R.E.M.’s 1983 debut studio album was titled Murmur.
The album was recorded in North Carolina with producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. Its understated sound, cryptic lyrics, and jangling guitars helped distinguish R.E.M. from mainstream rock of the period.
Murmur reached number 36 on the Billboard 200 and was widely praised by critics. Rolling Stone later ranked it among the greatest albums of all time. The record includes “Radio Free Europe,” an early R.E.M. song that had first appeared as an independent single.
Murmur is sometimes confused with Reckoning, R.E.M.’s second album, released in 1984. The band’s lineup on both records featured Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry. R.E.M. went on to become one of the most influential American alternative rock bands of the 1980s and 1990s.