Jangle Pop was an American post-punk movement of the mid-'80s that marked a return to the chiming guitars and pop melodies of the '60s. Sparked by the arrival of R.E.M., jangle pop also had some folk-rock overtones, but it was essentially a pop-based format. Jangle pop wasn't mainstream music --

Jangle Pop was an American post-punk movement of the mid-'80s that marked a return to the chiming guitars and pop melodies of the '60s. Sparked by the arrival of R.E.M., jangle pop also had some folk-rock overtones, but it was essentially a pop-based format. Jangle pop wasn't mainstream music -- the bands' lyrics were often deliberately cryptic and their sound was raw and amateurish, bearing all the signs of do-it-yourself productions. Jangle pop was a major force between 1984 and 1987 -- not only were there Southern-pop bands like R.E.M. and Let's Active, there were the Paisley Underground bands on the West Coast who were more psychedelic, and there were numerous bands scattered throughout the Midwest. In the late '80s, the sound fell out of favor, mainly because there were so many bands that sounded similar and were indistinguishable from each other. Though R.E.M. managed to cross over into the mainstream -- in fact, the band became one of the most popular rock bands in the world -- many of the groups (including Uncle Green and Miracle Legion) simply ran out of steam by the early '90s and disbanded.