Our ancestors Most of us trace our musical origins to the B s but past the B s everything and I mean everything is due to The Fans Pylon and Vietnam The Fans had records on db Danny Beard db records Their single True in particular is a fantastic distillation of half of what Athens would be avail on Squares Blot Out the Sun a db sampler Vietnam was never recorded The Fans split up with Kevin Dunn remaining about the scene as a solo act Kevin Dunn and the Tribe of Women were on db Alfredo Villar the singer of The Fans went back to his day job The other thing is Pylon There just are not words for how important they were are REM s favorite band is Pylon The B 52 s favorite band is Pylon Everyone s favorite band was is Pylon The other huge starting point is in Atlanta The Hampton Grease Band despite being Atlantans was a kick off to the whole idea that we could be weird and successful Although they claim that Music to Eat sold fewer albums than any in Columbia history not true as a Yoga instructional record undersold them they looked successful to us because they had integrity and played and got to pay their bills that way In particular although that band s career was very brief Bruce Hampton never went away Both in The Late Bronze Age and Aquarium Rescue Unit later as well as the various incarnations as Hampton B Coles and Colonel Bruce Hampton he was a magnet for musicians Furthermore Glenn Philips who played guitar with the Grease Band when he was 15 years old stuck around and continued to gig I m a stinkin expert on Athens 1980 1986 After that I quit my band and wandered away to academia but I was one of Them back then