How about that R.E.M.?

Such a great band - melancholy grace and the ability to rip it up completely, too. Intelligence in rock and roll the way that certain moments of Pete Townshend and Patti Smith suggested. Soundscapes like a ragged and prickly Beach Boys, but with the squinting eyes you needed to see many things for what they were in the Reagan years and later. Good music for drinking, thinking, jogging, driving, and taking stock. Melodic short stories and much humble wisdom so familiar but sharper and cleaner and telling-it-like-it-is better than you could say without them. A wonderful mix of cagey, passionate friends playing in your hometown. Thank you, R.E.M. You were a great, great band.