5 BEST R.E.M. ALBUMS AND SONGS

5 Best R.E.M. Albums and Songs

I love music documentaries. Recently, a friend asked fro a good one to watch. I immediately blurted out "R.E.M by MTV," which is a two hour documentary about the legendary college rock band that came out in 2015. Why did I feel like this one was the first one to watch? Well, R.E.M was my band in my own college years. R.E.M. is the reason why the guys at my former day job, a hip hop radio station, say I have a black hole in my knowledge of hip hop and R&B from 1985 to 1990. And, they're right…I was in a alternative phase and R.E.M. was my gateway into college/alt rock. My own band, The Surrealtors, who played around Houston in the late 80's and early 90's had an R.E.M. influence and we did several covers of the band. Hey, but enough of my blabbering about the importance of R.E.M. - how good is "R.E.M. by MTV?" Very good. With the band starting around the same time MTV really kicked in, the footage is nostalgic and tells the story in an innovative way. It was kind of nice to see old Tabitha Soren and her reports from the road along with "120 minutes" footage. "R.E.M. by MTV" is only available on DVD and some ways through Amazon Prime (one of those free trial things). Saying all this, I thought I'd give you my faves for fans and newcomers to the group--here are my five best R.E.M. songs and albums.