i grew up in Athens and was in high school/college during this time (graduated hs in '83). Unfortunately I was not that involved in the music scene but still got to see some great bands.

The article spends a good bit of time on the B-52's but they were long gone to New York by this time and didn't really come back for public concerts until 'Cosmic Thing'. The popular bands that I remember were Love Tractor, REM, Dreams So Real and Kilkenny Cats.

The scene as I knew it from a distance revolved around a few venues. Foremost at the time was the 40 watt club. It started as a room off of a back alley (with a bare light bulb?) that had moved by the time I was old enough to go. Lot's of history there. Other venues I visited were the Uptown Lounge, the Georgia Theater and surprisingly house parties.

My favorite memories of the time were seeing PYLON and REM with about 50-100 other people at 'teen night' at the I&I club, I didn't really know PYLON but the show blew me away. Easily the best performance that I've seen. The Hillbilly Frankenstein album release party was wild and a blast. I also got to see the Flat Duo Jets at a house party and several times at small venues. Dex and Crowe made an amazing amount of sound for two guys with simple instruments.

It was definitely a fun time to be in Athens and I certainly enjoyed myself. In hindsight I wish I had gotten more into the scene but growing up there and being so young I had no idea that there was anything special going on there.

The Atlanta equivalent of the 40-Watt was 688, which was a cinder block building with maybe a 9 foot ceiling. It was always hot and full of clove cigarette smoke. The stage may have been 18 inches high.

REM at 688 in early 1981: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAldqnBPz3Y&t=2077s