Michael Stipe the frontman for R.E.M. turns 53 today. For the first half of their career there were no better band in the world than R.E.M. From the brilliant “Murmur” in 1983 through their finest album “Automatic For The People” in 1992. They made 8 albums in that period and they were all great. Not a turkey in the bunch. Then things turned south. Their albums from that point on in my opinion had their moments but none of them reached the heights of the first half of their career. They finally called it quits in 2011.

Michael Stipe was the singer/lyricist for the band. In the early years he was hard to understand. You had to listen closely to figure out what he was saying. It didn’t matter R.E.M was great. Along with U2 my favourite 1980’s band.

My favourite R.E.M. song -no question is “Losing My Religion” from 1991’s “Out of Time” album. I would recommend any of the first eight R.E.M. albums.