You're going to Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart history from Slate magazine about the hits from Coast to Coast. I'm Chris Malanfe, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of

Slate's Why Is the Song Number One series?

On our last episode.

We talked about the early years of the B-52s and R-E-M, the two biggest bands ever to emerge from Athens, Georgia. That college and farming town

60 miles outside of Atlanta launched an eclectic variety of bands and it helped

nurture multiple branches of the post-punk family tree.

Undernate the stove alive. The B-52s formed in 1977. They were signed to a major label by 1979 and they were scoring

to a major label by 1979 and they were scoring hit albums full of shimmying party tracks by 1980.

I talked about how the bee's unique combination of three vocalists, a skeletal rhythm section, and the driving

quirky surf guitar of Ricky Wilson created a retro-futurist form of new wave.

And as for R.E.M. I was a surreal.

Their their cracking rhythm. Their cracking rhythm section, Michael Stipe's elliptical lyrics and the jangly

guitar of Peter Buck established a whole sub-genre of indie rock. From their very

first LP in 1983, R.E.M. were wowing audiences, topping critics

polls, and selling remarkably well for a band that was too independent and eccentric for top 40 radio.

By the mid-1980s, both bands had gone about as far as any act without major radio hits could go.

Widespread critical acclaim, respectable sales, and Sonic fingerprints that were beginning to rub off on other acts.

By 1985, each band had recorded three full-length albums and an EP a piece.

All of their albums made the middle rungs of Billboard's album chart.

But their respective labels had much bigger plans for the B-52s and R-E-M.

A half decade later, at the dawn of the 1990s, each would be platinum sellers and pop hitmakers.

Shiny happy people holding.

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