The band R.E.M. was formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980. They released their first album in 1982, an EP called Chronic Town, followed by Murmur in 1983, Reckoning in 1984, Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985, Lifes' Rich Pageant in 1986, Document in 1987, Dead Letter Office in 1987, Eponymous in 1988, Green in 1989, Out of Time in 1991, Automatic For the People in 1992, Monster in 1994, and New Adventures In Hi-Fi in 1996.

Today R.E.M. is being "canonized as the founders and patrons of 'alternative rock.' " (Rodger Brown 1) R.E.M. was a band that ". . .was aware that for them to achieve success with integrity within a new rock milieu underwritten by critical discourse, they needed to annotate their identity and meaning for the press and their fans." (Rodger Brown 2) R.E.M. was (and still is), not into the mainstream of the music world. They are (were) into the alternative mainstream to a degree, but they were never really in the mainstream as it pertains to the music scene in general. The way people seem to look at music today is, either you're in the mainstream, or if you're not, then you're alternative.

R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck said: "We had this idea that what we'd do is take clichés, sayings, lines from blues songs, phrases you hear all the time, and stew them and twist them and meld them together so that you'd be getting these things that have always been evocative, but that were skewed just enough to throw you off, and make you think in a different way." (As quoted by Rodger Brown 2) This is (or at least it should be) the definition of what alternative music is. Something that comes at you in an entirely skewed way. This is to me the closest that I can come to a definition for alternative music.

R.E.M. is a good example of a band that figured how to tap into, and become part of the modern rock revolt. Many people will argue the validity of the claim that R.E.M. is the "founder" of alternative music, but if they didn't found it, then they certainly helped open people's eyes to what we have now become accustomed to, modern rock and roll (alternative rock).