R.E.M. has called it a day after 31 years, leaving 15 albums of material in their wake, a body of work that is bound to be revisited and reinterpreted by generations of musicians to come. The band who put Athens, Georgia on the musical map announced on their website that they were splitting up and thanked their fans for their support.
R.E.M. released their first single in 1981 and built up an indie following through a series of albums in the early ’80s but it was their fifth album 1987’s Document that saw them begin to draw international attention with hits like The One I Love and It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). Comprising Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry the band’s work became increasingly political and drew attention to policies of the Reagan government, environmentalism and human rights causes.
The band’s hit making run continued with 1989’s Green spawning hits including Orange Crush and Stand. In 1991 the band became a global phenomenon with the release of Out of Time, an album that has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and included popular songs Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People.
The band continued to be a worldwide top seller through the ’90s with a string of hits including Everybody Hurts, Man in the Moon and What’s the Frequency Kenneth? Drummer Bill Berry retired from the band in 1997 two years after he recovered from a brain aneurism. Over the last decade R.E.M have continued to regularly release albums, tour the world and maintain high sales despite not having the top 10 hits of their heyday. Their most recent album was 2011’s Collapse Into Now.
Front man Michael Stipe has described himself as queer, but not gay. Stipe first declared he was bisexual in a 1994 interview and has had several long term relationships with men. Recently Australian queer artist Paul Capsis included the R.E.M. tune I Get High on his album Make Me A King.
Via the band’s website Stipe commented ‘A wise man once said—“the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.†We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it.
‘I hope our fans realise this wasn’t an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.’
Staff Writer
