Music
R.E.M.’s Reckoning at 40: A Quick Look at the Band’s Seminal 1984 Record
With their sophomore release the college rock pioneers hit their stride.
Today we’re taking a quick look at R.E.M.’s ‘Reckoning’ as it turns 40.
‘Here we are!’ declares R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe on ‘Second Guessing’ from the band’s 1984 LP, Reckoning. He wasn’t kidding.
Following the success of its predecessor Murmur, the band was looking to find lightning in a bottle a second time while taking care not to rehash covered ground--a habit of shapeshifting that they would continue through the rest of their discography.
With the benefit of hindsight, we know that now. At the time, we only knew that Reckoning was a break from the styling(s) of Murmur.
“We were going through this streak where we were writing two good songs a week… We just wanted to do it; whenever we had a new batch of songs, it was time to record.”
~Peter Buck
The band was on a creative roll then, with new ideas and songs coming from every corner. In fact, at one point, Buck had made the case that this should be released as a double LP, but was ultimately voted down.
