Could it be that one small voice doesn't count anyway?
There is some sort of symmetry in the fact that I was at band practice when I found out REM had called it quits. Hearing that they had broken up was sort of like hearing about an old friend passing away after a long illness: I had not listened to them much in recent years and knew nothing of their most recent material. My only reference is - like old snapshots - based on when I knew them best: the 1980s. REM was a great friend to me for a long time but we lost touch. The phone calls became less frequent, REM stopped asking about my job, Bill Berry left in 1997 and I didn't even send a card. I don't mean to be flippant or disrespectful of losing a friend or loved one - I am just pointing out the similarities. REM was for me the embodiment of college rock - even before I was in college. The local college radio station played them and to me they were the coolest of cool. While I devoted a lot of time and money to other bands in that same period, it was REM that really def...