R.E.M. Part 1
Sleep with Rock Stars, the Gen X Sleep Podcast. You deserve a good night's sleep…or whatever.
Relax and unwind while award-winning radio host and podcaster, Sloane Spencer, lulls you with soothing details about bands and musicians beloved by Gen X. Start with a calm meditation to train your brain that it's time to sleep, settle your headspace, and drift off with a low, mellow, sometimes whispering history lesson about the best bands to ever grace your mixed tapes.
This Week
- R.E.M. Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe founded April 5, 1980 in Athens, Georgia.
- R.E.M. on Wikipedia, the source for this podcast's content. Full credits acknowledgement recorded within the episode.
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Transcript
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. was noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar playing, Stipe's distinctive vocal style, unique stage presence and cryptic lyrics, Mills's melodic bass lines and backing vocals, and Berry's tight, economical drumming. In the early 1990s, other alternative rock acts such as Nirvana, Pixies and Pavement named R.E.M. as a pioneer of the genre. After Berry left in 1997 due to severe health issues, the remaining members continued with mixed critical and commercial success. The band broke up amicably in 2011, having sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music acts.
The band released their first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. It was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, their first release on I.R.S. Records. Over the course of the decade, R.E.M. released acclaimed albums, commencing with their debut Murmur (1983), and continuing yearly with Reckoning (1984), Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), Lifes Rich Pageant (1986), Document (1987) and Green (1988). During their most successful period, they worked with the producer Scott Litt. With constant touring, and the support of college radio following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit with the 1987 single "The One I Love". They signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing arenas worldwide.
R.E.M.'s most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), put them in the vanguard of alternative rock as it was becoming mainstream. Out of Time received seven nominations at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards, and the lead single, "Losing My Religion", was R.E.M.'s highest-charting and best-selling hit. Monster (1994) continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three of the band members. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract ever. The tour was productive and the band recorded the following album mostly during soundchecks. The resulting record, New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), is hailed as the band's last great album and the members' favorite, growing in cult status over the years. Berry left the band the following year for health reasons, and Stipe, Buck and Mills continued as a musical trio, supplemented by studio and live musicians, such as the multi-instrumentalists Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow and the drummers Joey Waronker and Bill Rieflin. They also parted ways with their longtime manager Jefferson Holt, at which point the band's attorney Bertis Downs assumed managerial duties. Seeking to also renovate their sound, the band stopped working with Litt, and hired as co-producer Pat McCarthy, who had worked as mixer and engineer on the band's previous two albums.
After the electronic and experimental direction of Up (1998), which was commercially unsuccessful, Reveal (2001), referred to as "a conscious return to their classic sound",[4] received general acclaim. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Berry reunited with the band for the ceremony, and to record a cover of John Lennon's "#9 Dream" for the 2007 compilation album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur to benefit Amnesty International's campaign to alleviate the Darfur conflict. Looking for a change of sound after lukewarm reception for Around the Sun (2004), the band collaborated with the producer Jacknife Lee on their final two studio albums—the well-received Accelerate (2008) and Collapse into Now (2011). In 2024, the band reunited to perform "Losing My Religion" at their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and once again in 2025 to perform "Pretty Persuasion" at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia.[5][6][7][8]
History
1980–1982: Formation and first releases
In January 1980, Peter Buck met Michael Stipe in Wuxtry Records, the Athens record store where Buck worked. The pair discovered that they shared similar tastes in music, particularly in punk rock and proto-punk artists like Patti Smith, Television, and the Velvet Underground. Stipe said, "It turns out that I was buying all the records that [Buck] was saving for himself."[9] Through mutual friend Kathleen O'Brien,[10] Stipe and Buck then met fellow University of Georgia students Bill Berry and Mike Mills,[11] who had played music together since high school[12]: 30 and had lived together in Macon, Georgia.[13] The quartet agreed to collaborate on several songs; Stipe later commented that "there was never any grand plan behind any of it".[9] Their still-unnamed band spent a few months rehearsing in the deconsecrated St. Mary's Episcopal Church on Oconee Street in Athens. "I remember our very first practice," recalled Mills in 2024. "Bill and I had some stuff left over from our band in Macon. We showed it to Peter and Michael, and they took it to places—even that very first night—that I didn't expect. I thought, 'This works for me.'"[14] He continued: "Bill and I had a bunch of songs from a band we were in in Macon, and we showed [Peter and Michael] those songs. Peter was playing arpeggiated stuff – nobody plays that. And Michael: the voice was there, and he did some fun things with the melodies. I thought, 'These guys are bringing something to the game.'"[15] They fleshed out their performances at their rehearsal space, on Jackson Street in Athens.[15]
They played their first show on April 5, 1980, supported by the Side Effects at O'Brien's birthday party held in the same church, performing a mix of originals and 1960s and 1970s covers.[10] After considering names such as "Cans of Piss", "Negro Eyes", and "Twisted Kites",[10] the band settled on "R.E.M.", which Stipe selected at random from a dictionary.[12]: 39 R.E.M. is well known as an abbreviation for rapid eye movement, the dream stage of sleep; however, sleep researcher Rafael Pelayo reports that when his colleague William Dement, the sleep scientist who coined the term REM, reached out to the band, Dement was told that the band was named "not after REM sleep".[16]
The band members eventually dropped out of school to focus on their developing group.[17] They found a manager in Jefferson Holt, a record store clerk who was so impressed by an R.E.M. performance in his hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that he moved to Athens.[12]: 41 R.E.M.'s success was almost immediate in Athens and surrounding areas; the band drew progressively larger crowds for shows, which caused some resentment in the Athens music scene.[12]: 46 Over the next year and a half, R.E.M. toured throughout the Southern United States. Touring was arduous because a touring circuit for alternative rock bands did not then exist. "We made it up as we went along with people who owned bars or pizza joints or coffee shops or gay bars or biker bars," said Mills. "Anybody that wanted this kind of music there, they would make a way for it to happen in their place. It was so exciting."[15] The group toured in an old blue van driven by Holt (and any band member except Stipe),[15] and lived on a food allowance of $2 each per day.[12]: 53–54
During April 1981, R.E.M. recorded their first single, "Radio Free Europe", at producer Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after a recommendation by Peter Holsapple.[18] Initially distributing it as a four-track demo tape to clubs, record labels and magazines, the single was released in July 1981 on the local independent record label Hib-Tone with an initial pressing of 1,000 copies—600 of which were sent out as promotional copies. The single quickly sold out, and another 6,000 copies were pressed due to popular demand, despite the original pressing leaving off the record label's contact details.[19][10] Despite its limited pressing, the single garnered critical acclaim, and was listed as one of the ten best singles of the year by The New York Times.[1]: 497
R.E.M. recorded the Chronic Town EP with Mitch Easter in October 1981, and planned to release it on a new indie label named Dasht Hopes.[12]: 59 However, I.R.S. Records acquired a demo of the band's first recording session with Easter that had been circulating for months.[12]: 61–63 The band turned down the advances of major label RCA Records in favor of I.R.S., with whom they signed a contract in May 1982. I.R.S. released Chronic Town that August as its first American release.[12]: 66–67 A positive review of the EP by NME praised the songs' auras of mystery, and concluded, "R.E.M. ring true, and it's great to hear something as unforced and cunning as this."[21]
1982–1988: I.R.S. Records and cult success
I.R.S. first paired R.E.M. with producer Stephen Hague to record their debut album. Hague's emphasis on technical perfection left the band unsatisfied, and the band members asked the label to let them record with Easter.[12]: 72 I.R.S. agreed to a "tryout" session, allowing the band to return to North Carolina and record the song "Pilgrimage" with Easter and producing partner Don Dixon. After hearing the track, I.R.S. permitted the group to record the album with Dixon and Easter.[12]: 78 Because of their bad experience with Hague, the band recorded the album via a process of negation, refusing to incorporate rock music clichés such as guitar solos or then-popular synthesizers, in order to give its music a timeless feel.[12]: 78–82 The completed album, Murmur, was greeted with critical acclaim upon its release in 1983, with Rolling Stone listing the album as its record of the year.[12]: 73 The album reached number 36 on the Billboard album chart.[12]: 357–58 A re-recorded version of "Radio Free Europe" was the album's lead single and reached number 78 on the Billboard singles chart in 1983.[22] Despite the acclaim awarded the album, Murmur sold only about 200,000 copies, which I.R.S.'s Jay Boberg felt was below expectations.[12]: 95
R.E.M. made their first national television appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in October 1983,[1]: 432 during which the group performed a new, unnamed song.[1]: 434 The piece, eventually titled "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)", became the first single from the band's second album, Reckoning (1984), which was also recorded with Easter and Dixon. The album met with critical acclaim; NME's Mat Snow wrote that Reckoning "confirms R.E.M. as one of the most beautifully exciting groups on the planet".[23] While Reckoning peaked at number 27 on the US album charts—an unusually high chart placing for a college rock band at the time—scant airplay and poor distribution overseas resulted in it charting no higher than number 91 in Britain.[12]: 115
A black-and-white photograph of Michael Stipe and Peter Buck performing on stage with spotlights on them. Stipe is to the left singing into a microphone, wearing a three-piece suit, he has bleach-blond hair and is obscuring Mike Mills, whose bass guitar is visible from behind him. Peter Buck is playing guitar and wearing a button-up pattern shirt behind Stipe to the photograph's right with a sneer on his face.
The band's third album, Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), demonstrated a change in direction. Instead of Dixon and Easter, R.E.M. chose producer Joe Boyd, who had worked with Fairport Convention and Nick Drake, to record the album in England. The band members found the sessions unexpectedly difficult, and were miserable due to the cold winter weather and what they considered to be poor food;[12]: 131–132 the situation brought the band to the verge of break-up.[12]: 135 The gloominess surrounding the sessions worked its way into the context for the album's themes. Lyrically, Stipe began to create storylines in the mode of Southern mythology, noting in a 1985 interview that he was inspired by "the whole idea of the old men sitting around the fire, passing on ... legends and fables to the grandchildren".[24]
They toured Canada in July and August 1985, and Europe in October of that year, including the Netherlands, England (including one concert at London's Hammersmith Palais), Ireland, Scotland, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and West Germany.[25] On October 2, 1985, the group played a concert in Bochum, West Germany, for the German TV show Rockpalast. Stipe had bleached his hair blond during this time.[26][27] R.E.M. invited California punk band Minutemen to open for them on part of the US tour, and organized a benefit for the family of Minutemen frontman D. Boon who died in a December 1985 car crash shortly after the tour's conclusion.[28] Fables of the Reconstruction performed poorly in Europe and its critical reception was mixed, with some critics regarding it as dreary and poorly recorded.[12]: 140 As with the previous records, the singles from Fables of the Reconstruction were mostly ignored by mainstream radio. Meanwhile, I.R.S. was becoming frustrated with the band's reluctance to achieve mainstream success.[12]: 159
For their fourth album, R.E.M. enlisted John Mellencamp's producer Don Gehman. The album, entitled Lifes Rich Pageant (1986), featured Stipe's vocals closer to the forefront of the music. In a 1986 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Peter Buck related, "Michael is getting better at what he's doing, and he's getting more confident at it. And I think that shows up in the projection of his voice."[29] The album improved markedly upon the sales of Fables of the Reconstruction and reached number 21 on the Billboard album chart. The single "Fall on Me" also picked up support on commercial radio.[12]: 151 The album was the band's first to be certified gold for selling 500,000 copies.[30]: 142 While American college radio remained R.E.M.'s core support, the band was beginning to chart hits on mainstream rock formats; however, the music still encountered resistance from Top 40 radio.[12]: 160
Following the success of Lifes Rich Pageant, I.R.S. issued Dead Letter Office, a compilation of tracks recorded by the band during their album sessions, many of which had either been issued as B-sides or left unreleased altogether. Shortly thereafter, I.R.S. compiled R.E.M.'s music video catalog (except "Wolves, Lower") as the band's first video release, Succumbs.
Don Gehman was unable to produce R.E.M.'s fifth album, so he suggested the group work with Scott Litt.[30]: 146 Litt would be the producer for the band's next five albums. Document (1987) featured some of Stipe's most openly political lyrics, particularly on "Welcome to the Occupation" and "Exhuming McCarthy", which were reactions to the conservative political environment of the 1980s under American president Ronald Reagan.[31] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote in his review of the album, "'Document' is both confident and defiant; if R.E.M. is about to move from cult-band status to mass popularity, the album decrees that the band will get there on its own terms."[32] Document was R.E.M.'s breakthrough album, and the first single "The One I Love" charted in the Top 20 in the US, UK, and Canada.[12]: 357–58 By January 1988, Document had become the group's first album to sell a million copies.[30]: 157 In light of the band's breakthrough, the December 1987 cover of Rolling Stone declared R.E.M. "America's Best Rock & Roll Band".[12]: 163
1988–1997: International breakthrough and alternative rock stardom
Frustrated that its records did not see satisfactory overseas distribution, R.E.M. left I.R.S. when its contract expired and signed with the major label Warner Bros. Records.[12]: 174 Though other labels offered more money, R.E.M. ultimately signed with Warner Bros.—reportedly for an amount between $6 million and $12 million—due to the company's assurance of total creative freedom. (Jay Boberg claimed that R.E.M.'s deal with Warner Bros. was for $22 million, which Peter Buck disputed as "definitely wrong".)[12]: 177 In the aftermath of the group's departure, I.R.S. released the 1988 "best of" compilation Eponymous (assembled with input from the band members) to capitalize on assets the company still possessed.[30]: 170–171 The band's first album from Warner Bros., Green (1988), was recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, and showcased the group experimenting with its sound.[12]: 179 The record's tracks ranged from the upbeat first single "Stand" (a hit in the United States),[12]: 180 to more political material, like the rock-oriented "Orange Crush" and "World Leader Pretend", which address the Vietnam War and the Cold War, respectively.[12]: 183 Green has gone on to sell four million copies worldwide.[30]: 296 The band supported the album with their biggest and most visually developed tour to date, featuring back-projections and art films playing on the stage.[12]: 184 After the Green World Tour, the band members unofficially decided to take the following year off, the first extended break in the band's career.[12]: 198 In 1990, Warner Bros. issued the music video compilation Pop Screen to collect clips from the...
