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This playlist both whets the appetite and gives musical context before listening to R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People. It features bands that inspired R.E.M....

Legend has it The Stone Roses secured their first big gig supporting Pete Townsend when Ian Brown sent a charming note to the promoter: ‘I’m surrounded by skagheads. I wanna smash ‘em. Can you give us a show?’

Legend has it The Stone Roses secured their first big gig supporting Pete Townsend when Ian Brown sent a charming note to the promoter: ‘I’m surrounded by skagheads. I wanna smash ‘em. Can you give us a show?’

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy celebrates the 40th anniversary of the debut from that 'tacky little dance band from Athens' with B-52s' Kate Pierson and Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears.

Bobby Gillespie, Andrew Innes and Martin Duffy rediscover the original tapes of their spine-tingling sessions with legendary producer Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section.

Watch the full video as 30 years on from the release of 'Daydream Nation' Thurston Moore joins us to reflect on it's impact for National Album Day at The John Peel Centre For Creative Arts.

Often working in darkness, the band recorded many hours of improvised performances that drew on elements of jazz, ambient, blues, classical music, and dub. These long-form recordings were then heavily edited and re-arranged into an album in mostly digital format.

We feature The Flaming Lips tenth studio album 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' for our March Classic Album Sundays Worldwide Podcast

4AD label founder Ivo Watts-Russell revealed that this album wasn’t just his favourite Cocteaus album but also his favourite all-time 4AD album, and “by a long shot”, calling it “the perfect record!