First Time You Heard

R.E.M. (1980-2011)
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First song I heard was Shiny Happy People, in the spring/summer of 1991. I’d have been 12 or 13. Would’ve been either on the radio, or the Chart Show (a music programme that was on TV on Saturday mornings in the UK).

I remember liking it, in the same way that I liked a lot of pop/rock/indie stuff at that time. It didn’t stand out.

But then I started hearing Losing My Religion on the radio. That did stand out. I’d never heard a song like that before. By the 9th or 10th time I heard it, it had become my favourite song.

Then Near Wild Heaven came out. Then Radio Song. Then the re-releases of The One I Love and End of the World. Loved them all.

Asked for Out of Time for Christmas, and by the time Automatic came out the following year I had most, if not all, of the back catalogue.

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42

Pretty sure it was South Central Rain in 1984, when my older sister came home from college for the summer a newly minted R.E.M. fanatic. By the time Fables came out, I was buying my own copies of their albums.

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43

What picture??

44

In Michael’s photography book?

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45

Oh, thought it was posted somewhere. Thank you…

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Songs: Low, Losing My Religion and Fall On Me
Where: In car, between Sydney and Orange NSW Australia
Year: July 1995

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47

Honestly? Not a clue.

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48

Losing My Religion-MTV 1991 Simi Valley, CA. My mom bought me Out Of Time on CD the next day. That’s where and when it all started for me. My life was Completely changed.

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49

I was driving home one night and fell in love with Shiny Happy People & R.E.M. playing on the radio.

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50

I think it was Radio Free Europe on an NME compilation tape around 1987 that got me hooked. Id have been aware of The One I Love around the same time, but it was RFE that made me go and borrow the albums from the library to tape. Ive since made up for that and own all of them up to NAIHF on record.

As regards the above, that “dumb pop song” Stand absolutely blew me away. What a tune.

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