TDoT(13): A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days (a letter)

This is a hard one, there are many people I'd need to write to - Eddie Veder, Tori Amos, the guys from The Shins, but the one who's seen me through most, who, if I had to pick one band to play my soundtrack, is REM, so here goes:

Dear Michael, Peter, Mike and Bill,

You have consistently, through the past 20 years (shit, how did it suddenly get that long?), provided a soundtrack to my life. I remember listening to Nightswimming at full volume on my Walkman, walking up a quiet, moonlit street at university, tears pouring after my first boyfriend (not first love, just boyfriend) had broken up with me. Those spattered teardrops on the pavement with that song filling my head made me feel okay.

Months later, lying on the carpet of my First Love's parent's lounge floor, we listened to What's the Frequency Kenneth. Loud. It coursed through me. I still can't listen to that song without feeling the carpet on the backs of my legs, his fingers on my stomach.

And then the happy, dancey ones, that made us shake our little booties, even if we were heartbroken or tired or just gatvol - Stand, Shiny Happy People, Near Wild Heaven, even Losing my Religion. The list is endless.

So thank you boys, for the music.

With love,
Shiny x