College rock is rock music that played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream rock played on commercial radio stations.
Murmur is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on April 12, 1983, by I.R.S. Records. The album was recorded at Reflection Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, with musicians Don Dixon and Mitch Easter serving as producers. Murmur drew critical acclaim upon its release for its unusual sound, defined by lead singer Michael Stipe's cryptic lyrics, guitarist Peter Buck's jangly guitar style, and bass guitarist Mike Mills's melodic basslines. In 2003, the album was ranked number 197 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It retained the position in the 2012 list and was raised to number 165 in the 2020 revision.
Mitchell Blake Easter is a musician, songwriter, and record producer. Frequently associated with the jangle pop style of guitar music, he is known as producer of R.E.M.'s early albums from 1981 through 1984, and as frontman of the 1980s band Let's Active.
Twin/Tone Records was an independent record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which operated from 1977 until 1994. It was the original home of influential Minnesota bands the Replacements and Soul Asylum and was instrumental in helping the Twin Cities music scene achieve national attention in the 1980s. Along with other independent American labels such as SST Records, Touch and Go Records, and Dischord, Twin/Tone helped to spearhead the nationwide network of underground bands that formed the pre-Nirvana indie-rock scene. These labels presided over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging.
Don Alan Dixon is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician. He is considered to be one of the key producers of what is called the jangle pop movement of the early 1980s, including working with R.E.M. and The Smithereens.
Arcwelder is an American punk rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1987. The band, a perennial local favorite, consists of brothers Rob and Bill Graber and Scott Macdonald, all of whom share in songwriting and singing.
The Ocean Blue is an American indie pop band formed in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 1986. Its original members included David Schelzel on lead vocals/guitar, Steve Lau on keyboards/saxophone, Bobby Mittan on bass guitar and Rob Minnig on drums and vocals.
Tapes 'n Tapes is an indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Bob "Slim" Dunlap is an American rock musician. He is a Minnesota-based guitarist and singer-songwriter who is best known as a member of The Replacements from 1987 to 1991, replacing original lead guitarist Bob Stinson. Dunlap also recorded two solo albums in the mid-1990s.
Big Lizard in My Backyard is the debut album by the Dead Milkmen, released by Restless Records in 1985.
The Honeydogs is a band from Saint Paul, Minnesota that opened at First Avenue in 1994.
Polara is an American alternative rock band formed in 1994 by Ed Ackerson, a musician and producer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band was considered one of the most prominent and creative groups to emerge from Minneapolis in the 1990s. Billboard writer Deborah Russell called Ackerson and Polara the front of "the emergence of a new local scene" more interested in pop music and postpunk than the punk rock of bands like Hüsker Dü and The Replacements.
"Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" is a song by Hüsker Dü from their album Candy Apple Grey. The song was written by Grant Hart. It was released both as an EP in the United States and as a single in the United Kingdom in March 1986. Hüsker Dü filmed a promotional video for the song, which garnered the band some play on MTV. The song, dubbed a "tuneful blast of Buzzcocks-style pop-punk," was labeled the high point of Grey by AllMusic's Stewart Mason.
The F-Ups are an American punk rock band from Rochester, Minnesota. Founded in 1999, signed with Capitol Records in 2003, and reunited in 2020. They are best known for their song 'Lazy Generation' which was featured on NHL 2005 and Burnout 3: Takedown, being the theme song for Takedown. Several of the members formed a new band Hang 'Em High, which itself disbanded in 2014.
Holly Muñoz is an American rock and country musician and songwriter based in Austin, Texas.
Second Story is an album by The Hang Ups, released in 1999 on Restless Records. The production team of Mitch Easter and Don Dixon hadn't worked together as a dedicated production team since recording R.E.M.'s Murmur and Reckoning more than 15 years before.
Ed Ackerson was an American musician and producer from Minneapolis. He produced or engineered dozens of records including works by prominent artists such as The Jayhawks, The Replacements, Motion City Soundtrack, Soul Asylum, Golden Smog, Dave Davies of The Kinks, Wesley Stace, Mason Jennings, Mark Mallman, John Strohm, Brian Setzer, Lizzo, Pete Yorn, The Wallflowers, Rhett Miller of The Old 97s, Jeremy Messersmith, and Juliana Hatfield. He owned a recording studio in Minneapolis, Flowers, and co-founded the Susstones record label. Ackerson led several notable Twin Cities pop/rock bands including Polara and The 27 Various, and released several solo records under his own name. He was also a prolific producer of albums by Twin Cities bands, and was regarded as one of the linchpins of the Minnesota music scene.
X-teens was an American new wave rock band formed in Durham, North Carolina in 1979 and often identified as part of the North Carolina punk/new wave scene of the 1980s. After disbanding in 1985, the members went on to form other bands, such as 4 Who Dared, Land of Giants and Money vs. People.
Quilt is an album by the American band the Shams. Released in 1991, it was the band's only album. "Only a Dream" first appeared on a single put out by Bob Mould's Singles Only Label. The Shams promoted the album by playing at CBGB during the 1992 CMJ Music Marathon.
Every Dog Has His Day is an album by the American band Let's Active, released in 1988. It was the band's final album.
