Fantastic doc with loads of little nuggets about the band's rise in the 80's and filled with some great stories.Superb stuff.

Well done Ken for putting this documentary together! Great to revisit their origins, having been in Athens I can just imagine the mystical atmosphere of their early days.

Nice work Ken! Morning coffee accompaniment in Brisbane 👍

I really enjoyed this as I lived in Athens from 1995-1997 and would run into Michael and the fellas all over town,  This was before cell phones or people carrying cameras.  I lived on Finley St across from the tree that owned itself!  Favorite memory was the foirst time I saw Michael Stipe at Guaranteed.  After eating my veggie burger I worked up the nerve to appoach him at the register and said, "Thanks for the music"To which he replied, "You're welcome." no autograph or picture.  Just a pure interaction of a gratefully starstruck fan and a musician!  After that I would see him about town in his Volvo station wagon, at Jittery Joe's or the Globe.  I always loved how nobody really paid them any mind.  A pure and lovely time!

By the early nineties R.E.M. found themselves one of the biggest bands on the planet. What they had achieved was beyond their wildest dreams but it had taken them over a decade to get there. This RTÉ Radio One music documentary recorded in Athens, Georgia and North Carolina in the US by Ken Sweeney takes the listener on that journey with R.E.M. out of Athens (Georgia). Without slick videos for the new MTV, or support from mainstream radio, R.E.M. built their following playing an alternative circuit of
gigs across America as evangelists for this new music. R.E.M. blazed a trail for every independent band to follow from Nirvana to Pearl Jam.

R.E.M. | Out Of Athens

RTÉ Radio 1 is Ireland's most-listened-to radio station. As a broadcaster with a public service remit at the heart of everything we do, RTÉ Radio 1 delivers daily news and current affairs, entertainment, arts and culture, sport, comedy and music. We also have one of the largest documentary units in the world in 'Documentary on One', which has over 1,000 documentaries archived on its website, www.rte.ie/doconone. In addition, RTÉ Radio 1's 'Drama on One'  is one of the oldest audio theatre departments in the radio world. For decades, we have brought our audience the very best dramatic writing and performances for radio.

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