1979 was not only the soundtrack of my early adolescence, it was also a year for bracing debut albums, last gasps and new directions for several rock dinosaurs, and a banner year for both great guitar solos and silly love songs. For this episode's deep dive, I have chosen landmark albums by The Cars, Fleetwood Mac, and Gang of Four, while taking several detours to explore everything 1979 can muster.

Notes: I managed to make a few slips of the tongue in my discussion of Gang of Four's Entertainment! I refer to the song "Contract" as "Contact"--not once, but twice! It's never been my favorite Gang of Four song, but come on. Steven Wilson obviously likes the song much more than I did, choosing to include it in his excellent 4 cd compilation of "progressive sounds in UK alternative music" titled Intrigue, released by Edsel in 2023. I also referred to "5:45" as "5:05," which is, um, off by forty seconds.

Perhaps the band most associated with the "College Rock" gene, R.E.M. navigated a path where they could be true to their artistic impulses and also become indie rock superstars. Join me as I do a deep dive on three of their best albums (Reckoning, Green, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi) while giving some love (more or less) to every album in between.

Note: This episode was recorded late last fall (I wanted to get several episodes recorded before releasing), so some time-related personal mentions will be off by a matter of months. Since R.E.M. hasn't recorded anything new since their breakup in 2011, that doesn't affect much content here.