Musical Moments #3: REM

It's been awhile since I did one of these, and I'm going old school. The third band in my "yay memories!" series is REM. They're one of those bands I grew up with, so I've been a semi-fan my entire life. The "official" tipping point, I think, was when I was eleven years old and "Losing My Religion" was everywhere on the radio and MTV. I loathed the song for a long time. Until I started to not loathe it. Until I started to sing along and it became one of my favorite songs. Here are three memories that stand out for me:

• Getting "Monster" as a present for my fifteenth birthday. It was the first REM record I'd ever owned. Purists may scoff, but it will always have a special place in my heart.
  
  
• The day in early 2003 that I found out that my current favorite band, Wilco, was touring with REM, who I'd wanted to see live as long as I could remember, and that they were playing show at Red Rocks, which was this legendary place I'd dreamed of visiting, and that the show was on a Saturday, oh my god ohmygod! Ties with the moment, many months later, when I realized I was sitting in the first row at that very show.
  
  
• The first time I heard "Nightswimming" live, Bumbershoot 2003, when Mike Mills played the opening notes on the piano.