R.E.M. Performs "Radio Free Europe" & "So. Central Rain" | Letterman
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- Опубликовано: 21 фев 2023
- The Athens band makes their network television debut.
(From "Late Night," air date: 10/6/83)
#rem #michaelstipe #letterman
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Welcome to the Letterman RUclips Channel, home to all your favorite clips from Late Night and Late Show - as well as conversations with the writers, producers and performers who helped make it all happen. The language may strike you as quaint & flowery, the clothing comically lacey & ornate - but that’s how things were back in this colorful and now bygone era. 
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It's hard for people to appreciate how radical this sound was in 1983. Where are the cold droning synths, the morgue vocals, the electronic drums, the hairspray? What a lifeline they were at that time. I've never fully recovered from Murmur.
Yup, was so radical that you would have had to go all the way back to 1973, 1963, or 1953 to hear the same thing, only better. Anyway, wasn't bad for a group of kids, until they graduated, became accountants and Michael Stipe cut his hair ;)
So radical you'd have to go all the way back to 1979, in fact@@smithmann5616
@smithmann5616 haha. Nice one troll
We’ve all heard the expression “ahead of its time.” REM was exactly 10 years ahead of its time. They pretty much invented 90s grunge.
Hadn't New Wave been around for 7-8 years in 1983?
This era of R.E.M. was magical
Good times for sure. Loved the early eighties
Everything they did from Chronic Town to Lifes Rich Pageant was amazing. I feel lucky to have experienced this as it happened.
Everything from Murmur to New Adventures… was 4-5 stars. After Bill left lots of good songs but not the same.
It's crazy how good they were right from the start.
was crazy to us Gen X kids and now feels like
Did anybody have a similar sound back then? Seems like they were wayyyy ahead of their time
They were basically the starters and popularized "college rock" aka today known as alternative music so bands like Nirvana, Radiohead, pearl jam, and other alternative bands Really loved REM. @@bamadave83
They gigged relentlessly. It shows!
I agree! They sound so professional and deep...and they were just kids...David L had no idea did he? Lol
Gotta love the matching Rickenbackers.
I don't play bass at all but I still want a 4003 just to plunk around on.
Just like the Jam
That's what made their sound.
Pure class
Man I'd give my left nut for a Rickenbacker bass, but a little wasted here with no effects. Cliff Burton showed the world how a Rick bass should be played.
This was the beginning of American Indie and Alternative rock.
I suppose they got on telly sooner than (eg Husker Du).
@@hackdaniels7253don’t forget the Replacements!
Mike Mills is the one who provides the drive and the hooks in both these songs....If there was any question of how important a bass player is in a band, this is the proof.
Murmur is one of the greatest albums of all time. A classic
way up in my top 10 personally!
Truly.
Masterpiece first album, up there with “greetings from asbury park”
You got that right ✅️
I wasn't even born when it came out but I've listened to it hundreds of times. Totally agree!
Easily one of the greatest Letterman music performances of the entire run. Legendary....
Most of the music greats performed on Letterman Paul shaffer's band is the greatest late-night house band ever. This performance is quite good, but there's so many!
@ChipOrdway Ooooor, you could find some standards.🤷♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤡
In the words of Richie from The Bear “ok…that’s a little much”
Mid AF 😂
@@spanqueluv9er Hopefully, not your standards...
Mills bass on Radio Free Europe is simply awesome. So melodic and driving.
I think the great musicianship of Mills, Buck & Berry is a lot of what separated them from their peers like the Replacements & Husker Du, etc. Those other bands had good songs but the musical parts weren't distinctive the way R.E.M.'s were.
In addition to being a great bassist his harmony on backing vocals is perfect.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World looks a lot like Mills on bass
FYP: Mills' bass is simply awesome. So melodic and driving.
@@RCAvhstape Berry's harmonies are overlooked too. Those three really locked in. I loved when they would sing those different parts over each other, whatever that is called, it isn't in round... but like on "Fall On Me" "Don't Fall on Me" sung by Michael with "What is it up in the air for... If it's there for long... it's over, it's over me" sung by Mills and "It's gonna fall" repeatedly sung by Berry. A masterpiece for what was just considered a "college rock" band at the time.
When this aired I was in South Korea serving in the US Army. I had been a DJ in college before joining and was into all kinds of music. I had read the Rolling Stone review of "Murmur" and bought the album at the PX. I may have been the first person to play REM in South Korea! I forced alot of my friends to hear REM and made them alot of fans.
I read the same Rolling Stone review and went out and bought that first album, too. I had started collecting music about 1980, and at the time it was just another album to add to my growing collection. 44 years and thousands of LPs/CDs later they're still one of my favorite bands.
Thank you for your service!
Prob 2-3 pm??
First tv performance and they slayed it like they had been playing for 30 years together!
I worked for a band that opened for them a few times in Berkeley, a couple years before this. they drew a huge crowd and I never really cottoned to it but they were obviously going places. It seems like they got better.
@@hoboroadie That must have been great to see them that early in their career! btw what band were you working for that opened for them? just curious.
And they had already by that point written several songs that would be classics for the next three, maybe four more albums.
I'm an old man now but I remember at 15 my family moving to some place where I knew no one in 1986...new school and living in a trailer on a dirt lot cuz we were building a house to live in. So lonely and down but I used to listen to REM in our car and it took me up and away from my circumstances and made me happy for a change. Seven Chinese brothers was a big song for me. I was really into U2 at the time as well.
You probably know, but Stipe and sister were military brats who went through that moving around and it was hard on them.
Man... So. Central Rain is so good and so quintessentially REM.... And they had the balls to debut it with no title on Letterman. Wow. Respect.
exactly, and they could have laid down this track 1 take and put it on the album and it would have been as good!
Peter Buck is so natural on stage. He dresses well, has zero ego, and bops around in thorough enjoyment. This is good music folks x
Peter is the real deal. Pure rock 'n' roll...
Great description of this great player.
Just saw him And Mike Mills in the baseball project
@@KOSMICKEN09 Lucky!! Wish they'd tour around a bit.
Influential as all hoolahoop.
Mike Mills plays bass like it's lead guitar. Bravo.
I love that Stipe, even in those nascent days of their career, takes a step back and lets Peter and Mike have their moment in the interview spotlight.
Early on Stipe was very socially awkward and shy and often tried to avoid doing interviews or talking to the press. Mills and Buck did a lot of the talking. Stipe did get better with his shyness and public speaking as he got older.
I would hope so. They wrote all the music.
He didn't take a step back. He was already in the back. He was painfully shy.
@@shelleyinthecity I'm 5 years older than Stipe--I had forgotten how beautiful and shy he was, OMG, but sounded so great! We lived in Atlanta, not far from Athens, GA, at that time, and I was happy to see the Athens bands coming out. We had just moved back south, having lived in Boston for 7 years, and I already loved the B52s. Look how generous the boys are, naming other unknown Athens bands! Sweethearts!
And Letterman could be brutal some nights! I was relieved to Not see him near Stipe!
R.E.M is timeless
You Reckon?
God Bless you David Letterman for bringing all these bands to the world! Seriously.
For 10k you could of played on there too
Producers choose this. Letterman hasn't a thing to do with it.
@@somchai272 Not always true--Letterman did care about some types of music. He certainly care about Warren Zevon's music.
wow 2 fender amps and 2 rickenbackers. i love how simple yet big early alt bands sounded.
I had this album & would play it beginning to end. They had their own sound. Love it!
Always liked the way Stripe held on to that microphone like he was in a damn wind turbine.
Mike Mills looks like a little kid when he walks up to Dave at the end of Radio Free Europe, and it's awesome.
And he commands Dave's attention! I love it!
This appearance made me a lifelong fan of R.E.M.
Good song, but for me it was "The One I Love". That song based in Em and with the guitar hook and thundering power chords by Peter Buck in the choruses made me, like you, a lifelong fan. Their "Out Of Time" album is still one of the greatest albums ever, and that contains neither of the two songs you and I love. Amazing.
Even Mike Mills "Texarkana" is way the hell up there in my favourite R.E.M. songs.
No, I don't like talking about R.E.M.
That EP changed the musical landscape. Am I wrong?
Great performance! The close captioning guy had no chance
@@jamesblatchford3738 🤣🤣🙄🤦♂️Yes. You’re very, very wrong. REM didn’t change a thing.
@@spanqueluv9er is that a joke
I always loved how shy and reserved Stipe was. You expect a front man to be dominant and ro be the speaker of the band. Instead, he's off sitting quietly near the drums while Peter and Mike talk to Dave.. It was interesting to watch him evolve over the years.
Drummer gettin' no love though.
And to watch his hair evolve! Or devolve 😂
Funny that by the 90s it was common for lead singers to be awkward introverts. Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan and Thom York to name a few.
It is no contradiction to be at one time extroverted and at other times rather introverted.
But he wasn't just sitting in the back. He was actively hiding from the camera. That's some extreme shyness 😃
I always enjoy listening to interviews with Mike Mills. He's such an interesting, enthusiastic, intelligent and charismatic person with no ego, no arrogance and no rock star swagger. You could meet him in a bar and not realise that he was a member of one of the most success bands of all time. He's always very generous and respectful to the interviewer even if they're poor with lazy cliched questions. I could listen to him all day.
1983. I was 13 and this set the direction for my life.
Where did you go?
@@avengemybreath3084 Up!
What a thing! To see this all these years later: I watched this performance on the very night it first showed. I always tried to stay up late for "viewer mail" on Thursdays. And here was this band. I bought the Murmur record that weekend and was a fan ever after. So cool to see again. What a World!
I did too. I loved Letterman and stayed up late every night to watch.
So. Central Rain is not only one of my favorite REM songs, it’s one of my all time favorite songs, period. Amazing to hear it before they even picked a name for it, and even more amazing that they were able to play a song that wasn’t even released yet on national television.
You can even hear the mistakes in the guitar playing at 7:01. Definitely a brand new song.
So new it didn't yet even have the guitar intro that opens the song in the recorded version (which I read somewhere Don Dixon actually came up with).
don´t go back to rockville was a simple but well done song
Stipe wrote this when REM was touring. They were in LA and there was torrential rainfall across the South and they were unable to get through to people back home due to downed phone lines. Of course the song is about more than that, but that was the origin moment. Three months from conception to Letterman.
Definitely underrated it’s my favorite song of theirs as well
In 1982, Rolling Stone magazine's critics picked REM Murmur
as the album of the year, over Thriller
I was an instant fan
I met the bass player at a small club in Atlanta. Super chill and and cool guy.
Michael Stipe’s voice is pure perfection to me. Just the right amount of emotion. I could listen to him all day and often do 😊
Agreed, his voice is unique in all the world.
@@keppela1yes me too!❤
Wait what? Groovy REM??? Stipe with pretty long curly hair??? Omg it's like a dream
In 1983, I was 17 and already a huge R.E.M. fan. I recorded this on my VCR the night it was on and watched it hundreds of times back then. For them to follow up Radio Free Europe with a new (and brilliant) song, "So. Central Rain," on their network TV debut was a bold move worthy of Dylan or the Beatles.
I was also 17 in 1983 and saw this live!
I was 3 in 1983 and became a fan hahahaha
I was much younger in 83. I remember 84 being a monumental year for music. I chuckled when I seen your message about taping with the VCR and rewatching it. I found REM way later. I was very on Twisted Sister, Prince's Purple Rain and of course Van Halen 1984. Those three kept me busy.
I was a foetus and became an instant fan hearing it muffled through my mom's stomach
Saw them in uk playing radio free Europe around same time
In the early to mid 1980s with so much of the airwaves dominated by top 40, Gen X got to hear music like this.
What a breath of fresh air this was...and still is. Brilliant.
I saw this when it first aired, it made me an instant R.E.M. fan. Letterman really had some great bands on, and he showed respect. I don’t know if it was Paul Schaffer or someone else on the show, but they obviously had a strong connection with what was happening in music.
Mike and Peter just bouncing around the room
Letterman really was great for new bands!
Vintage REM is the best. The chord progressions and melody on the second song👌
What a great band.
One of THE best, ever!!
No auto tune, no light show, no lasers, just a band and some amps and it sounds amazing.
The first time I saw this band live is when they opened for the Police in Hartford, CT. It was a rough night for them, with some gear problems. No bother, they were great. I knew they were going to be huge and I told my body with me at the show. He disagreed, but changed his mind later.
Oh my lands, they didn't have a name yet for what went on to become one of their greatest songs!! What a magnificent performance.
Don't worry i checked they're all alive. The news is just that Michael Stipe has his first solo album finally being released this year.
Oh good. The world can be bored stiff for a while.🙄🤦♂️🤦♂️🤡
@@spanqueluv9er
F. Trolls here..
He looked good with hair
Look at the energy......ah to be young again
So powerful. To see the outspoken Stipe sitting so shy in the background is amazing.
giving space to their peers too
Great album, great band, great year. Thanks, Dave.
I enjoyed our chats about music when you worked at Wuxtry Records, Peter. Pleased see your success.
Still sounds as powerful as ever. Talking Heads and REM birthed the alternative movement.
The Replacements too!
@@HughGenvoenni - Totally
*Pixies, Violent Femmes, Morphine... But yes, TRUE "alternative" music, and absolute greatness.
@@HughGenvoenniDon’t forget Husker Du.
Pylon.
Gotta love the Rickenbackers.
Just look at that pair of Rickenbackers! Most beautiful instruments in the world! Love that Mike dusted off that bass for Accelerate.
Peter almost twists his ankles a couple times.
LOL! too much energy
Unbelievable. The era. they were the light of the days and nights. Americana and English post punk and more. Beyond
Stipe is so great. Not sure he ever gets due respect!
So cool that they just play this brand new song without even having named it yet, in their first ever live television performance. And that it turns out to be a classic.
Dadgumit, I miss those old days! Two amazing performances by one of my all time favorite bands. Friends and I were obsessed with REM back in the mid 80s. I still consider Reckoning, one of my 3 favorite albums of all; along with London Calling and Abbey Road. Greatness.
Thats some good taste. Those are certainly up there for me as well with Ok Computer and Future Days
What a performance. And what an interview! Always great to see Letterman drop the act and talk genuinely to artists he appreciates. And these guys were just breaking through!
This is the beginning. By the time this band called it quits they had developed the finest,
most intellectually engaging catalogue of music in the history of American pop/rock music! Won't be equalled, certainly not in my lifetime.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING!! That voice!❤❤
What a very long time ago... 40 years goes by quick! They were my favorite band when this album came out. I saw them play at a local hockey rink lol
Noticeable bump in energy after the first chorus of RFE. It was like they figured out, hey, we've got this.
Probably nervous at first. Then they were like “oh yeh it’s just another gig”
Either that or the cocaine kicked in! 😂
Oh wow gonna watch again to see! (Yeah, THATS why I'm gonna watch again... Lol)
They were babies!! New Wave innovators...
What a time machine treat.
I was 1 in 1983. Crazy. My Mom used to have MTV on all day. I remember the video for Losing My Religion. I must have watched that video a couple hundred times as a kid. The CD single for Drive was one of the first CDs I ever bought on my own.
♥️
As opposed to TIK TOK....
I never really listened closely to the bass on Radio Free Europe, as Micheal's voice and the jangling guitar of Peter was what I focused on. However what a bass line and player!
Wow, this is one absolutely perfect example of me being a tiny little kid and really hearing a bass line worth hearing! Damn, it was almost 40 years ago and I still vaguely remember it :)
Total perfection. You couldn't have wanted a National TV debut to have gone better. Very interesting that Michael didn't talk to Dave between songs. Also ballsy to play a new song and not push the new album. Reminds me of when the Tragically Hip only played new stuff on SNL, when they could've easily made thousands of fans by playing a couple of the older bar tunes.
So young and beautiful! What an amazing and important band. Mike Mills' vocals are so good and compliment Michael Stiles sooo well.
These guys were so talented.
They were so young with great hair.
I'm a bass player and have been for more years than I care to mention. I saw a thing a thing about the bass line for "Good Vibrations" being possibly the best bass line ever ( I don't know why we pursue this " best ever " stuff anyway )...I mean it's a cool bass line for sure...but what Mike Mills is doing on these two songs here , is absolutely stellar !!! His lines are intricate , harmonic , punchy , and move these songs along in just the right way. Are these the "best bass lines ever" ??? Who's to say...all I know , is I love listening to what Mike Mills does in pretty much all of REM's songs ...My bass playing has gotten more creative by listening to this guy and I am happier with my playing because of discovering REM and Mike Mills especially...Thank you Mike !!!
"Rio" from Duran Duran has the best bass line ever.
This was everything to us back then. They influenced music in a way that hardly gets the respect it deserves. Those were indeed the days
I remember buying this record 1984 in Big W (Australia) for $1.99 having never heard of them. Best musical purchase ever.
I was 13 years old in 1983. Missed this performance but discovered them a few years later. Their 1983-1988 catalog was the soundtrack of my college years even though I was a few years behind. A top five American band of all time in my opinion.
Radio Frees pre chorus baseline is very, very nice 🤌
Man it's crazy how many times I've watched this since I found it a few weeks ago.... Mills and Buck are synergistic musical magicians... And Stipe being so shy yet confident at the same time... R.E.M. were so far ahead of their time.
THANK GAWD for these guys fr Athens
I remember watching this live and wondering if I'd ever hear that awesome unnamed song again. Radio Free was already an underground hit that I loved, but that second song blew me away. The jangly Rickenbacker and up beat bass mixed with the melancholy sound of Michael Stipe's vocals were a perfect sweet and sour for my ears and mind. When I finally heard it again I was thrilled! An entirely new sound, and I loved it. And I still can only figure out two words in the lyrics.
What an incredible drummer Bill was
man i would KILL to be in that audience lol
Stipe always had perfect pitch, regardless of whether it was in the studio or live.
I was 6yrs old at the time this broadcast.
By 1992?
REM was a tp5 favorite band of mine.
I was 18 and saw this, loved R.E.M ever since… now my 24 year old son listens to them 😊
Best REM album. This one was played constantly.
Forty years - still rocks
Letterman - You introduced one of America's greatest ever bands.
When I began DJ'ing in College, this was the first album I bought to play EVERY night.
I remember it. The show changed that day and started reaching out to a younger country. It was cool. I have been wanting to watch this again for a long long time. Thanks.
I remember seeing this.
Peter Buck, be still my heart. Peak R.E.M. here.
Remember seeing the video for So. Central Rain as a 19 year old when it first came out in 83, believe it was on Friday Night Videos. It struck me then that both the song and the band really stood out quite a bit from everything else that you would have seen on that show at the time. It both harkened back to jangly 60s pop and also showed the way towards the future in the late 80s/early 90s.
well stated
Primitive production. No light show. Simple stage. What you see is what you get. I love that you can hear the hum of the amps when dave did the mid set interview.
...and-as NBC hadn't gone stereo yet--in full in your face mono sound!
The best part!
The first thing I noticed was how Peter has his amp mic'd for this performance. True analog bliss.
Although the sound quality is awesome, congrats to those engineers
Drums too loud.
The Herschel Walker comment always makes me laugh.
I saw R.E.M. in Portland, Oregon in June of 1984. Michael was on crutches/sitting on a stool for the concert, but it did not diminish his performance. Great times!
Man, these guys were firing on all cylinders. This is what is--for me--to be an artist.
What an incredibly amazing band 🙏
I love their early music. Feels like Sun dappled days.
I was 21 when RFE landed. The intensity with which it cut through everything else can’t be overstated. It felt like it came from another place. Feels like yesterday.
It’s so adorable they don’t even have the sense to answer his questions into the microphone