5. REM - Electrolite

I've never been one for buying a band's albums as they are released and tend to enjoy jumping about and jumbling the order a little. In the case of REM however, I have tended to buy the albums in sequence and as such they have provided a rich soundtrack for the entirity of my adult life. As a teenager listening to 'Murmur', as a student listening to 'Document', looking for a job to 'Out of Time', getting married to 'Automatic for the People', becoming a dad to 'New Adventures in Hi-fi' and ultimately growing into middle age with 'Around the Sun'. I'm not sure what will happen now they've split up; I was hoping they'd go on forever like the Rolling Stones.

Considering REM have sold millions of albums and are guaranteed stadium fillers, it's surprising that I have never met anyone else who actually likes them. Maybe they just don't admit to it. REM always seem to have existed in their own bubble and have never been part of any scene or movement. For me they are the greatest folk-rock band and Michael Stipe has a voice I never get tired of listening to. They were influential, relevant and apart from 'Accelerate' never produced a duff album.

It's almost an impossible task to pick a single selection to sum up twenty-five years of REM, but in the end I've opted for 'Electrolite' from the chronically under-rated album, 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi'. I'll always remember Daughter of Doccortex being born and coming home and listening to this.