One of my very favorite parts about being a grownup is sitting up late on a Friday night rediscovering music - nay, an entire, singular album - that defined a time in my life because when you're 15, with limited funds, you wore out a tape until you had enough money to move onto another one.

In 1991, that album was R.E.M.'s "Out of Time" and it takes just 30 seconds of "Me In Honey" for me to distinctly recall the nights on Candace's mom's back porch and all of the wine coolers we snuck. And, if I'm more honest, my paper route after school. I listened to that album over and over again, mostly as I was flinging the Herald-News at people's doorstops, back when it was still an afternoon paper, back when they still had afternoon newspapers, back when I was still totally romantic about newspapers in general.

About everything, really. I know we're all sad about what R.E.M. has become, but I'm awfully grateful that they were anything at all.

Posted by Erin at 12:39 AM | filed under: Music