So for the Sunday super-awesome vegetarian posts so far, we’ve gone through Ted Leo, Ian MacKaye, and Jonsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós. Today we’re going for what may be seen as an obvious choice: Peter Buck and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. I don’t think I’m really going to catch any of you saying, “What is this ‘R.E.M.’ band you speak of, and where do you find these underground groups?” Well, bear with me here. R.E.M. may have been around for almost 30 years now, but my best guess is that you may have stopped paying attention to them sometime around Monster came out. Which means you might have missed this song, about Kurt Cobain and terribly touching:

Later-era R.E.M., though entirely different from the jangly rock they became famous for, is some of the most beautiful music they’ve ever created. The album New Adventures in Hi-Fi, for example, did not fare to well commercially and critically, but if you passed over it, you missed the song “Be Mine,” which, like the last song I posted, is also a very emotional track.

And, one album later, the album Up was full of experimental (some might say indie-esque) songs, as it was the first album recorded following the departure of drummer Bill Berry. The last track on that album, “Falls to Climb,” once again showcases the new directions the band can take, after all these years.

You can think you hate R.E.M., but it may just be that you haven’t heard them for a while. So feel free to revisit the three albums I mentioned here - you may be pleasantly surprised. And, as always, because this is a Sunday super-awesome vegetarian post, you can takepart and get your own vegetarian starter kit.