Forgotten New Wave History

There once was a man from Nantuck... no, wait, there once was a band from Washington, DC called R.E.M. By the time of their 1982 12" they changed their name to Egoslavia because, you guessed it, Athens, GA's R.E.M. pressed the issue. Egoslavia's Greg(g) Strzempka recently googled himself and found my review of the 12". He e-mailed that my history was a little off and I begged him not to shatter the happy memories I had of that time and place when music I liked was popular and all around me. The delusion of nostalgia is all that keeps me going.

He did share this:

I somehow run into the "other" (y'know) REM guys at various airports- and we recount a backroom deal at the 9:30 where it 's agreed that; whomever gets a
record out first keeps the name...well... "radio free europe" and it was all over ....but heck they still know my name!