The Tale of a Teenage R.E.M. Superfan in New York City

My sleepless 48-hour adventure to see R.E.M. as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live

As if there aren’t enough reasons to love Peter Buck — of course, he takes the time to visit and shop at a record store (Tower Records) when in NYC! Photo by author.

I am, I am, I am superfan — and I can do anything

Much of my time during the late 80s and early 90s was spent obsessing over everything R.E.M. Most every moment of the day, R.E.M. songs and lyrics and interview quotes filled my head. I mean, just look at my dorm room…

My freshman year college dorm room. I ran out of wall space, so I had to use the window blind to showcase that awesome TourFilm poster. In hindsight, I can understand why my roommate (who didn’t listen to R.E.M. and wasn’t all that into music) didn’t want to room with me anymore. Photo by author.

I made a mobile made out of the R.E.M. CD long boxes (and put my 10,000 Maniacs poster on the ceiling because, as I mentioned, I ran out of room on my walls and I’ve always wanted to live in a record store). This is the height of my crafting abilities. Photo by author.

In 1991, I was a freshman at the University of Delaware when I got the news: On April 13, 1991 — R.E.M. would be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

I found out about the performance the week before it was to happen.

I spent the next six days plotting how I could get to New York City to see the show.

I was unsuccessful in convincing anyone to join me on this adventure, so after my last class on Friday afternoon, I caught the Amtrak north to NYC…