After 15 albums and more than 30 years of making music, R.E.M., the Athens, Ga.-based indie rock band, is hanging up its guitars. The band members’ retirement — announced last week on the band’s website — prompted one critic (Eric Harvey, writing in “The Atlantic”) to proclaim R.E.M. as America’s greatest band.
In November 1989, R.E.M. played a show at McKenzie Arena at UTC, opening with “Stand” and encoring with “Finest Worksong.” Wearing acid-washed blue jeans, I signed my first petition that night, as concertgoers were asked not just to dance, but to shake things up politically.
In honor of the best American rock band, here’s a rundown of our city’s recent headlines paired with an R.E.M. playlist. News, with a soundtrack.
Headline: Wolfsburg named Sister City. Song: “Half a World Away”
Becoming Chattanooga’s sixth sister city, Wolfsburg, Germany, got its start in the late 1930s, part of a Nazi plan to create towns for factory workers building a new type of car: the Volkswagen. In 2003, to celebrate the legacy of the VW Golf, Wolfsburg temporarily changed its name to Golfsburg.