For the next 30 days, I’ll be taking the #AprilAcrossAmerica challenge, picking one song a day as I make my way across the country and across genres at the same time.

Day 15: Athens, GA

This one feels less like a stopover and more like a destination. A musical pilgrimage. Document is still my favorite R.E.M. album, and Side A is one of the best sides of the decade in my opinion. Document was an about-face for the band. They found a new producer and added more muscle even while staying in their mid-tempo comfort zone. It all started with “Finest Worksong”, which did everything you want and expect from an opening track.

In just the first 10 seconds of “Finest Worksong”, R.E.M. set the agenda for Document and signaled the next stage of their evolution, led by Peter Buck’s ferocious guitar riff. It’s hardly one of Buck’s more complex jams, but it drew you in immediately and somehow the repetition doesn’t get old. At the 3:23 mark, the song peters out with power on the heels of Mike Mills’ slap and pop bass outro, leaving you wanting more.

“What we want and what we need has been confused.”