the RIAA’s selections for the RIAA’s 365 songs of the 20th century.
Hoochie Coochie Man
Best of (1954), Down on Stovall’s Plantation (1966), McKinley Morganfield (aka “Muddy Waters”) (1971), The Chess Box (1972), Can’t Get No Grindin’ (1973), and The Complete Plantation Recordings (1993) are all Blues Hall of Fame inductees. In addition, Time magazine named The Anthology 1947-1972 (1947-72) one of the Top 100 Albums of All Time.
His most celebrated album is At Newport, a live album from 1960. It makes the DMDB’s lists of top 1000 albums of all time, Top 10 Blues Albums of All Time, and the top 50 live albums of all time. It also ranks as one of the 100 Greatest American Albums according to Blender magazine and one of the 100 Essential Albums of the Century according to Vibe magazine.
Awards:
- one of the top 100 acts of all time
- top 100 music makers of the pre-rock era
- Blues Hall of Fame inductee
- one of the top 100 blues acts of all time
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee
- Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Resources and Related Links:
- Muddy Waters’ DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
- MuddyWaters.com: biography
- DMDB page for At Newport
- DMDB page for The Anthology 1947-1972
Friday, April 29, 1983
Men at Work released Cargo
Cargo |
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Released: April 29, 1983 Peak: 3 US, 8UK, 3 CN, 12 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.1 UK, 3.72 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop rock/new wave |
Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
Total Running Time: 42:21 The Players:
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Rating:  3.823 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)
Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album: The Australian new wave band Men at Work debuted in 1981 with Business As Usual. It took a year for it to catch on in the United States, but when it did it exploded. “Who Can It Be Now?” hit #1 in 1982 and “Down Under” ascended to the throne in early 1983. The two songs fueled Business As Usual to the top of Billboard album chart for 15 weeks. Meanwhile, Men at Work already had Cargo waiting in the wings. They’d finished the album in mid-’82, but held off releasing it because of the success of Business As Usual. When Cargo dropped in 1983, the former album was still riding high on the charts. The first single, Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive, was released in Australia in October 1982, although it would be nearly a year later before it saw a U.S. release. The song was accompanied by a video which played to Men at Work’s reputation as an act known for entertaining, humorous videos. Greg Ham played a mad scientist who creates a potion that transforms him into a ladies’ man. In the U.S. the song was preceded by two Men at Work top-10 hits. Overkill was released in April 1983 and showed some more dimension to the band. The song had a more serious tone than the light-hearted pop fare of “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under,” though it dealt with paranoia again, as had “Who Can It Be Now?” It’s a Mistake also tapped into a more serious vibe with lyrics focused on the mindset of military men and the prospects of nuclear war. The video played up the band’s charisma with a story in which each member move from roles in the working world to unexpected roles in the military, suggesting they’d been drafted. The storyline seemed to be somewhat modeled after Dr. Strangelove, a black comedy film from 1964. Rolling Stone’s Christopher Connelly wrote that the album “may lack a track with the body-slamming intensity of ‘Who Can It Be Now?’ and ‘Down Under,’ but song for song, it is a stronger overall effort than Business As Usual.” WK All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said “Overkill” and “It’s a Mistake” had “more depth than anything on the debut” WK but that the rest of the album was “weighed down by filler.” WK John Mendelssohn of Record had little positive to say about the album, other than “Colin Hay may be the most effortlessly soulful pop singer since Sting.” WK Notes: A 2003 reissue added bonus tracks “Shintaro” and “Till the Money Runs Out,” and live versions of “Upstairs in My House,” “Fallin’ Down,” and “The Longest Night.” |
Resources and Related Links:
First posted 9/20/2020; last updated 8/2/2021. |
Saturday, April 16, 1983
Friday, April 15, 1983
Rick Springfield “Affair of the Heart” charted
 | Affair of the HeartRick Springfield |
Writer(s): Rick Springfield, Danny Tate, Blaise Tosti (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 15, 1983 Peak: 9 US, 10 CB, 4 GR, 5 RR, 23 AR, 11 CN, 26 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.8 video, -- streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Rick Springfield was born in 1949 in Australia. After being a member of te pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, he launched a solo career. His 1972 debut Beginnings was a top-20 album in Australia and reached the top 40 in the United States, thanks to the success of “Speak to the Sky,” a #14 hit in the U.S. and #6 in Australia. He followed it with three more albums that failed to generate any top 40 hits in Australia or the United States. In the late ‘70s, he decided to switch his focus to acting, culminating with his role as Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital from 1981 to 1983. Of course, it was at this same time that his music career kicked back into high gear. After a five-year hiatus, he released his fifth album, Working Class Dog. The album produced the single “Jessie’s Girl,” which soared all the way to #1 in Australia and the United States, turning Springfield into a superstar. That album also produced the top-10 hit “I’ve Done Everything for You” and the top-20 hit “Love Is Alright Tonite.” The follow-up album, Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet, was a platinum-selling, top-10 album, like its predecessor. It gave Springfield three more top-40 hits with “Don’t Talk to Strangers” (#2), “What Kind of Fool Am I?” (#21), and “I Get Excited” (#32). Two more platinum, top-20 albums followed – 1983’s Living in Oz and the 1984 soundtrack for Hard to Hold. Each album generated three more top-40 songs, including the top-10 hits “Affair of the Heart” and “Love Somebody.” “Affair of the Heart” marked what Cash Box described as “a greater use of synthesizers and a hardened guitar sound” WK that earned Springfield a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Like the rest of the album, it showed “an edge and maturity he hadn’t before.” AMG Resources:
First posted 1/14/2023. |
Wednesday, April 13, 1983
Violent Femmes’ debut released
Violent Femmes |
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Released: April 13, 1983 Peak: 171 US, -- UK, -- CN, 31 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: new wave/alternative rock |
Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
All songs written by Gordon Gano. Total Running Time: 36:15 The Players:
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Rating:  4.388 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)
Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album: “One of the most distinctive records of the early alternative movement and an enduring cult classic, Violent Femmes weds the geeky, child-man persona of Jonathan Richman and the tense, jittery, hyperactive feel of new wave in an unlikely context: raw, amateurish acoustic folk-rock. The music also owes something to the Modern Lovers’ minimalism, but powered by Brian Ritchie’s busy acoustic bass riffing and the urgency and wild abandon of punk rock, the Femmes forged a sound all their own.” AMG “Still, the main reason Violent Femmes became the preferred soundtrack for the lives of many an angst-ridden teenager is lead singer and songwriter Gordon Gano. Naive and childish one minute, bitterly frustrated and rebellious the next, Gano's vocals perfectly captured the contradictions of adolescence and the difficulties of making the transition to adulthood.” AMG “Clever lyrical flourishes didn’t hurt either; while Blister in the Sun has deservedly become a standard, Kiss Off’s chant-along ‘count-up’ section, Add It Up’s escalating ‘Why can't I get just one...’ couplets, and Gimme the Car’s profanity-obscuring guitar bends ensured that Gano's intensely vulnerable confessions of despair and maladjustment came off as catchy and humorous as well.” AMG “Even if the songwriting slips a bit on occasion, Gano's personality keeps the music engaging and compelling without overindulging in his seemingly willful naiveté. For the remainder of their career, the group would only approach this level in isolated moments.” AMG Notes: The CD release added the songs “Ugly” and “Gimme the Car.” In 2002, a deluxe edition was released that contained a whopping 26 bonus tracks, among them demos and live material of songs both from the album and not. |
Resources and Related Links:
First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 9/5/2021. |
Violent Femmes “Add It Up” released on debut album
 | Add It UpViolent Femmes |
Writer(s): Gordon Gano (see lyrics here) Released: April 13, 1983 (on Violent Femmes album) Peak: 2 CO, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 7.7 video, 25.88 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:The punk band Violent Femmes formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1979. The trio was comprised of singer and guitarist Gordon Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie, and drummer Victor DeLorenzo. In 1983, they released their self-titled debut album, “an early landmark of American alternative rock.” AMG While the song “Blister in the Sun” became the best known from the album by cementing itself as a staple of alternative rock radio in the ‘80s, the album also produced the popular “Add It Up.” The song benefits from Gano’s “uncanny knack for clever, incessantly catchy lyrics.” AMG The song plays on his “yearning, hard-luck misfit role that dominated the album, but it’s even darker than usual, with its frank, edgy sexuality and intimations of gun violence.” AMG He sings “with such snarling abandon that, in spite of the obvious geekiness of his persona, there’s also an unsettling sense of menace.” AMG “Opening with a free-form a cappella passage, the song quickly becomes a driving rocker, and Gano steadily escalates his sexual longings (‘why can’t I get just one...’) from ‘kiss’ to ‘screw’ to ‘fuck.’ Even the first scenario is far from romantic – I look at your pants and I need a kiss,’ Gano sings, giving the lie to the assumption that innocence and inexperience go hand in hand.” AMG Gano discussed writing the song in his bedroom about feeling frustrated. As he said, “I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. It just happened to feel good lyrically…and it still does.” WK Despite the song’s irrestible drive to get up and move, the subject matter is dark. It isn’t just about sexual frustration, but a young man who buys a gun, offering “evidence that misfit rage had long been something of a powder keg in American high schools” more than 15 years before Columbine. AMG The lines “The day is in my sights / When I’ll take a bow / And say good night” suggests the narrator may have turned that rage inward to suicidal thoughts. AMG Resources:
Related Links:
First posted 6/10/2022; last updated 10/1/2022. |
Monday, April 11, 1983
David Bowie Let’s Dance album released
Let’s Dance |
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Released: April 11, 1983 Peak: 4 US, 13 UK, 1 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.3 UK, 11.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock |
Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 36:46 The Players:
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Rating:  3.648 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)
Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album: After releasing Scary Monsters in 1980, David Bowie cancelled a tour to promote the album after the murder of John Lennon. He retreated to Switzerland and became a recluse, but continued working. In 1981, he collaborated with Giorgio Moroder to write the title song for the movie Cat People. At the same session, he recorded “Under Pressure” with Queen. In 1982, he recorded a soundtrack EP for Baal, a BBC adaptation of Bertrolt Brecht’s play. He also filmed appearances for The Hunger and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. He departed from RCA Records and signed with EMI Records and tapped bassist Nile Rodgers, best known from the band Chic, to co-produce his next record and create “a stylish, synthesized post-disco dance music that was equally informed by classic soul and the emerging new romantic subgenre of new wave, which was ironically heavily inspired by Bowie himself.” AMG The sessions featured new personnel. Bowie hadn’t altered his lineup that completely since Space Oddity in 1969. The new players included guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan before he became famous and other Chic members Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson. For the first time, Bowie focused exclusively on vocals and didn’t perform any instruments. As he said, “I don’t play a damned thing. This was a singer’s album.” WK The resulting Let’s Dance album was the best-seller of Bowie’s career. However, it also signalled a period of low creativity on his part as he felt he was pandering to acquire a mainstream audience through the rest of the 1980s. He derogatorily referred to the era as his “Phil Collins years.” WK The music from Let’s Dance has been characterized as “post-disco, dance-rock, new wave, and dance-pop.” WK “Let's Dance comes tearing out of the date, propulsed by the skittering Modern Love.” AMG It “is an uptempo pop song that features a call-and-response structure inspired by Little Richard.” WK All Music Guide’s Dave Thompson said it “epitomizes all that was good about Bowie’s 1983 reinvention as a willing superstar.” WK Next up was “the seductively menacing China Girl,” AMG which Bowie originally wrote and recorded with Iggy Pop on his album The Idiot in 1977. BBC Online reviewer David Quantick said “nobody but [Nile] Rodgers could have taken a song…with its paranoid references to ‘visions of swastikas,’ and turned it into a sweet, romantic hit single.” WK Biographer Nicholas Pegg called the title cut one of the “all-time great pop songs.” WK It was the lead single from the album and hit #1 in the U.S. and UK. A video for the song was shot by David Mallet, who also directed “Ashes to Ashes” for Bowie in 1980. “China Girl” and “Modern Love” were released as follow-up singles, hitting the top 10 and top 20 in the U.S. respectively. Both reached #2 in the UK. They were hits “for good reason — they're catchy, accessible pop songs that have just enough of an alien edge to make them distinctive.” AMG “However, that careful balance is quickly thrown off by a succession of pleasant but unremarkable plastic soul workouts.” AMG The re-recorded version of Cat People which Bowie originally recorded in 1981 and a cover of Metro’s 1977 song Criminal World “are relatively strong songs, but the remainder of the album indicates that Bowie was entering a songwriting slump.” AMG The latter was originally banned by the BBC for bisexual overtones. Biographer Chris O’Leary said it was Bowie’s way to “sneak a transgressive song onto a platinum record.” WK The BBC’s David Quantick said Let’s Dance was “often a mundane album, as songs like Ricochet and Shake It mark time.” WK The former “is the only track on the album that is reminiscent of the experimental nature of Bowie’s late-70s recordings.” WK Writer Nicholas Pegg called “Shake It” “a likable enough piece of fluff.” WK All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said of the album: “The three hits were enough to make the album a massive hit, and their power hasn’t diminished over the years, even if the rest of the record sounds like an artifact.” AMG Time’s Jay Cocks called it “unabashedly commercial” WK and Rolling Stone’s Ken Tucker said the album had a “surface beauty.” WK Commonweal said it was “some of the most exciting R&B-based dance music in years.” WK Rolling Stone’s Jeremy Allen said the album was “the conclusion of arguably the greatest 14-year run in rock history.” WK Notes: ”Under Pressure,” Bowie’s 1981 duet with Queen, was added to the Virgin Records CD reissue. |
Resources and Related Links:
Other Related DMDB Pages: 
First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/3/2021. |
R.E.M. released its debut album, Murmur
Murmur |
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Released: April 11, 1983 Peak: 36 US, 100 UK, -- CN, -- AU, 9 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK), 2.56 EAS Genre: college rock |
Tracks:Click on a song title for more details.
Total Running Time: 44:11 The Players:
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Rating:4.580 out of 5.00 (average of 44 ratings)
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album“Athens, Ga., was as unlikely a birthplace for a nationally renowned music scene…But there’s something about a college town nestled in some small corner of rural America that ignites creativity in kids who grow up and discover that there actually are others out there who share their passion for music, film or art. In 1983, the spotlight was on Athens, thanks to R.E.M.’s full-length debut, Murmur. All four of the band’s members spent part of their lives far from Georgia, but Murmur became indelibly tied to its city of origin because it sounded unlike anything from anywhere else.” PMThe MembersMichael Stipe, the band’s leader singer, has said the title “was chosen because it’s one of the easiest words to pronounce in the English language.” JD Ironically, it is also an apt description of his singing style; he “unspooled his lyrics as if they constituted some new secret language.” 500 However, at the same time “his smooth pop vocal mannerisms sweeten the enigmatic poetry.” AZ The band’s “cryptic lyrics” EW’93 “and the melodies seem buried, almost subliminal, and even the hookiest songs…resist clarity.” 500“His voice works more as a fourth instrument, complementing the band musically.” PK “Stipe knew that words chosen merely for the way they sound and phrases that suggest something without actually saying anything can be much more powerful than lyrics that try to tell a story, because the listener is free to fill in the blanks with his or her imagination.” JD “Like all great bands, R.E.M.’s individual parts…are as interesting as the collective sound.” AZ Peter Buck’s guitar playing draws “heavily on the trademark Rickenbackers of the early Byrds, with the occasional burst of Velvets-style feedback and garage-rock fuzz thrown in for emphasis.” JD Mike Mills provides “melodic counterpoints with his ultra-musical bass parts, and [drummer Bill] Berry shows considerable imagination in varying his propulsive backbeats with deft and colorful use of elaborate patterns on the tom-toms. Both also add beautiful harmony vocals.” JD Their BackgroundsR.E.M. developed from “local heroes to college-radio staples” EW’93 and, a half decade later were poised to become the biggest band in the world. Interestingly, though, prior to Murmur “the members of R.E.M. never planned on being professional musicians. None of them considered themselves more than mediocre talents, none of them had written songs before, and even after making a splash on the American underground with their first few albums, they wondered aloud what kinds of jobs they would have five years down the line.” CS They formed in 1980 to play at a birthday party for a friend, then toured the south for months, and finally dropped out of the University of Georgia to pursue their music.Developing a Cult FollowingR.E.M. made its recording debut in the summer of 1981 “with a song that paid homage to the spirit of the young, independent broadcasters…The tiny Hib-Tone label only pressed 1,000 copies of Radio Free Europe, but the single topped the Village Voice’s year-end critics' poll, and the attention helped the band land its deal with I.R.S.” JDThe band followed up the success of their single with the E.P. Chronic Town in 1982. Mitch Easter recorded the album at his Drive-In Studio in North Carolina. TBA Recording MurmurThe band started working on its debut album at Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, on January 6, 1983. “Then-college radio stalwarts” PK Mitch Easter, who’d worked on Chronic Town, and Don Dixon, produced the album. TBAThe production “is shimmering but never slick, making this rise above the early DIY indie rock dustheap without falling prey to the new wave excesses of the early ‘80s scene.” PK The band was already leaving “behind the garagey jangle pop of their first recordings,” AM “de-emphasizing the backbeat and accentuating the ambience of the ringing guitar.” AM It makes for a “darker, more obtuse version of the jangly, folk-tinged rock R.E.M. would perfect on the multiplatinum albums Out of Time and Automatic for the People in the early 1990s.” TBA “Throughout the sessions, there was pressure from I.R.S. to produce a hit, but…the band say they tuned the company out and proceeded to craft the sort of finely textured cult album they adored” – Big Star’s Third/Sister Lover, Velvet Underground’s eponymous third album, Neil Young’s Tonight’s the Night, and Wire’s Pink Flag. JD The Sound“Stipe’s trademark oblique lyrics are already in place and are lent a further air of mystery on Murmur by his suitably mumbled delivery.” TBA His “lyrics are both endlessly suggestive and inscrutable. Inspired by the metaphor-rich poetry of Patti Smith, Stipe writes in blinding torrents, concerning himself with the meter of his phrases rather than their linear meaning.” TM“The other members of R.E.M….have said that they were just learning how to play their instruments during the band’s early days. They grew proficient by playing together. By Murmur, their sound is tightly knit – a refined and delicate waving of needlepoint-precise guitar lines, each ringing with great and almost fierce clarity.” TM “The focal point is often Peter Buck’s distinctive guitar playing, which drew equally on The Byrds and the more contemporary sound of post-punk.” TBA Buck, “a rock scholar who had worked in a record store,” 500 said, “We wanted to have this kind of timeless record.” 500 Indeed, “the songs on Murmur sound as if they’ve existed forever, yet they subvert folk and pop conventions by taking unpredictable twists and turns into melodic, evocative territory.” AM The Album’s LegacyThe “result should have been a complete mess” PK but R.E.M.’s “simple, stripped down songs merging Byrds-like jangly guitars with Velvet Underground-ish drony melodicism” PK pushed R.E.M. to the forefront of “the alternative rock movement in the mid-1980s, providing an escape from post-punk depression, new-wave ennui, and the shallow glitter of corporate rock and pop metal.” CS The band “blew tantalizing fresh air through the prefab world of rock, spearheading the movement that became known as ‘college rock.” TMMurmur “marked the point at which the punk legacy made peace with rock history, and a new U.S. folk music was born.” BL After the rise of punk rock in the ‘70s, the early ‘80s gave birth to “a strong network of small, independent labels and a string of clubs, fanzines and college radio stations to support them. R.E.M. tapped into this scene, took full advantage of it and arguably became its biggest cheerleader.” JD R.E.M. “showed that the D.I.Y. aesthetic of punk didn’t just have to mean fast and loud.” TM “Though critics swamped R.E.M.’s 1983 full-length debut with country-rock comparisons to the Byrds, Murmur sounds like no one else.” AZ While “firmly in the tradition of American folk-rock, post-punk, and garage rock, Murmur sounds as if it appeared out of nowhere, without any ties to the past, present, or future.” AM It sounded like that because R.E.M. didn’t have “a clearly discernable set of easily classified influences.” CS Even Stipe said, “It’s not that we’re so original. We’re not doing anything new…The closest that any of us have come [to describing it] is ‘folk rock,’ and that’s so undefineable in 1982 that it probably works.” CS It became “one of the most remarkable, near-perfect debut albums of the rock era” PK and “a founding document of alternative rock, released just as Gen X was starting to go to college.” 500 “Truly a must-own album.” PK “Nearly every song is an unforgettable gem.” PK NotesThe 1992 IRS Vintage Years edition added R.E.M.’s cover of the Velvet Underground’s “There She Goes Again” as well as live versions of “9-9,” “Gardening at Night,” and “Catapult.” The 2008 Deluxe Edition added a second disc of a live performance from Larry’s Hideaway in Toronto on July 9, 1983.The SongsHere’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs. |
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Radio Free EuropeR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 7/8/1981 (single), Murmur (1983), Eponymous (compilation: 1981-87, released 1988), Best of (compilation: 1981-87, released 1991), Singles Collected (compilation: 1981-987, released 1994), And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years (compilation: 1982-87, released 2006), Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage (compilation: 1982-2011, released 2011) B-Side: “There She Goes Again” First Charted: 5/21/1983 Peak: 78 BB, 25 AR, 1 CO, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.55 video, 26.69 streaming |
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Song:R.E.M. formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980. They released their debut single, “Radio Free Europe,” in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. Lead singer Michael Stipe said in 1983 that most of their early songs “didn’t have any words. I just got up and howled and hollered a lot.” SF He said he intentionally wanted the lyrics to be difficult to decipher because he hadn’t written words yet, even telling New Musical Express in 1988 that the lyrics were “complete babbling.” WK The song’s hard-to-understand lyrics became a trademark of early R.E.M. and their “DIY energy came across lound and clear.” RSThe title refers to a radio network operated by the government of the United States and broadcasted in Europe and the Middle East. The intent was to promote democracy and freedom, but R.E.M. thought it could easily cross the line into propaganda. SF Author Dave Thompson says the song is about “cold war politicking” DT but author Paul Williams asserts that this “is a song about music, the flow of music, the excitement in the fact that it just keeps coming.” PW Rob Sheffield said the song “brought a fresh sense of mischief and excitement to the rock scene.” RS It “marks the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock,” TBS combining traditional and avant-garde elements into something mysterious and yet radio friendly.” TBS Jeff Tweedy of Wilco said “it was disorienting and intoxicating to have new music that felt somehow old.” JT The National Recording Registry noted the song for establishing “the pattern for later indie rock releases by breaking through on college radio in the face of mainstream radio’s general indifference.” WK Drummer Bill Berry said “college radio and major city club scenes embraced the song and expanded our audience…The additional revenue made it possible to logically pursue this wild musical endeavor. I dare not contemplate what our fate would have been had this song not appeared when it did.” SF The song’s success led to a deal with I.R.S. Records in 1982. The band re-recorded the song for Murmur, their 1983 debut album. The newer version featured a slower tempo and some slightly different lyrics. It gave R.E.M. its first taste of chart success, reaching #78 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #25 on the album rock chart. The band didn’t like it as well as the original, saying of the Hib-Tone recording that it “crushes the other one like a grape.” WK |
PilgrimageR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Murmur (1983), And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years (compilation: 1982-87, released 2006) Peak: 21 CO Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.37 streaming About the SongWhen R.E.M. set about recording their first album, they started working with Stephen Hague, who would later work with New Order, the Human League, and O.M.D. CR-20 However, the band didn’t like his approach. As Peter Buck said, “Hague had us do songs 35 times. And then he’d put together an edit of say, the chorus from the 13th with he bridge from the 29th.” CR-20The band convinced I.R.S. Records to let them work instead with producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. R.E.M. went to Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, in December 1982 to record and mix a demo of “Pilgrimage.” Easter said, “That’s the only take we ever did and the only mix we ever did, that’s why I’m so pleased with it.” CR-25 “The track begins with a haunting and distant Stipe vocal and features an undeniably catchy chorus highlighted by Mills’ and Bery’s backing vocals. Berry’s percussive effects add a nice touch.” CR-25 |
LaughingR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Murmur (1983) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.99 streaming About the Song“With its layered guitar strums and Stipe’s sweet singing, ‘Laughing’ is…one of Murmur’s heavenly, but most mysterious treats, as most of the vocals are hard to decipher.” CR-25 Ironically, one of the few decipherable lyrics has been “misconstrued.” Stipe sings about “Laocoon, a freak mythological figure who had two sons. All three were devoured by serpents.” CR-25 Peter Buck has said even he was confused by the song. CR-25“While Stipe’s lyrics, even with any kind of explanation, remain for the most part a mystery, the instrumental approach to the song was fairly straightforward…‘We did this sort of protest sit-in thing with four people on acoustic guitars. It was me, Don Dixon, Pete Buck, and Mike Mills. Then we tracked it again, so there are eight acoustic guitars on it.’” said producer Mitch Easter. CR-25 |
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Talk About the PassionR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 11/14/1983 (single), Murmur (1983), Eponymous (compilation: 1981-87, released 1988), Best of (compilation: 1981-87, released 1991), And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years (compilation: 1982-87, released 2006), Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage (compilation: 1982-2011, released 2011) B-Sides: “Shaking Through,” “Carnival of Sorts (Boxcar),” “1,000,000” Peak: 36 CO, 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 9.53 streaming About the Song“The melancholic Talk About the Passion” AM “is the only song that R.E.M. didn’t have completely written before entering Reflection Sound Studios to record Murmur.” CR-26 Bill Berry has called the song a favorite. It “features Buck’s first guitar solo, which was taught to him by Mills, the bassist.” CR-26 They also hired a cello player “to add to the song’s bittersweet atmosphere.” CR-26“While the song’s emotionalism shined through the sweet melody and vocal, few picked up on the intent of Stipe’s lyrics. He said, “The song was about apathy…When I wrote it, I was thinking about the hunger in the world.” CR-26 When the song was released as a single in support of the band’s Eponymous compilation in 1988, a video clip made the intent clear. It “featured images of homeless people juxtaposed with a warship.” CR-26
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Moral KioskR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Murmur (1983) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.33 streaming About the Song“The amusing perplexity of…Moral Kiosk” SL “upped the ante on Murmur, hinting at a return to the more rocking approach the band favored on Chronic Town. On the track, Buck’s guitar has a more angular sound, while Berry adds some interesting percussive effects that bring the listener in and out of the song’s chant-like chorus. Another highlight is a Stipe yodel.” CR-26Regarding the lyrics, Mike Mills said, “Well, if you take what a kiosk is – a column and place where they post notices that say this is what you should do tonight or tomorrow – a moral kiosk, I guess, is either a place to tell you what you should do morally or a place to hide yourself from decisions you have to make.” CR-27 |
Perfect CircleR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Nov. ’86 (B-side of “Superman”), Murmur (1983), Best of (compilation: 1981-87, released 1991), And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years (compilation: 1982-87, released 2006) Peak: 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.50 streaming About the SongWith its “winding guitars and pianos” AM Perfect Circle “is one of the most beautiful songs R.E.M. have ever recorded.” CR-27 Stipe called it one of his “real gut-spillers.” CR-27 “The song developed from a Buck observation that was filtered through Stipe.” CR-27 Buck said, “I really love that song. I still have a real warm feeling for it.” CR-28“Berry came up with the music.” CR-27 He composed it on a little Casio keyboard in his kitchen. CR-27 In the studio, however, they used real pianos – in fact, two pianos. Bill Berry and Mike Mills were playing at the same time. CR-27 |
CatapultR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 10/16/1984 (B-side of “Don’t Go Back to Rockville”), Murmur (1983) Peak: 10 CO, 33 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.52 streaming About the Song“With its thumping bass and uplifting vocal that highlights the joys of childhood, ‘Catapult’ is an early R.E.M. standout, even if the band didn’t like it.” CR-28 When R.E.M. started working on their first album, they were paired with producer Stephen Hague. He “tried to professionalize the band’s sound with the use of a click track and overdubbed synthesizer” CR-28 on Catapult. Mitch Easter, who was later brought in with Don Dixon to replace Hague, said, “That was a problematic song…They hated that version of it so much…We recorded it again, but I don’t think they ever liked it.” CR-28 He believed in it enough that he said he thought it could have been a single. CR-28Peter Buck did note that the song “showed off a country influence that would become more apparent on Reckoning’s ‘Don’t Go Back to Rockville.’’ CR-28 He said, “It’s melodic and pithy and not chord-oriented, without being jerk-off guitar solos. I stick things in all the time that are real country.” CR-28
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Sitting StillR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 7/8/1981 (B-side of “Radio Free Europe”), Murmur (1983), And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years (compilation: 1982-87, released 2006), Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage (compilation: 1982-2011, released 2011) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.02 streaming About the Song“’Radio Free Europe’ wasn’t the only oldie to turn up on Murmur. Unlike that song, however, the band didn’t re-record Sitting Still, the B-side of the Hib-Tone single for Murmur.” CR-29 Producer Mitch Easter said they mixed it again and slowed it down a bit and might have re-done some out-of-tune backing vocals but essential the recording was the same. Guitarist Peter Buck said, “I think Mike re-did the bass, but the basic track is the same.” CR-29 |
9-9R.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 10/16/1984 (B-side of “Don’t Go Back to Rockville”), Murmur (1983) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.71 streaming About the Song“This explosive and discordant rocker…is the one song that threw a wrench into the theories that R.E.M. was nothing more than a group of Byrds copyists” CR-29 Producer Mitch Easter said, “It’s kind of not like anything else on the record. They were into bands like Gang of Four…and it was probably meant to be more…that type of song.” CR-299-9 “also has the distinction of being the R.E.M. song that is the most difficult to decipher, but that was their intent.” CR-29 Michael Stipe said, “We purposely recorded it so you would never be able to decipher any of the words except the very last phrase, which is ‘conversation fear,’ which is what the song is about.” CR-29 “The amusing perplexity of 9-9” SL |
Shaking ThroughR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: 11/14/1983 (B-side of “Talk about the Passion”), Murmur (1983), And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years (compilation: 1982-87, released 2006) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.97 streaming About the SongThis is another song that dates back to Chronic Town. R.E.M. did a demo of the song at the time but never recorded Stipe’s vocal. Otherwise, the version that appears on Murmur isn’t that different. “Highlights of the recording include a majestic piano, a catchy guitar part, and a wonderfully warm Stipe vocal.” CR31Neither Peter Buck nor producer Mitch Easter were “particularly big fans of the song.” CR-30 Easter said, “It was a little too complacent sounding to me. It didn’t grab me the way the others did.” CR-31 |
We WalkR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe Released: Murmur (1983), And I Feel Fine…The Best of the I.R.S. Years (compilation: 1982-87, released 2006) Peak: 33 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.90 streaming About the Song“With its nursery rhyme-like lyrics, sugary guitar picking, and odd studio effects, We Walk is possibly the weirdest and most enduring song on Murmur.” CR-31
It was one of the most difficult to record. Producer Mitch Easter tried using tape looping which gave the song the steadiness it needed, yet something still wasn’t right so they tried some studio experimentation. Easter said, “We had a mike set up in the hallway, in the staircase hallway near this rec room, which was under the control room, and that’s where Michael would sing.”
Stipe said an old acquaintance inspired the lyrics. “I used to know a girl who lived on the second floor of this house and every time she walked up the stairs, she would say, ‘Up the stairs, into the hall.’” CR-31
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West of the FieldsR.E.M. |
Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Neil Bogan Released: Murmur (1983) Peak: 35 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.34 streaming About the SongThis is a rare example of R.E.M. collaborating with someone outside the band. Neil Bogan was an Athens’ pal of Stipe’s who helped his friend fill in lyrics about a trip to New Orleans. Producer Mitch Easter called it a “kind of a cool dramatic song” CS-31 while guitarist Peter Buck said, “It just wasn’t any good…We wanted no lead guitar, and no heavy punk – just a fast, weird folk-rock record with tons of overdubs.” CR-31 |
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First posted 3/23/2008; last updated 10/4/2026. |
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