They played their first show on April 5, 1980, supported by the Side Effects at O’Brien’s birthday party held in the same church, performing a mix of originals and 1960s and 1970s covers. After considering names such as “Cans of Piss”, “Negro Eyes”, and “Twisted Kites”, the band settled on “R.E.M.”, which Stipe selected at random from a dictionary. R.E.M. is well known as an abbreviation for rapid eye movement , the dream stage of sleep; however, sleep researcher Rafael Pelayo reports that when his colleague William C. Dement , the sleep scientist who coined the term REM , reached out to the band, Dement was told that the band was “not [named] after REM sleep”. William “Ort” Carlton claimed the acronym referenced photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard , about whom Stipe often inquired; Meatyard signed his prints “r.e.m.”
First show
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