Athens, Georgia · 1980 to 2011
Two empty cabinets, waiting for the dinosaurs.
Peter Buck found two plastic dinosaurs at a Salvation Army across the street from Reflection. They were named Left and Right. Mike Mills says they sat on the studio speakers for every record until the end.
Athens · 1979 to 1980
Michael Stipe was an art student at the University of Georgia; Peter Buck had dropped out of Emory and worked at Wuxtry. At a party they met Mike Mills and Bill Berry, friends from Macon who were also at the university.
Around March 1980 the four started rehearsing in an abandoned Episcopal church.
It was demolished in 1990 for condominiums. Only the red-brick steeple was left, standing over a car park.
5 April 1980 · Oconee Street
R.E.M. played their first show on 5 April 1980 in the former St Mary’s Episcopal Church on Oconee Street.
In 2013 the condominium association agreed to hand the steeple to Nuçi’s Space, the musicians’ centre next door, which raised money to restore it. Today it gives musicians a place to record and shows local art.
See the steeple from Oconee Street, at the edge of downtown. Nuçi’s Space next door has a coffee stop.
1979 to 1980 · Clayton Street
Peter Buck worked here and Michael Stipe came in to browse; the friendship that started at the counter led to the band. Wuxtry has sold records in Athens since 1976.
Still a record shop, on Clayton Street just off College Square.
1980 · one bulb
The club is named after the only light in its first, unofficial home in 1978: a single 40-watt bulb in Curtis Crowe’s apartment. R.E.M. played an early show at the 40 Watt about six weeks after their first. The club has moved several times round downtown. It has been on West Washington Street since the early 1990s.
A working club: see the listings and go to a show. Its star on the Athens Music Walk of Fame is at Washington and Pulaski Streets.
North Carolina · 1981 to 1983
Winston-Salem · 1981
Mitch Easter opened the Drive-In in July 1980. He ran it for about 20 years in the garage of his parents’ house.
R.E.M. recorded the Hib-Tone single, Radio Free Europe and Sitting Still, and the Chronic Town EP here. That 1981 Radio Free Europe, faster and rawer than the one on Murmur, is in the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.
It was a garage at a family home, so it is not mapped or shown. The photograph is of Winston-Salem.
Charlotte · 1983 and 1984
R.E.M. made Murmur and Reckoning at Reflection Sound in Charlotte, with Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. The studio was at 1018 Central Avenue.
Murmur was recorded and mixed on an MCI console. The drum booth, the Tiki Hut, was so small that the hi-hat swamped the drums.
Nothing of the studio is left; flats stand on the site. Walk Central Avenue in Plaza Midwood. The studio closed in 2014 and the building was demolished; flats stand on the site.
Reflection, the hallway outside Studio B
In another control room at Reflection a producer could not get a Moog to whistle the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Bill Berry whistled it from the hallway, was asked in, and did it in one take in Studio B.
In Charlotte the four of them saw Strange Invaders, which used 1,000,000 from Chronic Town, the first film to use one of their songs. They gave it a standing ovation; the other four people in the cinema looked confused. Rolling Stone named Murmur its album of the year.
1981 to 2011 · 7 stops
Peter Buck found two plastic dinosaurs at a Salvation Army across the street from Reflection. They were named Left and Right. Mike Mills says they sat on the studio speakers for every record until the end.
Radio Free Europe and Chronic Town
The Drive-In, 1981: no dinosaurs yet. They turn up in Charlotte in 1983.
1981 · Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Mitch Easter opened the Drive-In in July 1980.
He ran it for about 20 years in the garage of his parents’ house.
It was a garage at a family home, so it is not mapped or shown. The photograph is of Winston-Salem.
Between Reckoning and Automatic: After their I.R.S. contract, R.E.M. signed to Warner Brothers; Green, in 1988, was the first record for the new label. They did not tour Out of Time, and it still went to the top of the Billboard chart.
Dudley Park · 2000 and April 2023
The railroad trestle on the back cover of Murmur crossed Trail Creek in Dudley Park.
After CSX abandoned the line, residents and fans bought the land in 2000. The old timbers were not sound enough to keep, so a 500-foot bridge in the trestle’s design opened on the Firefly Trail in April 2023, over Poplar Street and Trail Creek.
Walk the Firefly Trail through Dudley Park. The pin marks the park.
July to August 2005
In summer 2005 the centre held Headspinning, a show of Athens album covers and art since 1980, running to 6 August. Its Murmur section showed Sandra Lee Phipps’s original trestle photograph and contact sheets of the band.
An arts centre on Hoyt Street; check its hours before you go. The 2005 show has closed.
Athens says · the sources say
Four things people say. Pick myth or true.
R.E.M. played the Georgia Theatre all the time.
The 40 Watt is named after a light bulb.
Murmur was made in Greensboro.
Howard Finster’s garden is in R.E.M. videos.
Visit Athens calls it a common myth that R.E.M. played the Georgia Theatre often.
Summerville, Georgia · Adults $15 · seniors $10 · students $5
Howard Finster’s 2.5-acre garden and his World Folk Art Church. Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm.
Plan a visitWeaver D’s · 1992
Ask at the counter.
East Broad Street, Athens.
R.E.M. took the restaurant’s slogan, Automatic for the People, as the title of their 1992 album.
The star on the cover came from the sign of the Sinbad Motel on Biscayne Boulevard, near the studio.
The restaurant has closed. See the building from East Broad Street.
Athens, Georgia
Wuxtry, the steeple, the Georgia Theatre, the Walk of Fame, the trestle and Weaver D’s: take the self-guided tour from the Athens Welcome Center’s website, or book the guided one there.
Plan the walk
Dame Street, Dublin
R.E.M. began five nights of working rehearsals here on 30 June 2007, trying new songs alongside older ones.
In September 2011 R.E.M. said they had decided to call it a day as a band.
Left and Right stayed on the speakers.
A working theatre on Dame Street: go to a show.
14 places you can visit. The Drive-In was a garage at a family home in Winston-Salem, so it is named here and not mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a record shop, on Clayton Street just off College Square.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. See the steeple from Oconee Street, at the edge of downtown. Nuçi’s Space next door has a coffee stop.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working club: see the listings and go to a show. Its star on the Athens Music Walk of Fame is at Washington and Pulaski Streets.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working venue on Lumpkin Street, with a rooftop bar.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Walk the Firefly Trail through Dudley Park. The pin marks the park.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The restaurant has closed. See the building from East Broad Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An arts centre on Hoyt Street; check its hours before you go. The 2005 show has closed.
197 East Clayton Street, Athens
Wuxtry has sold records in Athens since 1976.
Still a record shop, on Clayton Street just off College Square.
Oconee Street, Athens
R.E.M. played their first show on 5 April 1980 in the former St Mary’s Episcopal Church on Oconee Street.
See the steeple from Oconee Street, at the edge of downtown. Nuçi’s Space next door has a coffee stop.
285 West Washington Street, Athens
The club is named after the only light in its first, unofficial home in 1978: a single 40-watt bulb in Curtis Crowe’s apartment.
A working club: see the listings and go to a show. Its star on the Athens Music Walk of Fame is at Washington and Pulaski Streets.
215 North Lumpkin Street, Athens
The video for Shiny Happy People, with Kate Pierson of the B-52’s, was shot here in 1991.
A working venue on Lumpkin Street, with a rooftop bar.
Dudley Park and the Firefly Trail, Athens
The railroad trestle on the back cover of Murmur crossed Trail Creek in Dudley Park.
Walk the Firefly Trail through Dudley Park. The pin marks the park.
1016 East Broad Street, Athens
Dexter Weaver opened his soul-food restaurant in 1986.
The restaurant has closed. See the building from East Broad Street.
Hoyt Street, Athens
In summer 2005 the centre held Headspinning, a show of Athens album covers and art since 1980, running to 6 August.
An arts centre on Hoyt Street; check its hours before you go. The 2005 show has closed.
Not on the map · 1981
Mitch Easter opened the Drive-In in July 1980. He ran it for about 20 years in the garage of his parents’ house. R.E.M. recorded the Hib-Tone single, Radio Free Europe and Sitting Still, and the Chronic Town EP here.
It was a garage at a family home, so it is not mapped or shown. The photograph is of Winston-Salem.
Stay
Three cottages at Paradise Garden, with the garden to yourself after dark.
Summerville, Georgia · From $150
Three cottages at Howard Finster’s garden in Summerville, where R.E.M. filmed videos: Suite 1 and Suite 2 at $150 and the Bungalow at $225. Guests can walk the garden after hours and take a flashlight tour after dark.
See the cottagesGo there
The Athens music walk, Paradise Garden, a Hansa tour in Berlin, and music walks in Athens, Berlin and Dublin on the marketplace.
Athens, Georgia
Wuxtry, the steeple, the Georgia Theatre, the Walk of Fame, the trestle and Weaver D’s: take the self-guided tour from the Athens Welcome Center’s website, or book the guided one there.
Plan the walkSummerville, Georgia · Adults $15 · seniors $10 · students $5
Howard Finster’s 2.5-acre garden and his World Folk Art Church. Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm.
Plan a visitKreuzberg, Berlin
Three to four hours through Studio One, the Meistersaal and the old studios, on selected dates. It starts outside Köthener Straße 38, by Potsdamer Platz.
See the datesAthens, Georgia
Live marketplace results for Athens, Georgia. Check each itinerary for the stops you want.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursBerlin
Live marketplace results for Berlin music history tours.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursDublin
Live marketplace results for Dublin music walking tours.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
We found no R.E.M.-related event on or after today on an official page. The 40 Watt, the Georgia Theatre and the Olympia publish their own listings.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
Books on Athens and on Murmur, and four records made in the rooms on this page. There is no original R.E.M. poster in our store.
Rodger Lyle Brown
The B-52’s, R.E.M. and the Athens scene. University of Georgia Press, 25th anniversary edition, 2016.
Find the bookJ. Niimi
A short book on the record made at Reflection. Continuum 33⅓.
Find the bookMarcus Gray
A companion to the band’s first decade and more. Da Capo Press.
Find the bookR.E.M. · 12-inch EP, I.R.S. SP 70502, 1982
Recorded in Mitch Easter’s garage studio in Winston-Salem.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyR.E.M. · Vinyl LP, I.R.S. SP 70604, 1983
Made at Reflection in Charlotte, with Left and Right on the speakers.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyR.E.M. · Vinyl LP, I.R.S. SP 70044, 1984
Back at Reflection in 1984.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyR.E.M. · CD, Warner Bros. 9 45055-2, 1992
Named after Weaver D’s motto; much of it made at Criteria in Miami.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
15 of 15 places · 19 of 19 Moments
197 East Clayton Street, Athens
Peter Buck works at Wuxtry; Michael Stipe comes in to browse.
Oconee Street, Athens
R.E.M.’s first show, in the former St Mary’s Episcopal Church.
285 West Washington Street, Athens
An early R.E.M. show at the 40 Watt Club.
R.E.M. play an acoustic set at the 40 Watt for Out of Time.
215 North Lumpkin Street, Athens
The Shiny Happy People video is shot at the Georgia Theatre.
Dudley Park and the Firefly Trail, Athens
Fans and residents save the Murmur trestle’s land; a new bridge in its design opens on the Firefly Trail.
1016 East Broad Street, Athens
The band ask Dexter Weaver about using his motto as an album title.
Hoyt Street, Athens
Sandra Lee Phipps’s original trestle photograph shown at the Lyndon House.
200 North Lewis Street, Summerville, Georgia
R.E.M. film music videos at Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
The Hib-Tone single recorded in Mitch Easter’s garage studio.
The Chronic Town EP recorded at the Drive-In.
1018 Central Avenue, Charlotte
Murmur recorded at Reflection Sound in Charlotte.
Peter Buck finds two plastic dinosaurs across the street; they go on the speakers.
Reckoning recorded at Reflection; the So. Central Rain video shot in the room.
1 Brook Road, Wood Green, London N22
Fables of the Reconstruction recorded at Livingston with Joe Boyd.
1755 Northeast 149th Street, North Miami
Much of Automatic for the People recorded at Criteria.
100 Powell Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Recording at the Armoury and the Warehouse.
Köthener Straße 38, Berlin
Collapse into Now recorded at Hansa and in New Orleans.
Dame Street, Dublin
Five nights of working rehearsals at the Olympia.
