It's an immense wonder why I haven't featured R.E.M. in any of the previous installments of 'Song of the Day'. The band is both an immense influential source for much of my music since the very early '08 days and is an absolute presence in my favorite bands of all time list.
With that said, R.E.M. is a band of various 'eras' due to their immense catalog, and with such comes the never ending 'best album/best song/best anything' debate among fans with themselves and others. It's all a fun slippery slope once you create your own definitive favorites from their fifteen (!) albums and whatever else you may find.
'Catapult', coming from their 1983 debut album Murmur (considered by many to be their best early period work), is an excellent testament to the unique formula of the band's early songwriting; melodic bassline, jangly guitars mixed with acoustic guitars, harmonizing backing vocals from Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe's mumbling nervous yet soaring vocals.
Perhaps to the newcomer it's not as impressive with the huge onset of bands that would pretty much copy and paste this style throughout the late 80's and much of the 90's. But when you listen to any material dating from their first EP to their two subsequent albums you discover the genuine excitement and timeless youthful energy of a band creating their own path, and you realize you just can't top the pioneers.
