R.E.M.

Peter Buck was born in Berkeley, California. After spending time in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Buck family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Bill Berry was born in Duluth, Minnesota. In 1972, the Berry family made their final move, to Macon, Georgia, just in time for Bill to start high school at Mount de Sales Academy. Mike Mills was born in Orange County, California. He moved to Macon, Georgia when he was 10 years old. Mills met Bill Berry, who would later be his bandmate in R.E.M., in Macon. Mills and Berry started in bands together. Early projects included the band Shadowfax (later called The Back Door Band). Michael Stipe was born in Decatur, Georgia. His father was a serviceman in the United States Army whose career resulted in frequent relocations for his family. Stipe graduated from high school in Collinsville, Illinois, in 1978. (His senior photo is pictured in the album artwork of Eponymous). While attending college in Athens, Stipe frequented the Wuxtry record shop, where he met store clerk Peter Buck in 1980.

R.E.M. played their first gig as R.E.M. on 19th April 1980 at the 11:11 Koffee Club, Athens, Georgia to 150 people. The show ended at 2 am when police closed it down due to the venue being unlicensed.

R.E.M. made their first-ever recording sessions in February 1981 at Bombay Studios Smyrna, Georgia. Tracks included ‘Gardening At Night’, ‘Radio Free Europe’ and ‘(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.’ The following year they signed a five-album deal with I.R.S. Records, an independent label based in California.

In 1983, R.E.M. released their debut studio album Murmur on I.R.S. Records. Murmur drew critical acclaim upon its release for its unusual sound, defined by singer Michael Stipe’s cryptic lyrics, guitarist Peter Buck’s jangly guitar style, and bassist Mike Mills’ melodic basslines.

Their fourth studio album Lifes Rich Pageant, (1986), was recorded at John Mellencamp’s Belmont Mall Studios in Belmont, Indiana. The source for the title of the album is based on an English idiom, according to guitarist Peter Buck, from the 1964 film A Shot in the Dark, minus the apostrophe.

The 1987 album Document was the first album on which the band worked with producer Scott Litt. The album featured ‘The One I Love’, R.E.M.’s first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

The 1987 track ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’ is known for its quick flying, seemingly stream-of-consciousness rant with a number of diverse references, including a quartet of individuals with the initials “L.B.” (Leonard Bernstein, Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs). Michael Stipe claimed that the “L.B.” references came from a dream he had in which he found himself at a party surrounded by famous people who all shared these initials.

To promote Green, (1988) the band embarked on an 11-month world tour and released four singles: ‘Orange Crush’, ‘Stand’, ‘Pop Song 89’, and ‘Get Up’. R.E.M. supported the album with its biggest and most visually developed tour to date, (11-month world tour), featuring back-projections and art films playing on the stage.

In 1991 R.E.M. played the first of two nights at London’s Borderline Club under the name of ‘Bingo Hand Job.’

The 1991 album Out of Time gave R.E.M. their first US & UK No.1 album. The album won three Grammy Awards in 1992: one as Best Alternative Music Album, and two for the first single, ‘Losing My Religion’, and spent 109 weeks on American album charts and 183 weeks on the British charts. The video for ‘Losing My Religion’ won two Grammy Awards and six MTV Awards. The video for ‘Losing My Religion’, was banned in Ireland because its religious imagery was seen as unfit for broadcast.

R.E.M. cleaned up in the 1992 Rolling Stone Music Awards winning Album of the Year, for Out Of Time, Artist of the Year, Best Single for ‘Losing My Religion’, Best Video for ‘Losing My Religion’ and Best Band, Best Guitarist and Best songwriter awards.

R.E.M. scored their second UK No.1 album with Automatic For The People in October 1992. Featuring the singles ‘Drive’, ‘Everybody Hurts’, ‘Man On The Moon’ and ‘The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight’, the album, features string arrangements by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones has sold over 18 million copies worldwide.

During a gig at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland on 1st March 1995, Bill Berry collapsed on stage from a ruptured brain aneurysm. He recovered and later re-joined the band.

‘What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?’ was released as a single. Taken from the Monster album, the song’s title refers to an incident in New York City in 1986, when two then-unknown assailants attacked journalist Dan Rather while repeating “Kenneth, what is the frequency?”

R.E.M. released their eleventh studio album Up in 1998. The band engaged the production assistance of Pat McCarthy, who was assisted on most tracks by engineer Nigel Godrich, Radiohead‘s producer. The single ‘Daysleeper’ became a Top 10 UK hit, and ‘Lotus’, The Beach Boys influenced ‘At My Most Beautiful’ and ‘Suspicion’ were also released as singles.

In 1997 R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry announced that he was leaving the group after 17 years, becoming a farmer.

In April 2001 Peter Buck was charged by police at Heathrow Airport in the UK with being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting British Airways crew. Buck was taken into custody after landing on a flight from Seattle and questioned by police for 12 hours. The following year Bono from U2 made an appearance at the trial of Buck, telling the court “I came to court because Peter is actually famously known for being a peaceable person. I once had to twist his arm to get him to a boxing match”. Buck was later cleared of all charges. He had been accused of attacking two cabin staff and covering them in yoghurt, knocking over a trolley and trying to steal a knife.

From the late 1980s, R.E.M. was involved in the local politics of its hometown of Athens, Georgia. R.E.M. helped raise funds for environmental, feminist and human rights causes, and were involved in campaigns to encourage voter registration in the US.

Black Francis of the Pixies has described the album Murmur as “hugely influential” on his songwriting. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was a fan of R.E.M., and had unfulfilled plans to collaborate on a musical project with Stipe.

Their musical style inspired many other alternative rock bands and musicians, and the band became one of the first alternative rock acts to experience breakthrough commercial success. R.E.M. have sold more than ninety million albums worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time.