I can’t tell you my shoe size or what I had for breakfast but I can tell you that 39 years ago today I walked into Record Bar/Tracks in Jacksonville Mall in Jacksonville, NC. They were playing the album as I entered the store. The song was “Disturbance at the Heron House.” The girl behind the counter that sold me the record had her arm in a cast. The week before, I’d just turned 25 years old.
This was a different R.E.M. but I didn’t view them as sell outs or anything of the sort. It was a continuing evolution of their sound. I loved them no less. They reached Top 40 radio. They would soon be on the cover of Rolling Stone, who declared them to be “ America’s Best Rock n’ Roll Band.” They were no one’s well kept secret anymore. In a few short years they would catapult to international stardom. File under fire. Allied no. 5.
