R.E.M.

Before Nirvana broke the mainstream, R.E.M. built the underground railroad that got alternative rock there. They emerged from the humid art-school scene of Athens, Georgia in the early ‘80s, weaving a new American mythos from Peter Buck’s shimmering Rickenbacker arpeggios and Michael Stipe’s beautifully mumbled poetry. Their early run on I.R.S. Records, culminating in the cryptic perfection of 1983’s Murmur, defined the entire college rock movement. When they later conquered the world with Warner Bros. hits like “Losing My Religion,” it wasn’t a compromise. It was the sound of the world finally catching up to a band that had been broadcasting from its own strange, beautiful frequency all along.