Small Georgia town gave world B52s, R.E.M., isn't finished yet

ATHENS, Ga. - "There must be something in the water."

This phrase is often used to explain any sort of profound cultural phenomenon that restricts itself to a specific geographic region. Rather than seeking the deeper truth, the hidden creative stimuli and political mechanisms that motivate artistic expression, people often shrug their shoulders and conclude that "there must be something in the water."

Surely this has been said about everything from the Italian Renaissance to the championed literary movements of 19th Century Russia. In the past 25 years, a frequent recipient of this sort of speculation has been Athens, Georgia.

On the surface, Athens hardly seems like the kind of place that could have been responsible for the conception of such a voluminous and inventive rock culture. After all, it is only a small, seemingly inconspicuous Southern town that eats its meals

STEVE GERTZ/Daily Wuxtry Records, located in the heart of downtown Athens, is rich in rock 'n' roll history. Kate Pierson of the B52s worked there at one time, as did R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.

at the local diner and dries its pies on the windowsill. Perilously hot and humid and set against the framework of surrounding farm towns and rural landscapes, Athens looks more like the setting of a William Faulkner novel than a thriving hotbed of musical activity.

But when wandering closer to the University of Georgia campus, the magic makes itself a little more visible. Much like Ann Arbor, campus streets are lined with coffeeshops, record stores and nightspots, providing an apt showcase for the active youth culture. Still, these are characteristics shared by pretty much every other college town on the map. So what is it that makes Athens so different?

Pop sensation the B52s got the ball rolling back in the mid-'70s. Fueled by the potent cocktail of boredom and a willingness to experiment, the B52s' uncompromising synthesis of bouffant hairstyles and kitschy, '60s pop made them a staple in the local party circuit and an anomaly to the frat-boy\ ideology of college life. Existing outside of the normal social constraints of Athens, they would play at friends' houses because there were no real venues that would cater to their outer-space brand of eccentricity.

Word spread quickly, however, and within the span of a couple years the band had relocated to New York and landed a top 40 single with their signature "Rock Lobster." Integrating themselves into the same art-punk bracket that boasted acts such as The Talking Heads and The Ramones, the B52s opened the floodgates for fellow Athenians to follow suit.

And open is exactly what those floodgates did, wide. It seemed that every college student within an arm's reach of an electric guitar or drum kit scrambled to form their own band. Just as the philosophy of the B52s was founded on a disdain for convention, the new crop of Athens bands were bent on creating original sounds, music that was not derivative of some other genre, but that consisted of its own unique stylistic blend.

Acts as varied as Love Tractor, The Method Actors, Pylon and Oh OK were among those to first establish a firm underground musical culture in Athens, even going to the lengths to assemble their own venues, such as Tyrone's and The 40 Watt Club.

It was a little band called REM, however, that really put Athens on the map.

Characterized by a quirky blend of punk attitude and jangly Byrdsian rock stylings, REM sprang from Athens and went national with their masterful first two albums, 1982's "Chronic Town" and 1983's "Murmur." The remainder of the decade saw REM accumulating a steady growth of public appeal and critical acclaim, culminating in their 1989 ascent into superstardom with the album "Green."

The rest, as the proverbial "they" say, is history. REM went on to become one of the most popular and widely-respected rock bands in the world and have continued, over recent years, to release challenging and original new work.

All this and they still live in Athens. What is it about this small Southern town that stimulated such a creative explosion and why do its residents, even the more famous of them, continue to stay there instead of moving on to the more "cultural" horizons of New York and Los Angeles. Is there really "something in the water," or is there another explanation?

Current residents of Athens list everything from "cheap rent" to "inertia" as being the primary motivation for the number of artists who continue to live there. Bertis Downs, legal manager to and close friend of REM, provides some insight: "[It is] inertia. I don't think it's magic. It's just hard to think of a place to move to, so you might as well stay here."

Downs also lent some expertise toward the understanding of the psychology behind the early Athens movement: "There was definitely a sort of counterculture ... There's this establishment sense to it. (It is) a Southern redneck kind of town, but just below the surface you've got this art school, party, music, happening sort of scene..It was a true punk rock ethic. You weren't trying to get a record deal of get into the gossip pages, because there were no gossip pages. People were willing to experiment, to have fun, and to all be different from one another."

In conjunction with Downs' commentary is the following excerpt from "Party Out of Bounds", a book penned by Roger Brown that documents the Athens scene of the mid-'70s and early-'80s: "Athens was like a rock opera version of Lord of the Flies meets Gilligan's Island, where 21 year olds can't believe that they are no longer 12. They are all stranded on a desert island, but their checks from home still come in the mail."

Perhaps, then, it is this sense of displacement and isolation that lies at the base of Athens' musical roots. It was a clash between collegiate freedom and small-town monotony and exploded uproariously because there was nothing better for the kids to do than to hammer out their own version of rock 'n' roll in their basements. Maybe if there were a few more video game arcades and movie theaters in Athens the whole thing never would have happened.

Whatever the case, the Athens scene continues to churn out young, talented bands like the Hostess factory does Twinkies. "The scene is never stagnant," commented Dan Wall, owner of the legendary Wuxtry record store in downtown Athens, "it always regenerates and is always interesting." Right now it is as exciting as it has been (since the late'70s and early '80s)."

John Fernandez, a member of the new leading Athens band Olivia Tremor Control concurs: "There are something like 300 bands in Athens right now, so a lot of ideas get bounced around."

Olivia Tremor Control are part of the Elephant 6 collective, a group of bands, also including Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power and Of Montreal, that are on the Athens-based Elephant 6 record label. With a hankering for experimental noodling and a willingness to test the amorphous boundaries of pop music, the Elephant 6 bands have risen to the forefront of the American indie-rock scene and have reinvigorated the traditional Athens do-it-yourself spirit.

So what separates Athens from the average "Collegetown USA?" Why not Boulder, Col., Madison, Columbus or our own Ann Arbor? Surely towns like Chapel Hill, NC and Austin, Texas have made their own significant impressions on the music world, but neither of those places has come close to approximating the quantity and diversity of musicians that Athens has spawned in the past 25 years.

Maybe it is the eclectic sense of inventiveness caused by having nothing else to do. Maybe it is because the media started to pay close attention to Athens after REM broke, thus causing more and more bands to filter into Athens to bask in the spotlight. Or maybe, as "they" say, there might simply be something in the water.

04-01-99