Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Image by kk+ on Flickr
They started out as skinny college kids in Athens, Georgia and over 31 years together created some of the most inventive, satisfying music of our time. Enjoy our retrospective of words and sounds
Where it all started. 1983. National television debut on Letterman
Live on Jools Holland 2006
Had seen this one before. Lovely song though
Their greatest song? Discuss
Short interviews about making of their final studio album
Jukebox favourite
Directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, featuring Aaron Johnson
'Mike Mills and Peter Buck announce today that they are both, after years of awkward speculation, heterosexual'
Michael Stipe: "I am a sentimental, sappy guy, and part of my inherent contradiction is that I'm constantly battling that cheese-ball side of myself. But I come from a long line of Methodist preachers, it comes from somewhere"
"There is sadness because I will never play on the same stage as Peter and Michael again. [But] we're doing this for good reasons, and we end up looking back at all the fun, the joy and the incredible opportunities we had"
Musical obit of great American band, focusing on difficulties of staying together. Some nice moments and (non-current) quotes from Buck and Mills, even if the sheer quality of their output is probably understated here
"How many existing bands can boast the same mix of commercial reach and off-the-wall creativity as REM at their peak? The question should be not where it went wrong but how on earth, for at least a decade, they got it so right"
Musical post-mortem for band from Athens, Georgia now going their separate ways. Emerged from college radio scene, lo-fi, scrappy, with famously unintelligible lyrics. Filled stadiums in the 90s but weren't ever really mainstream
Editorial from band's hometown newspaper. "REM were key influences in fomenting a massive shift in the politics of this town." Stipe reportedly told county mayor: "I've got some people, and I can stir them up"
How REM signed off on their own website. "We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening"
Excellent interview with enigmatic lead singer of REM. Tracing influences from 1970s punk-rock scene to thrill of living in New York. Embracing free love, fear of AIDS, fame and melancholy songs
Not sure about the headline but a fun, discursive interview with REM frontman when Reveal came out. "Frankly, we're not even sure if there's a market for this kind of thing anymore," says REM's lawyer
Cover story from 1987, on coming of age of "rock's most influential college band". Interviewer spends a day with band in New York, where Peter Buck ("I will never tell anyone I'm in this band") has just bought a mandolin for $500
Republication of 1989 interview. "Albums like Life's Rich Pageant and Fables of the Reconstruction captured the sense of space and possibility that lies within America, allied to a strong sense of loss and dreams betrayed"
Interview with Michael Stipe. "When did you first become aware of music?" "It would have been the Beatles, Michelle, my belle. I was staying with a German friend and she was making cabbage soup for me. That song came on the radio"
Photo gallery (26 pictures) from the skinny ex-students of the early 1980s up until 2008
Often licensed to charities for free. Simple, direct lyrics. Says Peter Buck: "I remember Michael saying something to the effect that he wanted younger people to not have to worry about metaphors"
