R.E.M. resisted their label I.R.S.’s early attempt to steer them towards synthesiser-led pop while making their 1983 debut album, Murmur. The label hired producer Stephen Hague, whose preference for polished, heavily edited recordings clashed with the band’s looser guitar-based approach; R.E.M.’s successful insistence on working with Mitch Easter and Don Dixon instead helped establish the sound that became influential in American college rock and indie music.

Peter Buck said Hague required up to 35 takes and assembled songs from different recorded sections, whereas the eventual Murmur sessions favoured first takes. After completing a demo of ‘Catapult’ with Hague, the band returned to Easter’s North Carolina studio, where Easter said they had to regain confidence after fears that synthesisers would be imposed on their sound. Released in April 1983, Murmur was critically acclaimed but only reached number 36 on the US Billboard chart, later becoming widely regarded as a landmark debut.