R.E.M. Breakup Announced

Rolling Stone Article here. Announcement on their homepage

31 years together. I am not a real big music lover, but I have enjoyed the music of R.E.M. so it makes me sad.

It is little hyperbole to attached a link to this song?

This makes me sad but they were never really the same after Bill Berry left the band. He was just the drummer and all, and it was a long time ago, but something changed and I stopped being as big of a fan as I’d been during their heyday.

“Automatic for the People” is one the greatest albums ever released. And I think you could say the same about two or three other albums of their’s.

Bummer.
I remember an MTV News interview from the early 90s (“Out of Time” era) where one of the members said they sort of had a plan to perform one last show on New Years Eve 1999, and then break up the next day. So at least we got an extra 12 years, nine months out of them.

I haven’t kept up with them over the last several years and wasn’t really sure that they were still together. I sort of remember that they came out with something recently but wasn’t sure if that was actually R.E.M. or more of a Stipe project. It is a bit sad in that they were part of the proverbial “soundtrack of my younger life”. Thanks goodness for digital recording so we can continue to enjoy them.

I was going to say this. Guess the dollar signs sounded better than quitting.

I’m an old curmudgeon - I like their early stuff. After Document, meh. It’s time for them to graciously step aside.

They have made some of my favorite music over the past three decades. They were the first band that my daughter, now 35, and I liked in common. We went to a couple of concerts together when she was in middle school and high school. Great memories.

Oh wow. I too haven’t kept up with the over the years but Automatic for the People, Green and Out of Time are three of my favorite albums and I still listen to them a lot. They remind me of being in my 20s. Ah youth.

I’m mainly just a fan of the stuff up through about then, as well. After Stipe quit mumbling, they just weren’t as interesting to me. Also, it doesn’t sound like they broke up as much as they simply retired. Good for them.

In agreement that their older stuff is leagues above the last 15 years or so, but I will still miss the idea of them being together. I live in Athens, and by the look of my social feeds, this is one devastated town. Nightswimming is one of my favorite songs ever.

This is definitely a retirement. I don’t know why they went with “We broke up” instead.

Their early albums (yes, I said albums, children, and get off my lawn) were a huge part of my life for a very long time, and during some important transitions. Although I haven’t kept up with their later stuff, I am still saddened by this news. I guess the IDEA of them still being together was important to me.

What everyone else said, but there is some good stuff on their new one Collapse Into Now. In my opinion, it’s the best since New Adventures.

“Retirement” is not very rock ‘n’ roll. “Breaking up” is.

Yup, they also couldn’t very well state that now they’ll be “Finding Their Religion”.

D&R

Why would they even need to make an announcement? Just stop playing.

Perhaps out respect for their fans.

+1 - my line is that when Stipe became intelligible, I stopped listening - I mean, “two-headed calf/ Pilgrimage”? What the heck does that word salad mean? But I love those songs. I think there is something to be said for the band writing songs thinking of Stipe’s voice as another instrument vs. putting the story he is telling front and center, which happened as he made sure his words made sense and they got more commercial. And by the time Everybody Hurts came along, I wanted to smack somebody :wink:

And Bill Berry - simple drummer, but man he had pop to his playing. Almost like Phil Rudd of AC/DC - few fills, but he could make the grooves he did play pop nicely. Losing him mattered…

Best of luck to them…

It has gotten to the point, with me, where the prospect of a new R.E.M. release fills me less with anticipation than the concern that it will be underwhelming, so I would say it seems like a pretty good time for them to go ahead and call it a career. I’m just thankful that they at least get to go out with a couple of pretty solid works like Accelerate and Collapse Into Now. It would have been kind of grim to have, say, Around The Sun as their swan song.

When I was 11 my older bother handed me an R.E.M. casette in the record store, simply said “you need to buy this” and walked away. 28 years later and I’m still listening to Murmur at least once a month. What a great album.