R.E.M. Performs "Radio Free Europe" & "So. Central Rain" | Letterman

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 KZbin 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.

[@yeldarb3058]

Bill Berry was an absolute metronome. So precise and complimented the rest of the band so well.

[@phila3884]

Here, here! Undersung.

[@SilentServiceCode]

complemented.

[@yeldarb3058]

Thank you for your service.

[@chrissennfelder7249]

It's crazy how good they were right from the start.

[@davidtaylor6663]

was crazy to us Gen X kids and now feels like

[@bamadave83]

Did anybody have a similar sound back then? Seems like they were wayyyy ahead of their time

[@jarretthoyle2574]

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

[@matthewling2663]

They gigged relentlessly. It shows!

[@stargazer9990]

I agree! They sound so professional and deep...and they were just kids...David L had no idea did he? Lol

[@SavageDawgJoshua]

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.

[@genxcraig]

exactly, and they could have laid down this track 1 take and put it on the album and it would have been as good!

[@ThisSteveGuy]

Gotta love the matching Rickenbackers.

[@FreezerKing]

I don't play bass at all but I still want a 4003 just to plunk around on.

[@billybeetroot8595]

Just like the Jam

[@johnotis6764]

That's what made their sound.

[@jimjohnjimmyguy3019]

Pure class

[@SavageDawgJoshua]

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.

[@philyates7670]

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.

[@Goatchild90]

Murmur is one of the greatest albums of all time. A classic

[@dspf68]

way up in my top 10 personally!

[@chewycenter7690]

Truly.

[@mexicooutlawpickleball3670]

Masterpiece first album, up there with “greetings from asbury park”

[@davidmorris2834]

You got that right ✅️

[@charlottecorday8494]

I wasn't even born when it came out but I've listened to it hundreds of times. Totally agree!

[@AnkurWow]

10 years ahead of their time. This was a precursor to the 90s scene (minus the flannel), from Nirvana (who were big REM fans and friends with them) to Lisa Loeb, etc.

[@edpoe1108]

You can actually hear the REM influence in Kurt's vocals. Not a copy, but there's a similar timbre in his delivery.

[@Spitson7771]

This was the beginning of American Indie and Alternative rock.

[@hackdaniels7253]

I suppose they got on telly sooner than (eg Husker Du).

[@Riffmaster227]

@@hackdaniels7253don’t forget the Replacements!

[@ericspagnoli1594]

Absolutely

[@Alex-wg8zl]

Are you forgetting Velvet Underground

[@MarkTarmannPianoCheck_it_out]

@@Alex-wg8zl From them all things alt flowed. The spring from which the different and the good drank.

[@steve1751]

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 😊

[@keppela1]

Agreed, his voice is unique in all the world.

[@tia2all501]

@@keppela1yes me too!❤

[@anneglass8084]

R.E.M is timeless

[@CreachterZ]

You Reckon?

[@PaulMikna]

Letterman really was great for new bands!

[@ricksch43]

I think Paul Schaefer had a lot of input on the musical guests, he was very keen on new emerging music.

[@Biwwyb23]

my mom went out with him in the 80's and i imagine that being me with him back then

[@benelleliv8572]

So powerful. To see the outspoken Stipe sitting so shy in the background is amazing.

[@gmansi]

giving space to their peers too

[@bigeyejim]

God Bless you David Letterman for bringing all these bands to the world! Seriously.

[@nathanbellamy3308]

For 10k you could of played on there too

[@somchai272]

Producers choose this. Letterman hasn't a thing to do with it.

[@mollyhall2954]

@@somchai272 Not always true--Letterman did care about some types of music. He certainly care about Warren Zevon's music.

[@TrevorPaull-xe1yq]

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 !!!

[@papimontuno6821]

"Rio" from Duran Duran has the best bass line ever.

[@sadmachines6991]

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.

[@mollyhall2954]

You probably know, but Stipe and sister were military brats who went through that moving around and it was hard on them.

[@GarageWoodworks]

This band is going to be huge!

[@the26incher]

definitely

[@freddybaggins8713]

Man, so glad I found this! What a time capsule…I remember they first caught my ear in the early 80’s and one of my favorite bands ever since. What a privilege to be able to see this. Young Lions and Nailin’ it, man!

[@MrWeezer55]

I had the good fortune to be working in a club they came and played in one weekend...first gig they played outside of Georgia. They rocked the house and owned it. Next day everywhere you went someone was singing 'Don't...go back..to Rock-ville!'

[@gorbythechef]

@@MrWeezer55 You are so stupid

[@moderndancer9071]

I had this album & would play it beginning to end. They had their own sound. Love it!

[@rockturtleneck]

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.

[@mariameredith5328]

I was also 17 in 1983 and saw this live!

[@mellonhead6180]

I was 3 in 1983 and became a fan hahahaha

[@chadczternastek]

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.

[@sexobscura]

I was a foetus and became an instant fan hearing it muffled through my mom's stomach

[@davehoward22]

Saw them in uk playing radio free Europe around same time

[@bravefalcon1970]

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.

[@darklordlc]

The purity of their sound at this moment was amazing. No BS, no effects. Amazing stuff that is timeless.

[@neilbaesel3767]

Agreed. I like their middle-era stuff as well (they got weaker in their later years IMHO) but there was just something about this early lo-fi era that's awesome. I like that the post-punk vibe is still front forward.

[@alexgrantham4747]

Almost too clean. This kind of thing is more hardcore than metal imo. Takes real balls.

[@Breakbeats92.5]

It's for T.V. I think this is live so there is some heavy, and I mean heavy compression on each instrument. Not taking anything away from them, they bring it live and sound great. But there are guard rails in place to minimize a botched performance.

[@qqw743]

The vocal mix is awful.

[@calixa]

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.

[@LGBarnesIII]

They were the Beatles of the '80s. Their growth during that decade was amazing.

[@scott9580]

I've made the same comparison more than once!

[@Biwwyb23]

@@scott9580 you two have lost your damn minds. LOL

[@gorbythechef]

@@Biwwyb23 You don't know what you're talking about

[@BeeHatGuy]

​@@gorbythechefAmen

[@danielcolehour6454]

YES! I like the cut of your jib,my friend.

[@TiaCatR]

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

[@davidmurray2539]

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.

[@paulhardman2515]

So young and beautiful! What an amazing and important band. Mike Mills' vocals are so good and compliment Michael Stiles sooo well.

[@fdrstan]

Still sounds as powerful as ever. Talking Heads and REM birthed the alternative movement.

[@HughGenvoenni]

The Replacements too!

[@randolfo1265]

@@HughGenvoenni - Totally

[@SavageDawgJoshua]

*Pixies, Violent Femmes, Morphine... But yes, TRUE "alternative" music, and absolute greatness.

[@paulsonj72]

@@HughGenvoenniDon’t forget Husker Du.

[@douglasjohnson4382]

Pylon.

[@paulya1269]

Came home that night, flicked on the TV and this happened. I remember it so clearly. I’d never heard of R.E.M. and was instantly hooked on their sound and Stipe’s voice. What a band!

[@Biwwyb23]

this is true i was crashing on the couch at the time! I also remember it very clearly. Orange brown and yellow hand knit blanket and coors light in the fridge. I loved it there. thank you. Hope you're well paul.

[@gorbythechef]

@@Biwwyb23 You are so stupid

[@void0094]

This era of R.E.M. was magical

[@admobeer9551]

Good times for sure. Loved the early eighties

[@ellemjay]

Everything they did from Chronic Town to Lifes Rich Pageant was amazing. I feel lucky to have experienced this as it happened.

[@Alan-gi2ku]

Everything from Murmur to New Adventures… was 4-5 stars. After Bill left lots of good songs but not the same.

[@ManchurianCounterweight]

@@ellemjay me too.

[@jonneukam]

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.

[@tompabreza6487]

Paul was music director and presented most of the acts so give him the props.

[@Dana-wq5tp]

Stipe always had perfect pitch, regardless of whether it was in the studio or live.

[@ChuckAtComicList]

Great album, great band, great year. Thanks, Dave.

[@alonzogarbanzo]

FLAWLESS performance. Double Rick attack and studio-quality (or better) vocals from Michael, Mike and Bill. These kids had it from the very beginning. Bravo.

[@davidzack8875]

I was fortunate to catch REM in St. Petersburg FL on their Lifes Rich Pageant tour. Mitch Easter opened for them, and Roger McGuinn sat in for a couple of tunes with Stipe and company. They played a few songs that appeared on Document a year later. They were making their set list on the fly, and it was sublime. They closed with a subdued version of “So. Central Rain.” The highlight of the show for me was when Mills belted out “Superman.”

[@antonleimbach648]

No auto tune, no light show, no lasers, just a band and some amps and it sounds amazing.

[@Biwwyb23]

would be kind of cool if they had used auto tune, light show, and lasers, though.

[@SaintMartins]

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.

[@spanqueluv9er]

Oh good. The world can be bored stiff for a while.🙄🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤡

[@marceibel1131]

​@@spanqueluv9er F. Trolls here..

[@theworldwelivein-ud3cd]

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.

[@sallyfulham2346]

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!

[@eileenhwalsh]

Wow that’s the music of my youth. It brought me right back. ❤️

[@RaoulDukeSr]

What an incredibly amazing band 🙏

[@Fnortner01]

I loved these guys due to seeing them in this performance on Letterman back then, and still do love this performance.

[@cjrepholz]

This band changed my life

[@keithbrian7129]

Forty years - still rocks

[@paulcardsfan]

REM always ♥️ a great band 👌

[@frankmachin5438]

Seriously.... how good is this? ❤

[@Fordham1969]

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.

[@kravitz1999]

well stated

[@rawbones4117]

Always liked the way Stripe held on to that microphone like he was in a damn wind turbine.

[@mattycobby27]

Look at the energy......ah to be young again

[@glennsak]

Best REM album. This one was played constantly.

[@ConglomerationCat]

And with this, my infatuation with Rickenbackers began.

[@joshuamervis]

"They airbrushed my face!"

[@andrewpadyk67]

I saw REM at the Raleigh Pier in 1982 just as Murmur was about to be released. Incredible, very small crowd. Then again at Cameron Indoor at Duke in 1987. Very different experience as the band had really taken off, and the larger venue.

[@HugoFDiaz]

I love to see them have a lot of fun playing this song!!! I saw this vid 100 times and I don’t tire. The bass is so tight and melodic. Everything! Voice, guitar and drums in this first song sounds great! RFE is my new few song from them! I love the spirit!

[@brownlauren15]

They were babies!! New Wave innovators...

[@johnnolan4312]

Seen them tour this album in Toronto Canada in a 200 seat venue, pretty cool memory

[@Steve-wp6qk]

Remember watching this in my dorm at Indiana University and I was hooked instantly. A couple years later they came to record Life's Rich Pageant at Mellencamp's studio outside of Bloomington. They were men about town for a few months (well, except Stipe, rumour had it there was a new fellow in his life at the time) and I got a chance to meet Peter and Mike Mills at a bar. Both very friendly guys. One of the greatest bands ever, IMHO. Great memories!

[@josephdufresne1028]

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.

[@djlueck]

I was a bit young. Born 78 found them in about 88. Been a huge influence on the way I approached music art and life since. 🙏

[@sammydavis991]

Peter almost twists his ankles a couple times.

[@gmansi]

LOL! too much energy

[@pav7997]

Radio Frees pre chorus baseline is very, very nice 🤌

[@dswcnn]

The Herschel Walker comment always makes me laugh.

[@incognitotorpedo42]

Oh my God, they're just babies!

[@JeffCogswell]

He’s sitting there chatting with Mike and Peter while Michael and Bill are hiding 😂 I get it!

[@Darm0k]

Love the energy.

[@JennHasThoughts]

Look at how adorable they were. 😊

[@LizGuenther-j1w]

The minute I heard this band I was hooked.

[@GreggBennett-j3p]

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.

[@VidaVidaVida80]

I grew up in the 90s and never knew Michael had curls. Beautiful performance ❤

[@jasonpeters9716]

I was 6yrs old at the time this broadcast. By 1992? REM was a tp5 favorite band of mine.

[@sarasoka3369]

Same same

[@adamfindlay7091]

Love thelyrics in the song i cannot decipher. R.E.M. no fuzzdistortion needed, eh. blue suede boots. This's timeless!!!!

[@dspf68]

Stipe is so great. Not sure he ever gets due respect!

[@cemoihonay]

From the Everly Brothers to REM to Nirvana ❤️

[@daveyboy9094]

I'ts been a very long tine since I listened to REM. Oh how the memories come back.

[@TTM9691]

Wow, this was a big deal because you got the whole band; before (and after) you had to use Paul Shaffer and the band (I think for contractual reasons). Somehow R.E.M. got around it. Legendary appearance, and I'm grateful to see it again at this high quality!

[@sdean4816]

Probably my favorite REM song.

[@aaroncook7036]

Killer performance.... their early stuff doesnt get enough attention

[@keppela1]

Yup, they peaked with their first album, IMO.

[@bamadave83]

Being born in 1983, I wasn’t around for this era and honestly didn’t know some of these until the last 5 years. It’s so ahead of its time and I like it some better than their stuff I grew up on

[@808studios5]

I did not fully grasp until this video just how much of a The Jam vibe they were putting out there around Murmur. The Ricky bass ala Bruce Foxton and Bill Berry is Buckler all the way down to how he sits on the throne. Incredible!

[@bryannelson6139]

These guys are pretty good. They just might go places!

[@joet7644]

The greatest rock band of all time

[@cjp1599]

Nah... top 20, but not no 1.

[@joet7644]

@cjp1599 I guess one of the joys of art is people will always have different opinions.

[@rogerdavidson6236]

“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.”

[@seanbrohman4138]

God they sound perfect

[@jasonpeters9716]

Definitely a "Marty McFly" moment here. "You all might not be ready for this, but yer kids are gonna love it." Born in 77, graduated HS 95. REM been my tp5 band last 35yrs.

[@johnmcinerney1135]

Saw them in April, 1983, as the warmup act for the English Beat.

[@chateaupig826]

so Hip , SO HappeniNG - damn I love that BAss

[@katieking7671]

He looked good with hair

[@maxhall8561]

I can’t believe how much this sounds like pearl jam, you can hear where Eddie got a lot of influence from and as it’s the unknown era of REM, he’s managed to rip them off well. No problem with that! this sound could be the earliest sounds of grunge unknowingly.

[@Mia_Mayaa]

On the rock hall of fame show he kinda mentioned their influence on him from the beginning

[@McGrogansSchool]

Stars even still

[@gracielamunoz180]

REM the best. Wish they would tour again.❤

[@robertbrown3350]

One of the first two albums I v]bought new, with Marshalll Crenshaws Field Day.

[@jasonpeters9716]

Letterman always had best taste

[@revwillyg6450]

They're practically kids! Wow, time flies

[@sheilahayden816]

Michael Stipe is the youngest of the group. He was 23 at the time of this broadcast.

[@thomasaquinas157]

I knew a relative of Matt Sweet in '82. Matt was hanging out with REM when they were recording Murmur. Apparently REM just fudged the lyrics when they didn't have any. I thought it was pretty funny and it stuck in my mind. Little did I know that REM would go on to become such a big band. And Matt was unknown in '82. Fun memory looking back.

[@davidjohnson1654]

This is GREAT stuff! And wow, they were so tight as a band, even at this early stage! :)

[@MedalionDS9]

College Rock/Alternative Rock of the 80's

[@MoGhotbi]

I was 19 and this was magical.

[@artanisknarf]

I was just going to watch it for a minute, but got hooked till the end!

[@danieljulian4676]

They knew what they were doing. When Rick Beato recently went down the list of what he considers REM's best, these were the first two he reviewed. Now we know what we were about to explore.

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Gotta love the Rickenbackers.

[@nomnomnomJon]

More band clips from late night please!