Who was the best rock band of the '80s? - By Dan Kois - Slate Magazine

A good overview of U2 and REM. I like U2 a lot, but I love REM. Amd while U2 have only really put together one really great album (Joshua Tree), has any other band in the modern era put together a run of albums to match Life's Rich Pageant, Document, Green, Out of Time and Automatic for the People, especially after releasing such a lauded debut as Murmur? It's a crying shame that things have dipped so badly since Bill Berry left, but REM are a band I would still drop almost anything to go and see live. And I will buy the new comp on the day it comes out.