Pylon

Art students in Athens

All four members were art students at the University of Georgia. Randy Bewley and Michael Lachowski began playing in 1978, and Curtis Crowe joined on drums after hearing their rehearsals through the floor of his studio. Vanessa Briscoe Hay, credited on early releases as Vanessa Ellison, auditioned on February 14, 1979, and they played their first show on March 9, 1979. The name did not come from Faulkner's novel Pylon, Hay said, but from traffic cones. After support from Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of the B-52's, they opened for Gang of Four at Hurrah in New York.

The single "Cool" with "Dub" (DB53, DB Records) came in 1979 per Wikipedia's text and April 1980 per its discography. Gyrate followed in November 1980 (DB54), recorded at Stone Mountain in Atlanta and produced by Bruce Baxter, Kevin Dunn and the band, then the !! EP (1981), "Crazy" (March 1982, 61 on the club play chart), "Beep" and Chomp (April 1983, produced by Chris Stamey and Gene Holder). They opened for U2 on the US leg of the War tour in 1983 with weak receptions, and played a final show at the Mad Hatter in Athens on December 1, 1983; Hay said they decided to quit while they were having fun. They reformed in 1989, opened the final leg of R.E.M.'s Green tour, and made Hits (1989) and Chain (Sky, 1990) before Bewley left in 1991.

They returned in August 2004 at Little King's Shuffle Club and headlined AthFest in 2005; Gyrate Plus (DFA, October 16, 2007) reissued the debut with extras, and Pitchfork gave it 8.8. Randall Bewley died on February 25, 2009, aged 53, and Hay said Pylon died when Randy died. Hay formed the Pylon Reenactment Society in 2014, and the band entered the Athens Music Walk of Fame in September 2020. New West issued the Pylon Box on November 6, 2020, with remastered Gyrate and Chomp, Extra, the Razz Tape and a 200-page book. R.E.M. covered "Crazy" on Dead Letter Office (1987), and Peter Buck wrote that Pylon's debut left him suddenly depressed by how much better it was than R.E.M.'s record.