Dive Bar Jukebox: All R.E.M. Edition
"Did you never call? I waited for your call."
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Dive Bar Jukebox: All R.E.M. Edition
Welcome back to Dive Bar Jukebox, where every Friday bartenders, writers, chefs, musicians, and a host of dynamic people answer the question: If we were hanging out together at a bar and I put ten credits on the jukebox, what songs would you punch in and why? The answers reveal thoughts on their favorite dive bars along with a hand-picked, annotated 10-song playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
And a warm welcome to the many new followers who’ve recently subscribed to LAST CALL—it’s great to have you here. We’ve had a solid DBJ run lately with popular posts and playlists from John Currence (James Beard Award-winning chef), Joe Stinchcomb (Co-owner and Beverage Director of Bar Muse), Daniel de la Nuez (Co-founder of Forthave Spirits), and Tony Milici (Bar Director at Rolo’s).
I kicked off LAST CALL’s inaugural Dive Bar Jukebox in July 2022 with my own personal playlist and since then have featured 35 of these Friday exclusive dispatches. It’s been my intention to drop back into the mix from time to time with a themed playlist of my own and the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s debut album, Murmur, which was released on April 12, 1983, seemed like the perfect occasion to drop an all-R.E.M. playlist.
It’s been said that if Murmur was the only album they ever released their influence would still be felt today but we’re lucky to have a career-spanning catalog from R.E.M. Founded in Athens, Georgia, by Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), Bill Berry (drums), and Michael Stipe (vocals), their first gig (when the band still didn’t have an official name) was on April 5, 1980 for a friends birthday party held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church.
On March 1, 1995, drummer Bill Berry had a ruptured brain aneurysm and collapsed on the stage during a performance at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, which forced him to take a break from the band. He came back but ultimately left in 1997. R.E.M. continued to record and perform as a trio with a roster of musicians sitting in and playing with them before ending the band in September 2011. They announced their split-up with the comment: “As lifelong friends and coconspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished.”
Here’s a look back at R.E.M’s first television performance on Late Night with David Letterman on October 6, 1983. They were there to play “Radio Free Europe,” their first single from Murmur, but after chatting with Dave they came back from break with a preview of a new, still-unnamed song, which would turn out to be “So. Central Rain,” the lead single from their next album, Reckoning.