Requiem for R.E.M., the world's greatest band

In my middle school years, 1979 to 1981, the biggest band in the U.S., and perhaps the world, was Kiss, comprising four heavy-metal imps decked out in black-and-white war paint and rhinestone-studded body suits, breathing fire and spitting blood in their phantasmagorical stage show, replete with rocket fire and levitating drums.

Kiss creeped me out. The band still does.

Midway through my high school years, 1981 to 1985, Madonna took center stage, peddling sex like no other siren in music history. Young girls donned frilly blouses, skimpy mini-dresses, heavy makeup and all manner of bows in their overly frizzy hair, often died blond, just like the Material Girl.

Madonna creeped me out. She still does.

We also had Boy George, George Michael and Michael Jackson. No comment.

There were, however, bright spots in the bizarre musical milieu of the 1980s. We had Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellancamp and U2.

Then there was my favorite group, R.E.M. The alternative-rock band was formed in 1980 by four 20-something University of Georgia undergrads –– lead singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. Their first hit single, “Radio Free Europe,” was released in July 1981, when I turned 14. It caught my attention during my junior year of high school, in 1984. I wasn’t sure what Radio Free Europe was at the time, but I loved the song’s frenetic, jangly sound, and the group performing it appeared normal to me. That is, the four seemed nerdy, and they weren’t promoting sex and drugs as an integral part of rock ’n’ roll.

I later learned that Radio Free Europe was the news/propaganda broadcast that the U.S. government beamed from West Germany to Eastern Europe during the Cold War to encourage people to overturn communism and seek democracy. In 1991, at 24, I joined the U.S. Peace Corps. I count listening to Radio Free Europe in a democratic Bulgaria, where I served in the corps, as one of the great moments of my life. Now turning 60, Radio Free Europe is based in the Czech Republic and still going strong.

But I digress.