R.E.M. formed at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, in 1980. Discovering they had similar tastes, vocalist Michael Stipe (b. 1960-01-04 in Decatur, Georgia) and guitarist Peter Buck (b. 1956-12-06 in Berkeley, California) began working together, eventually meeting bassist Mike Mills (b. 1958-12-17 in Orange County, California) and drummer Bill Berry (b. 1958-07-31 in Duluth, Minnesota). In April 1980, the band formed under the name Twisted Kites to play a party for their friend, rehearsing a number of garage, psychedelic bubblegum, and punk covers in a converted Episcopalian church. By the summer, the band had settled on the name R.E.M. after flipping randomly through the dictionary, and had met Jefferson Holt, who became their manager after witnessing the group's first out-of-state concert in North Carolina. Eventually the band dropped out of the university to concentrate on their musical career.Over the next year and a half, R.E.M. toured throughout the South, playing a variety of garage rock covers and folk-rock originals. At the time, the band was still learning how to play, as Buck began to develop his distinctive, arpeggiated jangle and Stipe ironed out his cryptic lyrics. During the summer of 1981, R.E.M. recorded their first single, "Radio Free Europe", at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios. Released on the local indie label Hib-Tone, "Radio Free Europe" was pressed in a run of only 1000 copies. The single became a hit on college radio and topped the Village Voice's year-end poll of Best Independent Singles. Their country/folk sound was contradicted by a driving bassline and an urgency that put the listener more in mind of The Who in their early mod phase. Add to this the distinctive voice of Stipe and his inaudible, perhaps even non-existent, lyrics, and R.E.M. sounded quite unlike any other band in the USA in the post-punk era of the early 1980s.
The I.R.S. Years (1982-1987)
"Radio Free Europe" also earned the attention of larger independent labels, and by the beginning of 1982, the band had signed to I.R.S. Records, releasing the debut EP, ''Chronic Town'' (1982), which illustrated R.E.M.'s signature musical style: jangling guitars, chords played in arpeggio, murmured vocals, and lyrics that avoid the standard topics of popular music - love and relationships. The sound of the initial albums was also shaped by producing duo Don Dixon and Mitch Easter. Their debut album, ''Murmur'' (1983), is held to be one of the best records of the 1980s (#197 on Rolling Stone Magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time," #8 on the magazine's list of the "Greatest Albums of the '80s"). The album is stylistically unified; the songs blend together and share largely oblique lyrics. The jangling guitars, so prominent on ''Chronic Town'', are used more sparingly. Mills' bass guitar carries much of the melody, and Stipe's lyrics are often indecipherable, used to create a mood instead of a narrative. The dark mood is broken by three brighter, more hopeful songs, "Sitting Still", "Shaking Through", and the child's anthem "We Walk", marked by the return of Buck's chiming arpeggios.R.E.M.'s second album, ''Reckoning'' (1984), explored a variety of musical styles. Song topics include cold weather, a fairy tale of brothers with magical powers, a flood, and separation. The jangling guitars and rich vocal melodies obscure rather dark lyrics. The final song, "Little America," is written about driving through rural America ("another Greenville, another Mart"), and serves as a prelude to the Southern themes on the subsequent album. The song may seem political ("The consul a horse - Jefferson I think we're lost"); however, the song refers to the band's former manager, Jefferson Holt, and not Thomas Jefferson or Jefferson Davis. At this stage, R.E.M. had yet to develop their signature political focus, but that would change with their next album.''Fables of the Reconstruction'' , or ''Fables of the Reconstruction/Reconstruction of the Fables'' (1985) explores the mythology of the southern United States, but, ironically, it was recorded in London with Joe Boyd producing. A celebration of an eccentric individual is the subject of no less than four songs on the album ("Maps and Legends," "Life and How to Live It," "Old Man Kensey," "Wendell Gee"). "Driver 8" is a song about the scenery surrounding railroad tracks (touching on the lyrical trope of trains common to Southern music; they epitomize the freedom and promise of an escape from one's home environment). The source of the title of "Can't Get There from Here" is a curious phrase heard when asking directions in a rural area. "Kohoutek," their first song overtly about a romantic relationship, compares the fizzled comet of 1973 to a fizzled romance. By the time this album was released, R.E.M. were critically acclaimed, and the video for "Can't Get There from Here" was played frequently on MTV. R.E.M. practically defined college rock by this time.The next album, ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' (sic) (1986), takes its name from the Inspector Clouseau movie ''A Shot in the Dark'' ("You'll catch your death of cold!" "Yes, I probably will. But that's all part of life's rich pageant, you know."). The songs are more upbeat, and the tempo is faster; owed largely to collaborating with John Mellencamp producer Don Gehman. The lyrics were becoming both more intelligible and more direct, with political themes appearing more explicitly ("Begin the Begin," "Flowers of Guatemala," "Hyena"). "Cuyahoga" is about the river in Ohio that caught fire due to pollution and "Fall on Me" is about air pollution. "Superman," a radio hit, was a cover song that did not appear on the original album cover. In many ways, this album marked the end of the first period in the band's history.''Document'' (1987) was their last album for the independent record label I.R.S., and provided their first major hit single with "The One I Love", which reached No. 9 on the U.S. pop charts. Widely misinterpreted as a love song, it expresses a grim satisfaction over the end of an unhappy relationship. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" recalls the rapid-fire lyrical style of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and can be described as pre-apocalyptic. With ''Document'', the band's first top 10 album, R.E.M. reached new heights as a commercially viable group and began a decade-long association with so-called "fifth R.E.M." member, producer Scott Litt.Following the success of ''Document,'' and presaging R.E.M.'s move to a major label, the group anthologized its I.R.S. material, both released and unreleased. ''Dead Letter Office'' (1987) was a collection of B-sides and outtakes. The collection includes three Velvet Underground covers ("Pale Blue Eyes", "Femme Fatale", and "There She Goes Again", which was narrowly left off of Murmur), an Aerosmith cover ("Toys in the Attic"), an uncommissioned commercial for a barbecue restaurant in Athens, and a boozy version of "King of the Road." (The ''Dead Letter Office'' CD includes the entire ''Chronic Town'' EP.) In the liner notes, the band described the album as "A little bit of uh-huh and a whole lot of oh-yeah." The band's I.R.S. years were summarized in the compilation ''Eponymous'' (1988), which contains a dozen songs well-known to college-radio R.E.M. fans, including alternate versions and mixes of "Radio Free Europe", "Gardening at Night" and "Finest Worksong".Rock Superstars (1988-1996)
In 1988, R.E.M. signed for a 5-album contract to the major label Warner Brothers Records and released ''Green''. This was the band's first time with heavy promotion, and they toured large arenas worldwide in 1989. Some fans from the I.R.S. days complained that R.E.M. had become too commercial and that the quality of the music had decreased, but the band had now been brought to international attention, with radio hits like the top 10 "Stand," and continued their political interest with the anti-war anthem "Orange Crush". In 1990, a mid-80's side project between Berry, Buck, Mills, and Warren Zevon, the Hindu Love Gods, had a record of blues covers released by Giant Records without the R.E.M. members' consent or participation; a cover of Prince's 1985 hit "Raspberry Beret" received some modest radio airplay.R.E.M. reconvened in mid-1990 to record their seventh album, ''Out of Time'', which was released in the spring of 1991 and became the band's first chart-topping album in both the U.S. and U.K. A lush pop and folk album, ''Out of Time'' boasted a wider array of sounds than the group's previous efforts, and its lead single, "Losing My Religion", became the group's biggest pop hit, reaching number four in the U.S. The band also scored a Top 10 hit with "Shiny Happy People," one of two songs on the album to feature vocals from Kate Pierson of fellow Athens, Georgia band The B-52's. Two songs featuring Mills on lead vocals, "Near Wild Heaven" and "Texarkana," received considerable airplay as well, the latter becoming a hit on album-oriented rock radio. Since the band was exhausted from the Green Tour, they chose to stay off the road. Nevertheless, ''Out of Time'' became R.E.M.'s biggest album, selling more than four million copies in the U.S. and spending two weeks at the top of the charts.After spending some months off in 1991, the band returned in the studio quickly to record their next album. In autumn of the following year they released the dark, meditative ''Automatic for the People'' (1992). Though the group had promised a harder-rocking album after the softer textures of ''Out of Time'', ''Automatic for the People'' was slow, quiet, and reflective, with many songs graced by string arrangements by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Most of the acoustic sound of the album came from the influence of Peter Buck's production of Uncle Tupelo's ''March 16-20,1992''. Like its predecessor, ''Automatic'' was a quadruple-platinum success, generating the Top 40 hit singles "Man on the Moon," "Drive," and "Everybody Hurts", written by drummer Bill Berry. It sold 15 million copies worldwide in spite of such melancholy themes as death, suicide, and sexual jealousy. After piecing together almost two albums in the studio, R.E.M. decided to return to being a rock band. Though the record was conceived as a back-to-basics album, the recording of the grunge-influenced ''Monster'' (1994) was difficult and plagued with tension. The single "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" proved to be a crossover hit and ''Monster'' their fastest-selling album to date, debuting at the top of the U.S. charts, but many critics disliked the band's foray into glam rock.Experiencing some of the strongest sales and reviews of their career, R.E.M. began early in 1995 their first tour since ''Green''. Two months into the tour, Bill Berry suffered a brain aneurysm while performing; he had surgery immediately and had fully recovered within a month. R.E.M. resumed their tour two months after Berry's aneurysm, but his illness was only the beginning of a series of problems that plagued the Monster Tour. Mills had to undergo abdominal surgery to remove an intestinal tumor in July; a month later, Stipe had to have an emergency surgery to remove a hernia. In 1996, R.E.M. parted ways with their long-time manager Jefferson Holt, allegedly due to sexual harassment charges levied against Holt; the group's lawyer, Bertis Downs, assumed managerial duties.Despite all the problems, the tour was an enormous financial success, and the group recorded the bulk of a new album. Shortly before its release, which was going to fulfill their contract, the band re-signed with Warner Brothers in 1996 for what was, at the time, the largest recording contract advance in history: $80 million for five albums. ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' (1996), a long, roughly-produced and decidedly bleak record, unleashed sentiments regarding the problems during ''Monster''. The album featured the seven-minute "Leave," the band's longest, and perhaps most intense, song to date. In light of such a huge contract sum, the commercial failure of ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' was particularly surprising. Though it received strong reviews and debuted at number two in the U.S. and number one in the U.K., the album failed to generate a hit single, and it only went platinum in USA, where its three predecessors went quadruple platinum. Other notable tracks on that record include "E-Bow the Letter" (a collaboration with the legendary Patti Smith) and the western-themed rock of "Low Desert."
R.E.M. After Berry (1997-present)
R.E.M. had always maintained strong band unity, sharing writing credits among its four members and generally seeking unanimous consensus on band decisions. In interviews over the years, Michael Stipe and others had stated repeatedly that the departure of any member of the band would likely lead to their breakup. This was tested on October 30, 1997, when Bill Berry announced his wish to leave the group, citing exhaustion and the mental fatigue of touring and promotion. In consultation with the band, Berry said he would not depart if it would lead to the group's breakup; according to Stipe, he even offered, if the others wanted, to continue drumming on studio recordings, though it would likely depress him. Stipe said: "I just love the guy too much to see him sad." Acquiescing to Berry's wishes and relieving him from the guilt of triggering a breakup, R.E.M. announced that it would continue as a three-piece.The remaining members of R.E.M. convened in Hawaii to begin preliminary work on their next album, ''Up''. The recording process was again plagued with tension, as the band struggled to redefine their sound without Berry and came close to disbanding completely. While there was no replacement drummer, ex-Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin contributed to sessions. The band also parted ways with their decade-long producer Scott Litt and commissioned Patrick "Pat" McCarthy, who oversaw a lush production. (McCarthy has remained in the producer's chair ever since.) Many tracks contained drum machines, and Peter Buck played very little guitar, with Mike Mills taking much of the guitar duties on the album. Released in the fall of 1998, ''Up'' offered a synth-heavy, Krautrock-influenced sound and was another long and reflective record, widely touted as R.E.M.'s most experimental recording in years. Led off by the single "Daysleeper," ''Up'' debuted in the U.S. top 10 but sank quickly, only going gold and producing no major radio hits. In Europe, however, the group remained popular.A year after ''Up'''s release, R.E.M. contributed a song, "The Great Beyond," to the soundtrack of the movie ''Man on the Moon'', which starred Jim Carrey in the life story of comedian Andy Kaufman and was itself named for the 1992 R.E.M. hit that referenced Kaufman in the lyrics. A major U.K. hit and a minor U.S. hit, "The Great Beyond" garnered greater radio airplay than any of R.E.M.'s singles from ''Up''.''Reveal'' (2001) confirmed the return to a mellower songwriting approach, with songs such as "Imitation of Life," "All The Way To Reno (You're Gonna Be A Star)," and "She Just Wants To Be." Again, popular and critical response varied on either side of the Atlantic: ''Reveal'' garnered mixed reviews in the U.S. but was critically feted in Britain, receiving generous praise from many popular music magazines including ''Uncut'', ''Wired'', ''NME'' and ''Q''.Recent R.E.M. soundtrack appearances have found them revisiting some of their earliest material, hitherto available only on live bootlegs. "All the Right Friends," written in 1980, was featured on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe film ''Vanilla Sky'' (2001). And the single "Bad Day" (2003), featured on the greatest-hits compilation ''In Time - The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003'', was originally the prototype for 1987's "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", with some of the same lyrics.Continuing their three-year release pattern with the previous two albums, the band returned in 2004 with ''Around the Sun'', which met with the mildest critical praise of any post-Berry album in R.E.M.'s career. For this record and a subsequent tour, the band hired a new full-time drummer, Bill Rieflin, who had previously been a member of Ministry: "Peter brought him in," says Stipe. "He thought he could pull us in a different direction, and Rieflin really responds to the singer, which is great." Singles from ''Around the Sun'' included "Leaving New York," "Aftermath," "Electron Blue" (a radio hit in Britain) and "Wanderlust." R.E.M.'s Around the Sun World Tour was its first global jaunt since the ill-fated Monster Tour in 1995. While touring behind ''Around the Sun'', R.E.M. took part in two live festivals that reflected the band's sociopolitical interests. In late 2004 the band toured with Bruce Springsteen and Bright Eyes on the Vote for Change Tour supporting U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry. And in July 2005 R.E.M. participated in Live 8. A scheduled R.E.M. concert at the same venue, Hyde Park, London, one week later, was postponed for an additional week in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings.In a recent interview, Buck said that R.E.M.'s next album would be very different from their current sound. Based on the new song "I'm Gonna DJ", played live on the 2004-2005 world tour, fans anticipate another rock album. According to Stipe, the band expects to have around 25 songs to choose from for the next album, widely expected to be released sometime in late 2006 or early 2007, as the band is taking a year off following the Around The Sun World Tour. The band remains signed to Warner Bros., with two albums remaining on their contract.
Trivia
- The band members picked the name R.E.M. out of the dictionary. They liked the name because it was so ambiguous. They started out as Twisted Kites for the first show they played at a party, but, according to "It Crawled From the South," considered Negro Eyes, Slut Bank, and Cans of Piss before settling for R.E.M.
- According to one box set of their albums, R.E.M. stands for Rapid Ear Movement, a play on Rapid Eye Movement
- The video for "Losing My Religion" was banned in Ireland due to its religious connotations.
- Michael Stipe was originally offered the role of "John Doe" in the 1995 film Se7en.
- Michael Stipe made a cameo on the first episode The Adventures of Pete and Pete as Captain Scrummy, an ice cream salesman. R.E.M. also made a guest appearence in The Simpsons episode "Homer the Moe".
- The video for "Losing My Religion" is the first video to feature Michael Stipe lip-synching the words to the song.
- When Rolling Stone named R.E.M. "America's Best Band" in November 1987, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry said, "We're not the best rock 'n' roll band in America." Pylon (band), he said, was the best.
EPs
- ''Chronic Town'' (24 August 1982)
Studio Albums
- ''Murmur'' (12 April 1983) #36 US US: Gold
- ''Reckoning'' (14 April 1984) #27 US; #91 UK US: Gold
- ''Fables of the Reconstruction'' (10 June 1985) #28 US; #35 UK US: Gold
- ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' (28 July 1986) #21 US; #43 UK US: Gold
- ''Document'' (1 September 1987) #10 US; #28 UK US: Platinum
- ''Green'' (8 November 1988) #12 US; #27 UK US: 2x Platinum
- ''Out of Time'' (12 March 1991) #1 US; #1 UK US: 4x Platinum/UK: 5x Platinum Worldwide: 13 million
- ''Automatic for the People'' (6 October 1992) #2 US; #1 UK US: 4x Platinum/UK: 5x Platinum Worldwide: 18 million
- ''Monster'' (27 September 1994) #1 US; #1 UK US: 4x platinum/UK: 3x Platinum Worldwide: 10 million
- ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' (10 September 1996) #2 US; #1 UK US: Platinum/UK: 2x Platinum Worldwide: 5.5 million
- ''Up'' (27 October 1998) #3 US; #2 UK US: Gold/UK: Gold Worldwide: 3 million
- ''Reveal'' (15 May 2001) #6 US; #1 UK US: Gold/UK: 2x Platinum Worldwide: 4 million
- ''Around the Sun'' (5 October 2004) #13 US; #1 UK UK: Platinum Worldwide: 2 million
Compilations
- ''Dead Letter Office'' (outtakes and B-sides, including ''Chronic Town'') (27 April 1987) #52 US; #60 UK
- ''Eponymous'' (I.R.S.-era compilation) (18 November 1988) #44 US; #69 UK
- ''The Best of R.E.M.'' (1991) a United Kingdom-only compilation of I.R.S. material
- ''R.E.M.: Singles Collected'' (1994) a Europe-only compilation of all singles released on I.R.S.
- ''R.E.M.: In the Attic'' (1997) an I.R.S. package of radio edits, live performances, and b-sides.
- ''In Time - The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003'' (Warner Bros.-era compilation) (28 October 2003) #8 US; #1 UK US: Gold/UK: 2x Platinum Worldwide: 5 million
Bootlegs
- "R.E.M. Unplugged" (Care for Your Ears 003/1991)
- "Good King Wenceslas"/"Academy Fight Song" (1989) Vinyl 7"
- "Ghost Reindeer in the Sky"/"Summertime" (1990) Vinyl 7"
- "Baby Baby"/"Christmas Griping" (1991) Vinyl 7"
- "Where's Captain Kirk?"/"Toyland" (1992) Vinyl 7"
- "Silver Bells"/"Christmas Time Is Here" (1993) Vinyl 7"
- "Sex Bomb"/"Christmas in Tunisia" (1994) Vinyl 7"
- "Wicked Game"/"Java" (1995) Vinyl 7"
- "Only in America"/"I Will Survive" (1996) Vinyl 7"
- "Live for Today"/"Happy When I'm Crying" (with Pearl Jam) (1997) Vinyl 7"
- "E-Bow the Letter" (live feat. Thom Yorke backing vocals)/"Lucky" (live Radiohead feat. Michael Stipe on vocals) (1998) VHSA
- "Country Feedback" (live feat. Neil Young on guitar)/"Ambulance Blues" (live Neil Young feat. R.E.M. as backing band) (1999) CD
- "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)"/"Hastings and Main"/"Take Seven" (2000) Blue vinyl 7"
- "Let Me In" (live)/"Find the River" (live) (2001) CD ROM
- "Jesus Christ"/"No Matter What" (2002) CD ROM
- "Country Feedback" (live feat. Wilco)/"It's the End of the World as We Know It" (live feat. Wilco) (2003) CD
- "I Wanted to Be Wrong" (live)/"She Just Wants to Be" (live) (2004) CD
- "The Great Beyond" (live)/"Turn You Inside Out" (live) (2005) DVD*1998 package was actually a live video from the Tibet Freedom Concert in Washington, D.C.