Athens 1980s overview

It is said that in every musical generation something new crawls out of the American South. But few would have expected anything earthshaking from Athens, a small city in Georgia that calls itself the “Classic City.” American college towns tend to be consumers rather than creators of musical trends. Athens, where one-third of the population are students at the University of Georgia, is the exception that proves the rule.

Fittingly, the first hit to emerge from the city, the knowingly kitschy “Rock Lobster” (1978) by the B-52’s, became a favourite on college campuses across the country. A couple of years later, the Athens scene really took off—partly inspired by the B-52’s nonironic emphasis on “fun” but far more by New York City and London punk’s redefining of the possible. Athens’s fertile party-and-club scene was based in houses around Baker Street and in clubs such as the Georgia Bar, the 40 Watt Club, and Tyrone’s OC. Elsewhere in the country, students usually danced to records, but in Athens it was a matter of pride to dance to young local bands such as the Side Effects, the Tone Tones, the Method Actors, Pylon, Love Tractor, and the Brains. The music was strong on traditional instrumentation (guitars, bass, and drums), cover versions (notably Them’s “Gloria”), and drunkenness. People magazine published a mass photograph of local bands in January 1983, but the only lasting success to emerge from this mélange of shifting allegiances was R.E.M., the college-radio stars whose first single came out in 1981 and whose album Green (1988) made them big-time mainstream stars.

Although R.E.M. never fetishized their home base, they stayed there and in a small way fostered the development of a distinct Athens take on things—slightly eccentric thoughts allied to fairly straightforward rock. That approach was typified by R.E.M.’s discomfort with repeating themselves, by the B-52’s “Love Shack” (a big hit in gay clubs in 1989), by B-52 Kate Pierson’s work on R.E.M.’s Out of Time (1991), and by all the drink-and-death agonies of singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt, produced by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe.