R.E.M. biography
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[h3]R.E.M. walked on stage in Athens, Georgia for their first concert in April 1980. They were four university drop-outs, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry. Their country folk sound, with a driving base line and inaudible, sometimes non-existent lyrics, was unlike any other band of the post-punk era. [/h3]

A mini-album ‘Chronic Town’ was followed by ‘Murmur’ which was listed by Rolling Stone as the Album of 1983 and R.E.M. gained a cult ‘student campus’ fan base across the US. Their next album ‘Reckoning’ was recorded in just 12 days, and was characterised by its spontaneity, with tracks moving from frustration to jokes.

‘Life’s Rich Pageant’ revealed a political growth in the band that would mature in the late 1980s as they achieved fame. Stipe’s lyrics lingered on the amorality of the USA and questioned the validity of its engrained ethics. The reflective bitter words put to urgent joyous music was a rallying cry to disaffected youth, and Stipe became the unwitting spokesman of a generation.

‘Out of Time’ broke over the heads of fans, shocking them by using an entire string section and featuring contributions from B52’s singer Kate Pierson. The band sang its first love song and it was unanimously celebrated as a masterpiece, topping the US and UK album charts.

The band returned to the studio in 1991 to record its next album. Late in 1992, the band released 'Automatic for the People'. Though the group had intended to make a harder-rocking album after the softer textures of Out of Time, the sombre Automatic for the People dealt with themes of loss and mourning inspired by "that sense of … turning thirty", according to Buck.

1994's 'Monster' was in total contrast to the sound of its predecessors, as it featured distorted guitar tones, minimal overdubs and even touches of 1970s glam rock. Monster topped the album charts in both the UK and US.

On tour in 1995 Bill Berry collapsed in Switzerland and, although he recovered, he left the band in 1997. It transpired that he had suffered a brain aneurysm.

R.E.M. confirmed they would continue to play saying “a three legged dog can still walk.” True to their word, Buck, Mills, and Stipe continued as a three-piece.

The band re-signed with the Warner Bros label in 1996 for a staggering $80 million, the largest recording contract in history at that point. The album 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi' was promptly released.
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1998's 'Up' marked a real change in the band's fortunes in the United States as sales declined. The band found that their commercial base was shifting to the UK, where more R.E.M. records were sold per capita than any other country.

R.E.M. recorded the majority of its twelfth album 'Reveal' (2001) in Canada and Ireland. It featured drumming by Joey Waronker, as well as contributions by Scott McCaughey and Posies founder Ken Stringfellow. Global sales of the album were over four million, with modest sales in the US.

After the release of 'In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003' in 2003, the group unveiled 'Around the Sun' (2004). Led by the dark single Leaving New York, the album was regarded as being both political and poignant. For much of the following year, the band embarked on its first full-length world tour since the Monster Tour ten years earlier.

The band's fourteenth album, 'Accelerate', will be released in April 2008. Following in the recent footsteps of Radiohead, who gave away their latest album In Rainbows online for whatever you felt like paying, R.E.M. are the latest band to use the internet as a marketing tool. Fans will be able to hear new tracks from the album on the band's Facebook page, days before Accelerate hits the shops.
R.E.M. biography



- Michael Stipe produced the Oscar-nominated film 'Being John Malkovich' in 1999 through his production company - Single Cell Pictures.

- Michael also published the photo collection 'Two Times Intro: On the Road With Patti Smith' in 1998.
R.E.M. biography




R.E.M. biography



Chronic Town mini-album (I.R.S. 1982)

Murmur (I.R.S. 1983)

Reckoning (I.R.S. 1984)

Fables Of The Reconstruction (I.R.S. 1985)

Lifes Rich Pageant (I.R.S. 1986)

Document (I.R.S. 1987)

Green (Warners 1988)

Out Of Time (Warners 1991)

Automatic For The People (Warners 1992)

Monster (Warners 1994)***,

New Adventures In Hi-Fi (Warners 1996)

Up (Warners 1998)

Reveal (Warners 2001)

In Time (Warners 2003)

Around the Sun (Warners 2004)

The Two Coreys: Wingman Mon 12th May - 10:00PM

Rod Stewart Mon 12th May - 6:00PM

Confessions Of A Matchmaker 1 : John Tue 13th May - 10:00PM