Library Rock's Backpages

R.E.M.: Post-Yuppie Pop

Jon Savage, The Observer, 21 May 1989

"I COULD TURN YOU inside out! But I choose not to!" R.E.M.’s singer Michael Stipe, back arched, is bellowing into a megaphone. Five songs into their concert at the Onondoga War Memorial Hall in Syracuse, an upstate New York college town, R.E.M. are into their stride. The Memorial Hall, built in 1951 and running to seed, is filled with over 8,000 bodies and this mixed audience of students, rock fans and teens attracted by R.E.M.’s current hit single is going gently berserk amid purple and orange light.

Total word count of piece: 1528

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.