R.E.M.

The new episode of Rock in Onda, the show hosted by Claudio Fabretti on the digital frequencies of Radio Città Aperta, is dedicated to the story of R.E.M.

Through the pages of the book "Perfect Circle – Testi commentati" (Arcana, 2012) and the songs of Michael Stipe and co., we retrace the story of the band that managed to ferry indie-rock onto the big stage of the mainstream without ever betraying its identity. From their beginnings at college parties in Athens, Georgia, to their first successes in the '80s, through to worldwide stardom in the Warner era and the breakup announced in 2011. A gripping saga that translated three decades of American history into music and lyrics, spanning political commitment, heartfelt ballads and enigmatic autobiographical reflections.

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R.E.M.

Michael Stipe and co. never needed special effects to amaze. Not even when they were strumming their jingle-jangle tunes in the old deconsecrated church on Oconee Street, in front of relatives and friends. From road trips in a Dodge van to major tours in arenas across half the world, they made their mark purely through the elegant simplicity of their songs. Rickenbacker arpeggios and enchanted melodies, melodic basslines and incisive but never overbearing drumming. For a long time, after all, this simple alchemy was enough for that "group of nineteen-year-olds who wanted to change the world," as guitarist Peter Buck romantically put it. Indeed, because feelings have played anything but a secondary role in the story of R.E.M., a formidable circle of affection and genuine friendship even before being a band. Beyond the tensions and occasional squabbles, their strength has above all lain in their unity of purpose, their team spirit.

The arc of the Georgians, however, also tells us much more. Starting with the ferrying of indie-rock onto the big stage of the mainstream. A high-risk operation that Stipe and co. pulled off without losing themselves, managing to combine million-dollar contracts with respect for their earliest fans. From the very beginning of "Murmur", the four of them were aware of being standard-bearers for a new rock nation, part of that nouvelle vague that would overhaul the American scene of the '80s and '90s from its foundations. A squad of alternative and independent bands working against the grain of the glossy trends of the time, keeping a safe distance from the music business spotlight and MTV screens. But, unlike their fellow travelers, R.E.M. already had all the weapons needed to break through the narrow banks of the underground and win over the mainstream audience.

An unstoppable progression. Just like that Rapid Eye Movement, harbinger of dreams, that gave the band its perfect acronym. From the golden age of college radio, which amplified their underground legend, to the “graduation diploma” of “Document”, which would ferry them into the multimillion-dollar harbor of the majors as early as the following “Green”, all the way to the era of bestsellers (“Out Of Time” and “Automatic For The People“) and a surprisingly vital maturity, culminating in the epic and supremely courageous “New Adventures In Hi-Fi”. A run that seemed to have reached its terminus with the departure of drummer Bill Berry, but which instead carried on “three-legged”, through ups and downs, all the way to the final stop of “Collapse Into Now“.

But through the long journey of Stipe and his bandmates, one can also retrace three crucial decades of American history. Their songs first mirrored the restless youth of the post-punk era, grappling with the yuppie ambition of the Reagan epoch and the last ghosts of the Cold War; then the "Generation X" of the Nineties, suspended between the mirage of prosperity of the Clinton years and the military-business drift of the Bush administrations, the indignant "no global" community, and finally the wounded, bewildered nation of the post-9/11 era.

Culturally distant both from the protest-driven, ideological spirit of the '70s and from the destructive nihilism of punk and the iconoclastic fury that would later resurface in grunge, R.E.M. channeled their civic commitment with a strongly constructive spirit, nurturing hope for a different America. Environmental battles, often alongside Greenpeace, struggles for civil rights and for a more transparent economy, invectives against imperialism, but also against the hatred and ignorance that too often turned America into an Ignoreland, were the tools for "uniting and building a new country," as they put it in "Cuyahoga," immersing themselves in the blood-red waters of the Native American river. "We are young despite the years we are concern/ We are hope despite the times": in the end, it had already all been written here, in those two lines from "These Days," where Stipe and co. proclaimed their challenge to the world. A vocation that found its natural outlet in the evolution of communication and the advent of the internet, which R.E.M. knew how to exploit with foresight and clarity.

Their "new America," however, has not lost its memory, the recollection of the deep roots and values on which it was founded. The Georgians, in fact, stood as fierce guardians of tradition. Dusting off those rural, provincial stories of frontier and railroad that have filled the pages of Southern literature. Maps and legends, fairy tales and campfire tales, the kind passed down from generation to generation. As if jealously wanting to preserve a heritage at risk of being lost amid the bulimic frenzy of contemporary culture.

Beyond the social and political implications, however, their songbook is above all a mirror of Michael Stipe's multifaceted personality. A collage of free associations, dreamlike flashes, religious symbolism, autobiographical memories and wordplay, often built in cut-up form, at times riding purely on linguistic suggestion.

(From "Perfect Circle – Testi commentati" – Claudio Fabretti, Arcana, 2012)

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Feel free to send us comments, suggestions and ideas for future episodes, via Facebook or by email at: rockinonda@ondarock.it We'd be glad to build future tracklists with your input too.

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19/03/2026