R.E.M. didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. The four members of the band owe much of their inspiration to the thriving music scene in Athens, Ga., where they all lived in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The quartet had watched the B-52s make it big and countless other local bands reach some sort of local or regional notoriety. One of those bands was Pylon, which has had a renaissance or two thanks to R.E.M.
Pylon has hit the news again, although I don’t know how much R.E.M. has to do with the re-release of Pylon’s debut album “Gyrate.” The 40 Watt Club in Athens hosted a release party for the CD.
My only real knowledge of Pylon comes from R.E.M.’s cover of the band’s song “Crazy,” which appears on “Dead Letter Office” and has popped up in live shows from time to time. I also know that members or R.E.M. have called Pylon the best band to come out of Athens, which is high praise.
But I can’t really say whether I agree or even think they have a good point. That’s why I’m going to make it a point to listen to some of Gyrate. If these four people inspired R.E.M., they can’t be that bad, right?