40 years ago today (4/8/84), R.E.M. released their second album Reckoning (alternatively titled File Under Water). Receiving a 10/10 rating from Pitchfork, Reckoning is considered one of the 80s alternative rock’s most essential albums. Of the many jangly highlights, they include “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry),” “Don’t Go Back to Rockville,” and “Pretty Persuasion.” Watch R.E.M. live in 1984 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ.
