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.
accessAtlanta Partner Sites
Sections
Advertise on accessAtlanta.com »
Reach the audience you want by advertising on accessAtlanta.com
Join the Access Atlanta Network »
Advertisers and Publishers, expand your reach by joining the Access Atlanta Network.
Tell us what you think about the site
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement | About our ads
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
170 comments Add your comment
bill
September 21st, 2011
11:17 pm
Good Riddance. Not even the best band out of Athens (B-52s). A little too cool for the room for me, even in the posted picture, they look like smarmy douches.
WendellGee
September 21st, 2011
11:49 pm
I’m sorry, did R.E.M. shoot your puppy or something? They rode a wave of their own creativity for 30 years, toured the world, became wealthy and successful as a result, and left lasting, beautiful works of art that will be enjoyed for generations to come. And they did it all with integrity and class. How sad is your life that you have to rouse yourself from your meaningless coma of a life to peck out a derogatory statement about a band you never cared for. I say thank you, R.E.M. Thank you for the music. Thank you for the example. Thank you for being great ambassadors for the South and Georgia in particular.
Yourgirl10
September 21st, 2011
11:50 pm
WHAT??
floydcombat
September 21st, 2011
11:53 pm
even worse news…whilst reading this a Guns and Roses ad came on for their show in Atlanta.
Orange Brave f/k/a Billy jacks bbq and shrimp
September 21st, 2011
11:53 pm
Cut and pasted from wipedia:
“(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” was the second and final single released by R.E.M. from their second studio album Reckoning. The song failed to chart on either the Billboard Hot 100 or the UK Singles Charts.
The song was written by Mike Mills (credited to Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe) as a plea to his then girlfriend, Ingrid Schorr, not to return to Rockville, Maryland,[2] where her parents lived.[3] Schorr, who later became a journalist, has written about her amusement with the factual inaccuracies about her relationship with Mills and the background of the song that often appear in books about the band.[3] Peter Buck has stated that the song was originally performed in a punk/thrash style, and that it was recorded for this single in its now more-familiar country-inspired arrangement as a joke aimed at R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs.[4]
Over time, Mike Mills has taken lead vocals instead of Michael Stipe. On R.E.M.’s appearance on VH1 Storytellers in 1998, Mills performed the song solo on piano. A live version of the song was released as the B-side to “Leaving New York” in 2004 and on R.E.M. Live in 2007.
Still listening to the lyrics, I never want to go back to Knoxville.
SAWB
September 21st, 2011
11:53 pm
Wow so many negative things to say about a bunch of local kids who made it big. If you grew up in Atlanta in the mid-1980s you were listening to REM unless of course you were some white trash poser crankin up the Britny Fox.
Ghost of Troy Davis
September 22nd, 2011
12:02 am
REM DOESN’T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE!!!
why make this announcement (an utter non-event) ** today **?
are they– especially Bertis– that out of touch?
7Spider Rico
September 22nd, 2011
1:25 am
This, of course, can mean only one thing: The band’s original four members will gather in 2013 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. — the band’s hometown and springboard to stardom — to kickoff an international, multi-media, super-colossal, mega-tour.
http://7spiderrico.blogspot.com/2011/09/rem-quits-super-colossal-reunion-tour.html
Still@theBAR
September 22nd, 2011
2:41 am
Ghost of Troy Davis
September 22nd, 2011
12:02 am
REM DOESN’T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE!!!
Who is Troy Davis why should we care? Was Troy one of Michael Stipes gay lovers that died of AIDS or something?
Well R.E.M has gone the way of so many Uga’s before them. Uga VIII most recently. Maybe now the DAWGS can win a Championship again.
Still@theBAR
September 22nd, 2011
2:45 am
SAWB
Maybe some people didn’t listen to bands with Gay males from Athens in the band like R.E.M. and the B-52’s. Maybe the Police, the Who, Dead Kennedy’s, PIL, Suicidal Tendencies were more our taste.
Thursday’s Radio Free Lunch, Bands That Broke Up
September 22nd, 2011
7:09 am
[...] announced yesterday that they are officially broken up. Add to our playlist by suggesting some other bands who broke up. Are you bummed about [...]
RillyKewl
September 22nd, 2011
9:44 am
Brilliant band. Thanks for all the good years. You guys rock.
I’ll be watching to see whats next.
Why did I bother
September 22nd, 2011
11:44 am
I love message boards. These places allow for the most candor. One can be as mean or vitriolic as they wish and do so without any harm to their standing in the community. If it were not for a message board, I think we’d see a lot more “going postal” than we do.
REM did great things for music and have done so with fantastic integrity. They won’t be getting back together for money because they live well beneath their means and have a ton of it anyway. REM gave life to an entire generation of music. Even if you don’t like them per se, there are bands or music you listen to that happened your way because of them. If not, why are you here on this board? Bored?
Michael Nicholson
September 23rd, 2011
3:22 pm
Loved the band! They were to Athens what Elvis is to Memphis….became hooked on them in 1989 after “Green.” Became a bigger fan when I transferred to UGA in 1990. It was great to run into them at Wuxtry, Dunkin Donuts, etc. Enjoyed Stipe singing “Rhinestone Cowboy” at the 40 Watt, and there show at the Omni during the “Monster” tour. Their music is still exciting today….Also, enjoy singing some of their songs in my band (man on the moon, one i love, rockville) and some of their best cover songs (Love is All Around & Have You Ever Seen the Rain)….come full circle…they were my BEATLES, only Americanized and Southern..When Spring rolls around and the dogwoods bloom; nothing like rolling down the windows and blaring some REM through the car speakers…bliss!
aggie1964
September 23rd, 2011
4:58 pm
wow. so now I will have to watch the paint dry on my wall to replace the entertainment value they represented
.
ExBeggar
September 23rd, 2011
5:25 pm
Oh well… Age creeps up another day! Better than the alternative though.
ACE
September 23rd, 2011
5:39 pm
The best band to come from Athens is “Neutral Milk Hotel”
bill
September 23rd, 2011
6:22 pm
Hey WendellGee, my life is good, thank you.
Got you widdle feelings hurt that there are are actually people out there that don’t think the musical world began and ended with REM and the other Complaint Rock usual suspects.
Here’s hoping your coma is forthcoming, and soon!
jcatl
September 23rd, 2011
6:50 pm
When I arrived at college in 1984 the main band I was listening to was Rush though I was a huge fan of a lot of hardcore punk bands, X, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys as well as mainstream stuff like the Clash and Elvis Costello. In the span of a week I was handed the vinyl of Reckoning, Let It Be (the Replacements, not the Beatles) and the Violent Femmes debut album. The rest is history. REM put college radio on the map and taught younger bands that you didn’t have to get played on Clear Channel’s programmed BS stations to succeed artistically, and as it turns out for REM, you can succeed commercially while still sticking to your principles.
While I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about REM these days, the finality of an official break up is a mental sea change for me because they’ve been a part of my musical world for 27 years now. Their music will always resonate for me but being in the post-REM era is a real bummer.
steve
September 24th, 2011
4:10 pm
It always annoys me when people slam “shiny happy people”. So they put out a pop song. Big deal. Its a nice little song that you always remember and a cool video to boot. I was disappointed it was not on their greatest hits album because it WAS one of their greatest hits.