On this date in 1991, R.E.M. released Out of Time, their seventh studio album. Certainly R.E.M. had made a lot of groundbreaking music up until that point, but it was Out of Time that pushed R.E.M. out of a beloved niche category — namely “college rock” in the parlance of the day — and into the realm of global recognition. In terms of chart performance, Out of Time was R.E.M.’s first No. 1 album, and its lead single “Losing My Religion” was the band’s highest-charting single. In February 1992 at the 34th Grammy Awards, Out of Time won Best Alternative Album, and it was nominated for Album of the Year (an award that went to Natalie Cole, Unforgettable … With Love).

R.E.M. are not alone among artists who released a sizeable amount of material before they released the “big” album that broke them to a much wider audience. While there are artists like De La Soul and the Strokes who hit it out of the park in their first at-bat, there are other bands in the music pantheon — U2, Prince, Fleetwood Mac — who took at least a couple albums before they became household names. Let’s celebrate music from those late bloomers today.

So for today’s 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs do you want to hear from non-debut, breakthrough albums?

Respond with your song ideas in the comments below.

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Songs Played
R.E.M. – Losing My Religion
Green Day – She
Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
No Doubt – Just A Girl
The Police – Driven to Tears
Prince – 1999
Sleater-Kinney – Turn It On
Rush – The Spirit of Radio (bonus)