Icon: R.E.M.
By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-Chief
Conventional wisdom about R.E.M. holds that the group's best records were made in their early, indie years and that their work for Warner Brothers, though commercially successful, was creatively fallow. And, like much conventional wisdom, this is patently false. Though it provides a convenient dividing line for the group's sprawling discography and serves to reaffirm shopworn assertions that major labels ruin vital indie bands, even a cursory run through eight of the nine studio records… more »