R.E.M. Has Broken Up

[meegbear]

Here's the obit from their website:

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.

http://remhq.com/index.php

Had to happen eventually

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

1. It's the end of the world as we know it.

But I feel fine!

[mvd]

2. I'll miss them. They are one of my very faves

I wonder if there will be solo work coming up. Can't see Michael joining a new band so soon.

[Renew Deal]

3. One of the great bands

I haven't listented to them recently, but they are a brilliant. It's sad to see them go.

[Seedersandleechers]

4. When I hear this REM song it reminds me

of the year I spent living in a bus with my mentor. He pulled me up from the gutter and showed me a better way to live.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LewYq40Svw&ob=av2e

[LynneSin]

5. Ok place your bets here when the next REM reunion tour will start

I'm guessing in 2013, just feels right then!

[meegbear]

7. I think after Michael Stipe has two flop solo releases, they'll do it

[hifiguy]

6. Great band.

They were the new "up and coming" band back when I was in college in the early 1980s. :scared: Saw them in '84 and they killed. They were my soundtrack in law school as I trudged around campus, Walkman in pocket, from '85 to '88. There was something eerie about walking through Harvard Yard on a dark fall night, leaves falling, and "Feeling Gravity's Pull" booming through the headphones. Great times. Sigh.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. I agree..."Had to happen eventually." They've been breaking up for years.

I've been in the dark regarding most of their work since "Monster."

And I'm still primarily a fan of the alt rock / jangle pop of the first two albums. I don't think anyone wanted them to continually rubber-stamp those two albums, but if I have a choice between listening to "Don't Go Back To Rockville" or "Everybody Hurts," it's gonna be "Rockville" 100% of the time.

Later stuff like "What's The Frequency Kenneth" was fun, but putting on those first two albums pretty much kicked the ass of anything that followed.

Thanks for the memories, guys...and there have been many.

:toast:

[mvd]

9. Personally I love both the old and new from them

Accelerate is even one of their best IMO.

[catzies]

32. Same here. Can't think of anybody else whose entire catalog I enjoy as much.

If I had stopped buying/listening/seeing them after Monster (and I was tempted) I would have missed a lot.

I'm fond of saying new Adventures in Hi Fi is their Sgt. Pepper and Up is their White album.

I guess that makes Accelerate Abbey Road, and Collapse Into Now their Let It Be.

(I know I cut out Reveal and Around the Sun, but it doesn't work for my metaphor)

[meegbear]

12. I'm pretty much the same ...

After Green, maybe just I moved on, but the weren't the same to me. I think as many a critic has said, they weren't the same when you could clearly understand what Stipe was singing.

[Condem]

10. Never recovered from the loss of Bill Berry.

Their last great album was "New Adventures". REM's best? Life's Rich Pageant. Many close seconds.

[BlueIris]

15. That is so true.

About Berry, but also Life's Rich Pageant, which is my personal favorite R.E.M.

[catzies]

11. I am gutted. Huge longtime fan. This ruined my day.

Love everything they've ever done, am in the fanclub, get all the newsletters & holiday packages.

This leaves a hole in my heart today.

[Withywindle]

13. Sincere condolences.

I'm one of those people who was a huge, HUGE fan in the 80s and kind of drifted away with later releases.

But a band you love is like a good friend. Take joy in the music and talk about it with other fans and go easy on yourself. And don't let anyone make fun of you for hurting over this. It's a real, valid loss.


:hug:

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

25. REM, U2 and the Cure have always been my "Big 3"

The kind of bands where I never miss a tour, always get the albums on day of release, joined the fan clubs, etc.

It's a real bummer to see one of the pillars of my formative years go.

[catzies]

31. Why thank you very much. That was a lovely thing to say and I deeply appreciate it.

:hug:

Bless your heart (in the good way).

[Withywindle]

33. You're very welcome.

I know how I felt when the man in my avatar died (Don Van Vliet/Captain Beefheart). He hadn't made any music in almost 30 years and I know he'd had severe health issues and was probably glad to be out of pain...but it's always a punch in the gut to know for sure there won't be any more new work ever.

At least the REM guys are still alive and you know they won't stop making music in their own ways. But there's a certain thing about band chemistry, I know. Whatever they do from now on will probably be good, but it won't be the same.


I loved REM so much at one point--I saw them on the Reckoning tour, and I was only 14, and that was the first time I ever made out with a total stranger on the dance floor, because I just *wanted to*, OK? (Never saw the guy again, never even knew his name, and he might well have been some 30-year-old perv. That didn't bother me; it was the *moment* I cared about, and that particular moment, involving "South Central Rain" was just so completely perfect I still carry it around as a happy memory to this day. Wasn't about him at all; it was about the song and the band; he was just a prop, and he filled his role well.)

They had that power.

[BlueIris]

16. Awww.

Finding out this news makes me glad I fall for individual artists, not bands.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

26. Although that's not always a full-proof solution

You could end up picking someone like Peter gabriel, who takes decades between albums and seems obsessed with merely covering his old material these days,

[underpants]

18. I am too. Never forget the night I hear "Driver 8" the first time "WHO is this????"

Hampton Roads VA we had 2 hours of good (alternative) music on Thursday nights on the local ROOOOOCCCCKKKK station - my buddy used to tape it and we would listen to it in a field drinking beers and burning tires (mosquitos). Good times.

I saw them live three times. I was in the Army in Germany when "Losing my religion" came out and it was of the few good songs they played in GI clubs.

I used to make up my own lyrics to their songs. Stipe was another instrument in the band and he developed his voice into one of the best all time. His singing of "Wichita Lineman" still gives me chills.

As Jefferson is wont to say, "Uh little bit of uh-huh and a whole lot of OH YEAH"

The little band that could.

[peekaloo]

21. Well shee-it! At least I got to see them many times (always with great support bands)

but the absolute finest was the 2004 pairing with Bruce Springsteen.

My favorite band...period.

Thanks guys, ya done good.

:cry:

[Condem]

22. Was at that show in St. Paul for the Vote for Change.

Teamed with Neil Young and then Springsteen for a couple including 'Born to Run'. Peter Buck had a shit eating grin the whole night. So did I.

[nclib]

23. Same here.

I am at a loss. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't listen to REM.

Totally heartbroken.

[bikebloke]

14. Back in the 80's.

I was at the 9:30 club in DC. This woman came up to me saying she was the promoter or something for REM and brought a music video for the club to play. Would I dance with her when it came up next? We danced.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

24. Aaaah, 930 F.

Blue Angel, Betty, the March Violets...those were good times.

[Arugula Latte]

17. Damn.

:(

They provided the soundtrack to my youth and early middle age.

[NightWatcher]

19. I almost broke REM up in 1996

I was in a hurry and flew into a parking space on College St in dtown Athens and as I pulled in, this redheaded dude jumped out of the way. I got out of my car and apologized and then noticed I ALMOST KILLED MIKE MILLS.

I said "shit, I almost killed REM". Mike was cool and said he was ok. He laughed but I said it wouldn't be cool if I broke up REM. Very nice guy.

[whistler162]

28. P.T,S.D. expect a call from his lawyer!

[GoCubsGo]

20. I didn't realize they were still together.

I thought they broke up ages ago.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

27. The beginning...

Here are the boys making their national TV debut on Letterman way back in 1983
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icGOLDJv08c&feature=player_embedded

[Javaman]

29. Was it upon reentry? nt

[meegbear]

30. Oh SNAP!

[Major Nikon]

34. Was one of them dating Yoko Ono?

Just curious.