R.E.M. breaks up
R.E.M., which announced its split today, in the early years. Peter Buck (left), Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Michael Stipe. Berry left the band in 1997. Photo: Sandra Lee-Phipps
It’s a day many thought would never come. It looked like R.E.M. was in it for the long haul, but that changed today.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and Athens mainstays released a statement via their website today:
“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. 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.” R.E.M.
The site also includes statements from each of the band members, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck.
Those three, along with drummer Bill Berry, started the band in 1980. By 1991, the band had scored four Top 10 hits and inspired a generation of musicians.
Check out the Buzz for more.
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170 comments Add your comment
L.A.P.
September 21st, 2011
3:57 pm
Finally started getting into their early stuff a year or so ago…another Athens Band bites the dust. It’s too bad but most ‘things’ have a finite lifetime. R.I.P., Gentlemen.
ATLNative
September 21st, 2011
4:03 pm
Jefferson, I think they’re lost.
CKM
September 21st, 2011
4:11 pm
I graduated from high school in 1986. REM’s music is very nostalgic for me. The picture of them posted is crazy. They look like babies. Makes me feel a little old. Or maybe I feel a little older, because today’s my birthday. Either way, they’ll be missed by me.
Jorge M.
September 21st, 2011
4:17 pm
They had a good run. Thanks for the music, R.E.M.
DawgFan88
September 21st, 2011
4:22 pm
God I feel old. And man, I’m going to miss them. Was there in the 80s at Georgia, have followed them ever since. Thank you REM!
OH
September 21st, 2011
4:28 pm
Now if Duran Duran would give up the ghost…
AtlantaSteve
September 21st, 2011
4:29 pm
I’ve been a fan since 1983. I have great memories of all their albums and concerts and have been reacquainting myself with their music on DVD-Audio. They were and will always be a major influence on my life. Good luck to them all.
Cudge
September 21st, 2011
4:37 pm
Loved their songs “Loveshack” and “Rock Lobster” – i will sorely miss their music!!! Good luck in the future….
crackbaby
September 21st, 2011
4:37 pm
Lot of haters and fools posting as usual with AJC.com.
R.E.M. brought new sound, rhythm and energy to music. They will always be a favorite band. Chronic Town songs were a staple of my formative years.
dre
September 21st, 2011
4:41 pm
The Reverend Baby Doctor Bedpan “Blah…..Their music was uninspiring and monotonous. All they had to do was get enough air play to trick the drones of this planet in to thinking they were good. If it is on the radio….All the time….It must be good…..Right?” I thought I was the only one that thought this. Still waiting to hear from all the UGA grads from 1975 to 1995 that said they went to school with Peter Buck…..used to hear that all the time!
SAWB
September 21st, 2011
4:46 pm
I went to school with Pearl Buck…
Billy Sherman
September 21st, 2011
4:49 pm
You can’t really break up if you’ve been irrelevant for a decade.
Carlton
September 21st, 2011
4:54 pm
@ Mark (First Page comment):
You could even consider Dave Matthews Band coming out of Athens. Even though they started in Charlottesville, VA..Athens and The Georgia Theater was a prime hotspot for them to play when they first started to get big..
pooptime
September 21st, 2011
4:55 pm
Still crawlin. Faster. Time will tell. Heal the wound. Slower, slow.
Alex Cooley
September 21st, 2011
5:13 pm
It’s the end of the world as we know it…
brock
September 21st, 2011
5:13 pm
UGA ‘81 grad here, and I went to school w/ Pete Buck, high school! I do not think he ever attended classes at UGA. Had a full scholarship to Emory, dropped out and came to Athens to start the band. I thought he was crazy, shows what I know!
They made some great music and I wish them well. The show in Jan 83 at the 688 Club w/ Jason and the Nashville Scorchers was epic!
Thanks for all you did for Athens and all the other musicians there guys.
t.waddle
September 21st, 2011
5:14 pm
I like cheese.
ozzfest
September 21st, 2011
5:18 pm
went to UGA 1986-1990…saw Stipe around town a lot…HE STUNK WORSE THAN ANYBODY I HAVE EVER MET AND WAS A COMPLETE JERK to anyone who approached him.
edward
September 21st, 2011
5:25 pm
The last really good album they put out was the one right after Berry left. New Adventures in Hifi..But seriously they went down hill when they had signed that huge recording contract and then got rattled by the numbers when it sunk in. I’ll always get pumped when I hear anything up to Losing My Religion. Instead of focusing on how they flamed out in the end, people should just remember what they brought before Stipe decided to let people know what the hell he was saying…
Doug
September 21st, 2011
5:27 pm
Too bad stipe was a flaming liberal douche
Michael Marr
September 21st, 2011
5:42 pm
They were great when I was in college. Peter Buck at the 40 Watt; Stipe at The Globe or The Grit. Athens and Ga were suffering from a recession at the time and downtown was pretty much boarded up. Now look at it!
pooptime
September 21st, 2011
5:47 pm
TP for BH
Biff Harvey
September 21st, 2011
5:48 pm
And… Love Tractor, Pylon, and let not forget Let’s Active and Mitch Easter who produced the first two REM albums. REM is the soundtrack for the alternative/college rock era, pre-grundge. But when Bill left, well actually about the time of Green, I moved on. Still a great band.
blake
September 21st, 2011
5:57 pm
Two hit wonders from the 80’s. Big Whoop. They had that Religion song and that Jellybean Boom song. Been irrelevant since that shlt wrapped up in 1989 or so.
bob
September 21st, 2011
5:58 pm
I’ve heard from a very reliable source that the reason they are breaking up is because Michael Stipe
and Morrissey are getting married and moving to Malta.
Doug
September 21st, 2011
5:59 pm
These 3 gay men (and the one straight one) have done more for queer advocacy than any other pop stars. When they started they all had to be in the closet. Now, look at what they have achieved! May they all go to New York and marry their respective partners (come on, Michael and Mike…tie the knot!) Yay!
Chuck
September 21st, 2011
6:01 pm
Athens…the eighties…Walked in on Michael getting whumped in the rumpus in the bathroom of the GA BAR.
jj
September 21st, 2011
6:03 pm
Bet that stunk!
Leo Frank Jr
September 21st, 2011
7:29 pm
REM DOESN’T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE
Of all the times to announce this non-event, they pick now, when the whole world is watching Georgia?
Goes to show you what a cocoon they live in, be it accident or ignorance.
I’m sure Troy Davis is very sad about their break-up.
eric
September 21st, 2011
8:09 pm
REM is like that mediocre running back that has 10 100 yd. games in his ‘contract” year .. only to fade on to obscurity … good for you untalented losers to scam the label for so much $$$
Mr. Blue
September 21st, 2011
8:29 pm
Loved them early on, but once they got off with that “Green” phase, I tuned out. Didn’t even know they still were a band, to be honest.
Happy Birthday – - – - – - -
Steve
September 21st, 2011
8:42 pm
Enter your comments here
Steve
September 21st, 2011
8:43 pm
I’m Brian Fellows!!!!
Richard Bagge
September 21st, 2011
8:50 pm
A quick question for the pinheads who keep asking “Who cares? They haven’t been relevant since 1980-odd and only ever had two hits blah blah?” How many top five albums did YOU release this calendar year? I think, in 2011, R.E.M. released one more than you did.
brock
September 21st, 2011
8:57 pm
Hey eric, if these rich members of the R&R Hall of Fame are losers, what does that make someone trolling a blog about a band they don’t even like?
I’m thinking ultra, mega loser.
REM fan since the mid-80s
September 21st, 2011
9:04 pm
I’d rather listen to REM than most of the garbage cluttering the airwaves these days.
Thanks for all the great music!
BillDDD
September 21st, 2011
9:19 pm
If ur not down hearing REM is quiting then u r just a pea-brained party loon. REM speaks, says it deep. If u dont know this then u aint been there where its felt.
Elvis Presley
September 21st, 2011
9:25 pm
Freebird !
Driver8
September 21st, 2011
9:31 pm
time to garden
Dirk Diggler
September 21st, 2011
9:40 pm
Why do bands breakup? So they can get back together again $.
Murmur
September 21st, 2011
10:03 pm
Wow! I don’t know why I bother reading these comments, so many ignorant and mean spirited people with absolutely no taste in music. REM is one of the greatest, most influential bands ever. Those who thought they stopped making relevant music in the 90’s should check out their last two cds, accelerate and collapse into now are outstanding! They are a band that refused to conform and never stuck with a certain sound just to be successful.
Trip
September 21st, 2011
10:12 pm
My favorite REM story is when “Don’t Go Back to Rockville” got play on several country music stations.
JKM
September 21st, 2011
10:13 pm
Don’t know which I like less… R.E.M. or all the hundreds of bands they inspired. They almost singlehandedly destroyed musicianship and entertainment as virtues in popular music.
what,what,what??
September 21st, 2011
10:24 pm
rem in the same sentence with the stones?!, the stones can play circles around them mummified,don’t belief it,catch the stones on there next tour,they ARE mummified,and legend has it they actually prefer women.those piccalo players from athens will never be considered in that class!!!!
Frank
September 21st, 2011
10:25 pm
U2? Next? We’re waiting….. (have been since Joshua Tree)
REM should have bowed out after Eponymous
FreeDunta!
September 21st, 2011
10:30 pm
Great band. Changed pop music. Have a great retirement.
buttwaduino
September 21st, 2011
10:43 pm
Saw them many times – first at the old Agora Ballroom next to the Georgian Terrace around 1982 or so – and appreciated almost all of their work. While their trendiness peaked and ebbed, REM was truly unique and a consistently worthwhile band over the entirety of their 30 years. Even post-Bill Berry their stuff was more inspiring, complex, and listenable than 98% of the drivel pumped out by other bands and “relevant” pop stars in the last ten years. If not on top, they still go out at a very highly functional level. Best of luck to them.
David
September 21st, 2011
10:46 pm
I don’t know where Rockville is or if it’s even real but I always thought they were saying “Rockdale”; and I have to say that’s been some good advice and good words to live by. I never went back to Rockdale and I feel fine.
Russ
September 21st, 2011
10:46 pm
Shocked at the stupid comments here…once you love REM, always love REM. Stumbled across Dead Letter Office a few weeks ago and it’s still in my Jeep’s stereo. Have some respect people…and Georgia pride?
Orange Brave f/k/a Billy jacks bbq and shrimp
September 21st, 2011
11:05 pm
Loved REM. Still do. Great music. But all things must move on.
There really is a Rockville. In N. Jersey. The song (as I recall) was written to keep one of the guy’s girlfriends from moving back up there to resume her small town life. I think it was Berry or Mills. Not sure, but true song. Ironically, I always think they are saying “Knoxville” as that is where I am from and despite being a Vol fan, I am not too keen on ever moving back there for the same reasons they articulate in the song.
Rock on.