REM

R.E.M. 1980 - 2006

John Michael Stipe was born on the 4th of January 1960 (it was his birthday yesterday!) in Decatur, Georgia. At the age of 15, Stipe became interested in rock music and worked at a local record store. In 1978, Stipe and his family moved to a nearby town just outside Athens, Georgia, where Stipe was enrolled at the University of Georgia as an art student. When Stipe stepped into the record store, not only did he realise, this was just the beginning of his fame. He met store assistant, Peter Buck...

Peter Lawrence Buck was born on the 6th of December 1956 in Oakland, California. In 1970, his family moved to a small town just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Buck's obsession with rock 'n' roll began at the age of 12. Although Buck detested the idea of becoming part of a band, Stipe soon changed his views.

William Thomas Berry was born on the 31st of July 1958 in Duluth, Minnesota. By the time Berry started school, he and his family moved to Macon, Georgia. Berry chose to learn the drums, when encouraged by his parents to take on a musical instrument and played in his school band. Berry admits that when he met Mike, he hated him from the very beginning.

Michael Edward Mills was born to a church singer father and a guitar playing mother, on the 17th of December 1958 in the OC (Orange County), California. But their family also moved to Macon, Georgia. Although the pair (Mills and Berry) had a shaky start -- having completely contrasting personalities, they soon became the unlikely duo, as Berry enlisted Mills to play bass for their band.

R.E.M. were finally united by Kathleen O'Brien, who introduced the pairs to each other. A couple of gigs went down well and after this, that, and the other, R.E.M. were formed.

Bill Berry - Drummer. Also backing vocals, piano, percussion, mandolin, whistle, synthesiser, acoustic guitar, and congas.

Peter Buck - Guitarist. Plays bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, banjo, dulcimer, drums, coral sitar, electric bouzouki, nyckelharpa, 12-string guitar, wah wah guitar, fuzz bass, piano, surdo, electric sitar, bassoon, slide guitar, 6-string bass, marimba, vocals, and pedal steel guitar.

Mike Mills - Bassist. Also lead vocals, harmony/backing vocals, keyboards, piano, organ, sousaphone, harpsichord, farfisa organ, mellotron, synthesiser, arranger, percussion, fuzz bass, moog synthesiser, whistle, and accordion

Michael Stipe - Lead vocalist. Also harmony/backing vocals, bass melodica, harmonica, accordion, club organ, keyboards, wah wah guitar, tuba, guitar, synthesiser, horn arrangement, and string arrangement.

*main roles in bold.

R.E.M. released their first EP called Chronic Town in 1982, and it was produced in 1981.

They were contracted by the I.R.S. label and produced 5 solid albums before the change-over in 1988.

Murmur - 1983: Strong, solid, first album. A couple of classic, memorable, catchy songs. Though Stipe's occasional mumbling may either leave you pondering for meaning or trigger your curiosity to search for the lyrics (example; Sitting Still).

Reckoning - 1984: Again, another strong follow up. Not many hit singles, the public are just getting used to R.E.M.'s style. Can't go past Pretty Persuasion, So. Central Rain, or (Don't Go Back To) Rockville.

Fables Of The /Reconstruction/Of The Fables - 1985: Title = double meaning... a bit trippy. This album wasn't really a huge hit - not many hit singles either, but it's alright I s'pose. The sound is mellow and not really R.E.M.'s 'usual' style, if you know what I mean. Some o.k songs on it though.

Life's Rich Pageant - 1986: This album is the one that had it's line-up totally screwed up, lol. It happened when the band/producers decided to change the order of the songs last minute, but couldn't change the listing on the back cover. So the songs on the back don't match the songs on the CD, haha-- good one!! This is an alright one. They started producing hit singles with this album too. I love Begin The Begin and These Days.

Dead Letter Office - 1987: This compilation is a mix of the B-sides and outtakes from their earlier works.

Document - 1987: Some nice hit singles on this album. Many of you will remember The One I Love and It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). The One I Love peaked at No. 9 in the US charts. Some strong songs on this album, my favs especially are Exhuming McCarthy, and... those other two I mentioned (and can't be bothered re-typing them). This was their last album with the I.R.S. label!!

Eponymous - 1988: After the end of their I.R.S. years, they signed up to the commercial giant Warner Brothers. They released this 'best of' compilation too.

Green - 1988: Green was their first commercial album. Some I.R.S.-devoted fans may complain that R.E.M.'s sound has definitely changed, but this album brought on some more hits - at this stage, R.E.M. were more publicised. Such hits as Orange Crush and Stand, really brought R.E.M. to public attention. When typing 'Green' (the album name) for release, Stipe made a typo with the 'r' and it was mass printed as 'G4een', lol! As a joke, for the 4th track, it reads: R   Stand. My fav is World Leader Pretend.

Out Of Time - 1991: Their first chart topping album (No. 1 on the US charts) earning them international success. With the likes of Losing My Religion, the multiple-award-winning, smash-hit that everybody remembers and Shiny Happy People. This album contains Stipe's favourite song, Country Feedback, however my all time fav is Texakarna. Quadruple platinum success!! Woohoo :)

Best Of R.E.M. - 1991: With their international success looming, the I.R.S. release a compilation of their greatest hits of their I.R.S. years.

Automatic For The People - 1992: Wow! There are so many songs that I like on this album, and this is hailed as R.E.M.'s greatest album ever. Containing hits such as Man On The Moon, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Nightswimming, and Everybody Hurts. I personally like Monty Got A Raw Deal, and Ignoreland - but they weren't so 'smash-hit'-like... Within one week of its release, Automatic For The People shot straight to No. 2 on the US charts. It eventually reached No. 1 in the UK, as well as having Top 10 in Australia and Europe. It also came through quadruple platinum.

Monster - 1994: This garage/glam rock album, followed by the infamous Monster Tour, created a bit of a stir. Nonetheless, faithful R.E.M. fans enjoyed this album, with memorable hits like What's The Frequency,  Kenneth?, Crush With Eyeliner, and Bang And Blame. The album also went quadruple platinum-- I don't see why they were displeased... This album was dedicated to River Phoenix, who was a great fan and friend of theirs. The Monster Tour, not only being famous for its three emergency postponings like Berry's immediate operation (brain aneurysm), Stipe's inguinal hernia also requiring surgery, and Mills' adominal surgery in the form of an laparatomy (previously had an appendectomy) to remove an adhesion, but the execution of each tour was criticised. Once again, more concerts were cancelled. Buck was luckly enough to survive this bout of illness.

New Adventures In Hi-Fi - 1996: This album was recorded on the road, some of it during there Monster Tour. This album is sooooo underrated, and it is personally my favourite album (of the 13). It has a central theme of 'going away' or 'leaving' as the songs imply, with singles such as Departure and Leave. Leave is a very intense song (my favourite R.E.M. song) and it's their longest recorded to date - 7:17. Other good songs are Electrolite, The Wake-Up Bomb, and How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us.

Up - 1998: Drummer, Berry, retired from R.E.M. in 1997 and Up is the first album after his departure. Not chock-full of smash-hits, but a pretty rounded album considering. Not many people like this album, but I like the singles Hope, Walk Unafraid, Lotus, and At My Most Beautiful.

Reveal - 2001: Also, not a huge success - the R.E.M. trio are trying out new sounds with their new technology such as drum machines and sound effects etc. Imitation Of Life was a good hit single, one that quite a few people remember today. And All The Way To Reno (You're Gonna Be A Star) is Buck's favourite song... never heard about Mills' or Berry's favs though... I like I'll Take The Rain.

In Time (1988 - 2003) - 2003: A good compilation of their old stuff, their new stuff, and their greatest hits of all time. This was my first compilation, thus first CD I bought from them, and it totally rocked. What a way to get into R.E.M.! Two new songs, Animal and Bad Day are too awesome.

Around The Sun - 2004: This is a surprisingly good album. It is strong and clean, and many people have great praise for the trio now. Leaving New York, Aftermath, and Wanderlust became hit singles and chart-toppers (probably not No. 1, but it's better than what they've previously had with their other two albums). I love Electron Blue and Final Straw. In fact 'Around The Sun' shot to No. 1 in the UK.

Well, there's R.E.M. for ya. You still probably don't know why I'm so obsessed with them, but hey - listen to some of their music sometime. I recommend In Time for first-time listeners, but really- any of their albums will get you hooked. Feel free to add your own opinions to each album description.

Oh yeah, by the way, my computer doesn't let me upload images so if anyone wants to can someone please put some pictures in, feel free to do that also. Lol, thanks.

For R.E.M.'s official website, click here

Original content by electronblue 

Original edit: 5/1/06        Last edit: 12/1/06