R.E.M. have broken up

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Sad, but not exactly shocking.

The first I saw this news was on my FB feed, and the exact comment was "REM have broken up? Your move, Bono" with a few dozen 'likes'.
 
I am still disappointed in myself for being a drunk, out of control student and missing out on a surprise performance at the 40 Watt in Athens in the early 90s. :down:

:ohmy: :sexywink:


I can't help feeling as if I've just been told that my best friend in kindergarten has died :( . . . I wish them well and, actually, I'm a tiny bit excited to see what each of them will do now :lookingonthesunnyside:
 
Accelerate from 2008 was an awesome album. The tour that followed was also awesome. Saw them in the rain for that tour and it was well worth it.

Agreed, if we have seen their last tour I'm glad it was the 2008 one rather than any other this decade.
 
shame to see a good band finish- but oddly not that suprising with REM.

Thankfully they ended with a good album- rather than the dismal Around the Sun
 
Sad day as a huge R.E.M. fan, but it certainly was time. 15 albums is more than anyone can expect from a band.

R.E.M. probably would have a stronger legacy if they had called it quits after 'New Adventures In Hi-Fi' or 'Up', but I still enjoy parts of the their last four albums. 'Collapse Into Now' was a good way to end it.

Listening to a song from each of their albums now.
 
I'm more bummed out than I thought I would have been at this kind of news. I didn't especially enjoy Collapse Into Now, although I liked Accelerate and I was hoping to see at least one more show of theirs. There goes my chance of ever experiencing Country Feedback live I guess...

Anyway, thank you R.E.M. for all those years of music. It's actually odd that I listened to their old albums in the last couple of days after a long, long time. Listening to Up now, which seems to be album that is the most appropriate one to listen under the circumstances.
 
NLOTH was also received to stronger reviews than anything R.E.M. has done since Hi-Fi and debuted #1 in dozens of countries. And the band members are friends, I doubt U2 didn't know this was coming.

Not sure why you keep pointing out sales figures and that type of stuff. I'm not concocting some crisis out of thin air--Boner spoke for himself pretty bluntly. This has nothing to do with externals, and everything to do with how the band sees themselves in relation to the current climate.
 
I'm glad I saw them live quite a few times at various stages of their career, from the early days until most recently a few years ago.

For some reason I don't feel as sad as everyone else. I was more sad when Berry left the band. But it is a sign of the times (and my own age), and that is pretty strange.
 
The one good thing that might come out of this is that Pearl Jam could play a R.E.M. cover tonight. :drool:
 
Great band between 83 and 87


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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/arts/music/rem-breaks-up-after-31-years-as-a-band.html

"Mike Mills, the bassist, said that he, Mr. Stipe and Peter Buck, the guitarist (the group’s original drummer, Bill Berry, retired in 1997) had reached the decision to break up while putting together a greatest-hits retrospective to be released in November. “Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey,” Mr. Mills said in a statement. “We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.”


Something to look forward to. :up:
 
Not sure why you keep pointing out sales figures and that type of stuff. I'm not concocting some crisis out of thin air--Boner spoke for himself pretty bluntly. This has nothing to do with externals, and everything to do with how the band sees themselves in relation to the current climate.

I understand you're point, but I also didn't take Bono's interview to mean they're thinking of hanging it up any time soon, he seemed to indicate that his current feeling about their situation was more motivation to push forward than they'd had in a long time.
 
Let's just be thankful the 360 tour is over, or another unfortunate audience would have to sit through acoustic Stuck.

Heh. Maybe they would play One as a tribute to Automatic Baby. Or Beautiful Day since that's Stipe's favourite song. Since they don't play those two that often.

Anyway, Talk About the Passion tonight in Calgary. Count on it all you PJ fans.

Maybe.
 
Just one week ago I was consoling a friend who is a huge REM fan because she had decided they now sucked and was super disappointed in the last several albums. Maybe this is good news for her.

I'm glad they are ending on good terms. I got to see them live twice, and both times still are very memorable shows--pouring rain at Midway Stadium and the fan request show at the Xcel Center where the guy in front of me got his e-mail picked (I don't remember the song though. He cried he was so excited. True REM fan. :D ).

Kudos REM. Great music. Great career.
 
U2inUtah said:
Something to look forward to. :up:

Who gives a fuck about yet another greatest hits collection? Why would any big fan look forward to it?

I understand you're point, but I also didn't take Bono's interview to mean they're thinking of hanging it up any time soon, he seemed to indicate that his current feeling about their situation was more motivation to push forward than they'd had in a long time.

I didn't say it was going to lead them to break up as well. But when your voicing concerns already about what you're doing, and a close contemporary breaks up, it's certainly cause for more instrospection and reevaluation.
 
It's true that R.E.M.'s legacy would be that much greater if they'd broken up when Bill Berry left (I still think New Adventures in 1996 was almost their best album), but the good thing about leaving it alone now is that their legacy will grow over time. People will come to re-appreciate them, and some of those post-Berry records like Up and Reveal that are actually pretty good will eventually get re-appraisal.

Kind of a weird non-feeling about their calling it quits. I should be somewhat sad or surprised, but I'm not. I think, spiritually, I feel like R.E.M. have been gone since the college/indie/alternative rock scene passed its peak in the mid-90s. Anyway, good luck to them. They were an amazing combo, and classy to the end.
 
lazarus said:
Who gives a fuck about yet another greatest hits collection? Why would any big fan look forward to it?

Considering how subjective the song selection process is, I'm positive I could do something far better myself anyway.

Listening to Document now and remembering how amazing these guys were. It's hard not to smile listening to Document. It's the end of REM as we know them, but I feel pretty OK about it. Michael Stipe will release a collaborative solo album in a few years about baldness and facepaint and we'll all have a good laugh about it.
 
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