No Filler: Jangly, Murky, Mysterious - How R.E.M's Murmur Ushered In The Alt Rock Wave

We chat about R.E.M's debut record, Murmur and try to imagine what it was like to hear this style of rock for the first time in 1983. Hearing it now, R.E.M's mix of jangly 60s pop and folk rock with garage rock attitude sounds so normal and common after the band's influence shaping the sound of countless rockers for nearly four decades. But at the time, critics knew it was special. So much so that Rolling Stone put it at its best album of the year, beating out Michael Jackson's Thriller, Police's Synchronicity, and U2's War, to name a few. The next iteration of rock was here, and R.E.M. was the flagbearer.