10 Perfect Albums That Defined The '80s
5. Murmur - R.E.M.
Though Metallica came from the underground, not everything under the radar was necessarily meant to rip your face off. In fact, if you were looking through college stations at the time, chances are you were also seeing a little genre known as alternative rock start to make its way onto the airwaves. And in between acts like the Pixies and Sonic Youth, we got R.E.M. who worked their way into our hearts on their first try.
Granted, that's without even knowing a word of what Michael Stipe was saying. Compared to the other songwriters of the day, Stipe is virtually inarticulate on some of these songs, making you focus on the actual music more than the words he's saying. In retrospect though, you don't really need the lyrics to feel something with these songs, having just the right amount of hookiness and melancholy to hit you right in the chest.
You can tell that these guys weren't trying to be the biggest band in the world or anything on this record, and they didn't need to either. This is the kind of record that's not interested in the hit potential of the songs. It's just pure emotion on display all the way through. Alt-rock wouldn't have its real rise to power until the '90s, but the heart of the genre is something that Michael Stipe crafted by hand on this album.