R.E.M.'s final album for IRS Records, 1987's DOCUMENT was the Georgia quartet's commercial breakthrough. The initial single, the spookily obsessive "The One I Love," was an unexpected Top 10 hit, and its follow-up, the "Subterranean Homesick Blues"-style rant "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," became one of R.E.M.'s most renowned songs. The first R.E.M. album produced by Scott Litt (soon to be a frequent collaborator) DOCUMENT skillfully blends the commercial gloss of LIFE'S RICH PAGEANT and the mysterioso murk of FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION, combining the best elements of both for what would soon become R.E.M.'s signature sound. (Note the thumping rhythm section on the opening "Finest Worksong" and the oddly buoyant melody of "Exhuming McCarthy.") The band even manages to salute one of its favorite predecessors by romping through a loose, fun cover of Wire's "Strange."

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