REM, a group which continues to garner rave critical reviews and fabulous, adoring responses

from the audiences that appear wherever they go, but have yet to really make that big breakthrough.

REM, from their first IRS album entitled Murmour, with one of my favorite songs of theirs,

the one called Laughing,

which is always a real good thing to do. Let us never take these things too seriously.

It's September of 1984, and Dirdre is head over heels for a fast-rising quartet from Athens, Georgia.

In just a few years, R.M's music will be inescapable on commercial and college radio,

and their massive success will mark a turning point for the American musical underground.

There were moments when R.M, my former band, were hugely popular, and we were able to really

push the boundaries of what's acceptable within mainstream culture.

KCRW and Dirdra and Snap were doing the same thing.

Michael Stipe is R.M.'s former lead singer. He was a close friend of Dierdras and of the

countless bands who passed through

their orbit. He gave Concrete Blonde, their name, produced Vic Chestnut's first two albums,

and introduced Dirdre to Hugo Largo, which led to their signing with Brian Eno's record label.

In this episode of Bent by Nature, he talks about his life in L.A. in the mid-80s at a time when he and Deirdre

were kindred spirits. I'm Tricia Halloran, and from KCRW, this is Bent by Nature, Deirdre

O'Donohue and The Lost Snap Archives. Episode 8, half a world away. Los Angeles became a fascinating place to me sometime in the 80s.

New York was my second home, and New York was feeling very sad and very tired at the time in L.A.

and the American West in general felt a little fresher.

And so at the same time, my best friend Tom Gilroy had moved to Los Angeles to become an actor.

I spent a lot of time there with him.

...