New adventures in hi-fi

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"Atlanta was really off the map, which meant that you had no choice but to do your own thing, a bit like how PJ Harvey comes from Dorset and sounds like nobody else," adds Michael Stipe, who talks quietly in a nervous staccato, and has a habit of flicking his scarf around his neck every minute or so. "But also because the B-52s and Pylon were touring and bringing things back, Athens discovered this really cool band called Joy Division and this really cool band called U2 before anyone in New York did. If that sounds like bragging I'm sorry, but it really was the case." At the centre of the Athens music scene was Peter Buck, who worked in a record shop and introduced Stipe and Mills to such eternally hip underground bands as Suicide, Kraftwerk and Silver Apples. "I used to go in there and ask for the New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground," says Stipe. "So he would then recommend things that I would like. He's still doing it now."

While Stipe and Mills have developed other interests in their adult life beyond the band and music, Buck hasn't. He recently filled up the iPods of everyone who worked on REM's new album with songs that he thought they might like - and considering iPods can take up to 10,000 songs, this was a Herculean feat of downloading. "He's become obsessed with it," says Stipe. "He has done this for everyone who worked on our new record, including the engineers, who he had only known for a couple of weeks. What's interesting is to discover what he thinks we should be listening to. Mike got entire albums by Miles Davis, for example, while I only got the greatest hits. It must have taken him weeks, but he really isn't interested in anything apart from his family and music," adds Mills. "He reads books, and plays music, and hangs out with his family. That's it. So he loves the iPod because it gives him a chance to go through thousands of records that he hasn't played for the last 20 years." more

anyone that likes gang of four and suicide must be ok..
i would like to see a track list of the music he put on those ipods..
anyway..not a bad read even if your not a huge fan of this band..