In 1986 some friends had an extra ticket to a band I never heard of. I went with them and it turned out to be REM.
REM was pretty good with “The One I Love” (don’t remember it, #9 at Billboard); “Losing My Religion” (#4) and “Stand” (#6 - liked this one a lot).
Mchael Stipe is a self-proclaimed Marxist of some kind. Hangs out with the “Music Marxist” re protests - Tom Moriello; Steve Earle; etc.
Sounds like me going to a Led Zeppelin concert and finding out some band called Jethro Tull was the warm up act.