10 Amazing Songs Written In 30 Minutes Or Less

R.E.M. have released a total of fifteen studio albums over a career that spanned 31 years, garnering universal critical acclaim and fostering a devoted audience along the way. They are undoubtedly one of the best known and most successful alternative rock bands of all time.

All this is to say that they are the furthest thing from being a one-hit-wonder, but it is hard to argue that there is one particular song that they have become practically synonymous with. Losing My Religion came out in February 1991 and absolutely launched the Athens, Georgia band into pop stratosphere. They became so famous that they ended up hating it – but that’s another story.

And all that success came from guitarist Pete Buck doodling around on a mandolin for ten minutes. “When I listened back to it the next day, there was a bunch of stuff that was really just me learning how to play the mandolin,” he claims.

Perhaps the perfect example of capturing lightning in a bottle, Losing My Religion went on to become an anthem to multiple generations, and endearing itself to millions of music fans, regardless of their genre preferences. More than three decades have passed since its release, and while all the controversies surrounding it have died down, its popularity is still going strong.