10 Amazing Albums Turning 30 In 2021
6. Out of Time - R.E.M.
When R.E.M. first started to get the ball rolling in the early '80s, there was no grand plan for them to become the dominant force in rock music or anything. Operating out of the college rock circuit, albums like Murmur and Reckoning were amazing while still being just a bit left of center to compete with the likes of Madonna or Prince. In the '90s though, these college rockers were about to go on an album run for the ages.
Starting with Out of Time, R.E.M. started to take their sound into every direction they could think of, going so far as to hook up with KRS One for the first song on the record. While some songs like Shiny Happy People have been laughed at nowadays, the rest of this record is a '90s blast from start to finish, including Half a World Away and Radio Song.
This is also where you start to see the band wear their heart on their sleeve a little bit more, with Losing My Religion being one of the most slumming tracks of their entire career. For a year as eclectic as 1991, Out of Time operates as both a well aged product of its time as well as a great foreshadowing of the amazing band that we were going to be working with going forward.