The Buzz of Delight was a band consisting of Matthew Sweet

Matthew Sweet

Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s...

 and David Pierce, which was active from 1983–1985.

Background

Matthew Sweet grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska

The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....

. He was musical from an early age, and as a teenager made 4-track cassettes of songs he wrote. Sweet was an early fan of R.E.M.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

, as well as their first producer, Mitch Easter

Mitch Easter

Mitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, Velvet Crush, and...

. Sweet had R.E.M.'s first single, "Radio Free Europe", and loved its B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

, "Sitting Still". He met the band when they played a small concert in Lincoln in September 1982, when he was still in high school. He gave a cassette of songs he had been working on to R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe

Michael Stipe

John Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...

. R.E.M. put Sweet in touch with Easter, and the two became pen pals. Stipe, as well as his sister Lynda Stipe and friend Linda Hopper

Linda Hopper

Linda Elizabeth Hopper is the vocalist for the Atlanta, Georgia-based rock group Magnapop. Her pop punk/power pop vocal style helped to define the band's sound and she has co-written their minor hit singles "Slowly, Slowly" and "Open the Door"...

—who were both in the band Oh-OK

Oh-OK

Oh-OK was an American musical group from Athens, Georgia formed in 1981 with singer/lyricist Linda Hopper, bassist/vocalist/lyricist Lynda Stipe, and drummer David Pierce. Other members later included drummer David McNair and guitarist Matthew Sweet. The trio began practicing together at parties in...

—all liked Sweet's cassette of songs, and the three of them sent him postcards suggesting that he come perform in the town they lived, Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...

. Athens was famous for its flourishing music scene

Music of Athens, Georgia

The music of Athens, Georgia, includes a wide variety of popular music and was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and New Wave. The city is well known as the home of chart-topping bands like R.E.M. and The B-52s, and several long-time indie rock groups...

, which Sweet had read about in New York Rocker

New York Rocker

New York Rocker was a punk rock new wave magazine founded by Alan Betrock in 1976. Betrock left the magazine in 1978, and Andy Schwartz took over as editor until 1982. In 1979, it had a circulation of 20,000....

magazine. Easter also recommended that Sweet move to Athens, which Sweet did after graduating from high school. Soon after he arrived, he became a member of Oh-OK, and he played on their E.P. Furthermore What. After its release, the band's drummer, David Pierce, was let go from the band. While still a member of Oh-Ok, Sweet formed a new band with Pierce, called the Buzz of Delight.

Name

The band's name came from a conversation between Linda Hopper and Michael Stipe, that Hopper later recounted to Sweet. In her kitchen in Athens, she told Stipe that "the buzz of the lights was freaking [her] out", to which he replied "The buzz of delight?"

Discography

• "Christmas" (single) – 1983
• Sound Castles EP – 1984

"Southern"

"Miracle"

"In Summer"

"Happy Town"

"Christmas"

"And..."

• Squares Blot Out the Sun – 1990

"I've Got Gold"

• "Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Christmas" – 1996

"Christmas"

• To Understand – The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet
  To Understand: The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet
  To Understand: The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet is a compilation album by Alternative rock musician Matthew Sweet. Released by Hip-O Records in 2002, it is a compilation of early Sweet recordings.-Track listing:# Southern...
  
  – 2002

"Southern"

"Christmas"

"Briar Rose"

"The Story of Love"

"Ninety-Six Sheets"