R.E.M. is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980 by Bill Berry (drums), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass guitar), and Michael Stipe (vocals). R.E.M. was one of the first popular alternative rock bands, and gained early attention due to Buck's "jangly" guitar style and Stipe's cryptic vocals. R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe" in 1981 on independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982; the band's first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the band released its critically-acclaimed debut album Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent critically-acclaimed releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. entered the mainstream in 1987 with the hit song "The One I Love." They signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to adopt broad political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.

By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience massive mainstream success, R.E.M. were viewed as pioneers of the genre and released their most successful albums - the multi-million-selling Out of Time (1991), and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound. R.E.M. released Monster, which was a return to a more rock-oriented sound, in 1994 and began its first tour in six years, which was marred by a number of medical emergencies suffered by three bandmembers. In 1997, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a then-record $80 million. The following year, Bill Berry amicably left the band, with Buck, Mills, and Stipe continuing as a three-piece. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In January 1980 Michael Stipe met Peter Buck in an Athens record store the latter worked in. The pair discovered they shared similar tastes in music, particularly punk rock and protopunk artists like Patti Smith, Television, and The Velvet Underground; Stipe said, "It turns out that I was buying all the records that he was saving for himself." Stipe and Buck soon met fellow University of Georgia students Mike Mills and Bill Berry at a party, a pair who had played music together since high school. The quartet agreed to write several songs; Stipe later commented that "there was never any grand plan behind any of it." The unnamed band spent several months rehearsing and played their first show on April 5, 1980 at a friend's birthday party held in a converted Episcopal church. After considering names like Twisted Kites, Cans of Piss, and Negro Wives, the band settled on R.E.M., which Stipe pulled at random from a dictionary.

Eventually, the band members dropped out of school to focus on the band. R.E.M.'s success was more or less instant in Athens and in the surrounding area; the band drew progressively bigger crowds for shows, which caused some resentment among the Athens music scene. Over the next year and a half, R.E.M. toured throughout the Southern United States. During the summer of 1981, R.E.M. recorded their first single, "Radio Free Europe" () at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "Radio Free Europe" was released on the local independent record label Hib-Tone with an initial pressing of one thousand copies, which quickly sold out. Despite its limited pressing, the single garnered critical acclaim; it was listed as one of the ten best singles of the year by The New York Times and the Village Voice named it Single of the Year in its 1983 Pazz & Jop critics poll.

R.E.M. had recorded its debut EP, Chronic Town, with Easter for Hib-Tone when the band's demo tape found its way to I.R.S. Records. The band turned down the advances of major label RCA Records and signed with I.R.S. in May 1982. Chronic Town was released by I.R.S. in August 1982 as the label's first American release. A positive review of the EP by NME praised the aura of mystery the songs presented, and concluded, "R.E.M. ring true, and it's great to hear something as unforced and cunning as this." The band was initially paired with producer Stephen Hague by I.R.S. to record their debut album, but Hague's emphasis on technical perfection left the band unsatisfied and asking the label to let them record with Easter.

I.R.S. subsequently agreed to a "tryout" session, allowing the band to return to North Carolina and record "Pilgrimage" with Easter and producing partner Don Dixon. After hearing the track, I.R.S. gave the green light to record the album with Dixon and Easter. The completed album, Murmur, was greeted with critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone listing it as their record of the year. The album was warmly received by college radio, and its success there pushed the album to number 36 on the Billboard album chart. A re-recorded version of "Radio Free Europe" was the lead single from the album and reached number 78 in 1983. Other notable tracks included the piano-led "Perfect Circle", "Sitting Still" (a re-recorded version of the Hib-Tone B-side), and "Talk About the Passion", which was re-released as a single in 1988. Despite the acclaim awarded to the album, Murmur only sold about 200,000 copies, which I.R.S.'s Jay Boberg felt was below expectations.

R.E.M. made its first national television appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in October 1983, where they performed a new, unnamed song. The unnamed song, eventually titled "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)," became the first single from the band's second album, Reckoning, which was once again recorded with Easter and Dixon. The album met with critical acclaim; NME<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Mat Snow said that Reckoning "confirms R.E.M. as one of the most beautifully exciting groups on the planet."

R.E.M.'s third album Fables of the Reconstruction demonstrated a change in direction. Instead of Dixon and Easter, the band chose Joe Boyd, who had worked with Fairport Convention and Nick Drake, to produce the record in England. The band found the sessions unexpectedly difficult, and were miserable due to the cold winter weather and poor food. The situation made the band so miserable they came close to breaking up. The gloominess surrounding the sessions ended up providing the context for the album itself, influencing an album darker and drearier than the band's previous efforts. Lyrically, Stipe began to create storylines in the mode of Southern mythology, noting in a 1985 interview that he was inspired by "the whole idea of the old men sitting around the fire, passing on ... legends and fables to the grandchildren." Critical reception was mixed, with some critics regarding the album as dreary and poorly recorded. Like the previous records, the Fables singles were mostly ignored at mainstream radio. Meanwhile I.R.S. was becoming frustrated with the band's reluctance to achieve mainstream success.

For its fourth album, the band enlisted John Mellencamp producer Don Gehman. The result, Lifes Rich Pageant, was more accessible to listeners outside the college realm, with Stipe's vocals coming closer to the forefront. Buck discussed the difference in a 1986 interview with the Chicago Tribune: "Michael is getting better at what he's doing, and he's getting more confident at it. And I think that shows up in the projection of his voice." Over the course of Lifes Rich Pageant, Stipe's lyrics touched on a wide variety of themes, with a greater emphasis on politics and the environment. The album improved on the sales of Fables of the Reconstruction markedly and eventually peaked at number 21 on the Billboard album chart. The single "Fall on Me" also picked up support on commercial radio. The album became the band's first to be certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies. While the R.E.M's core support remained college radio, the band was beginning to chart hits on mainstream rock formats; however, the band's music still encountered resistance from Top 40 radio. Following the success of Pageant, I.R.S. issued Dead Letter Office, a compilation consisting of tracks recorded by the band during their album sessions, many of which had either been issued as B-sides or left unreleased altogether. Shortly thereafter, I.R.S. compiled R.E.M.'s music video catalog (except "Wolves, Lower") as the band's first video release, Succumbs.

For their fifth album, 1987's Document, the band began a decade-long relationship with producer Scott Litt. Reacting to the conservative political environment of the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan, the album featured some of Stipe's most openly political lyrics, particularly on "Welcome To the Occupation" and "Exhuming McCarthy". Document was R.E.M.'s breakthrough album, and the first single "The One I Love" charted in the Top 20 in the US, UK, and Canada. The album's second single, "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", was an apocalyptic rant reminiscent of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". While not nearly as big a success at mainstream radio it reached number 69 on the US singles chart and the pop-culture-laden song became a popular favorite on college radio, and the video was featured on MTV's 120 Minutes. In light of the band's breakthrough, the December 1987 cover of Rolling Stone declared R.E.M. "America's Best Rock & Roll Band."

Frustrated that their records did not see satisfactory overseas distribution, R.E.M. left I.R.S. after their contract expired and signed with major label Warner Bros. Records. In 1988 I.R.S. released the compilation Eponymous, which included most of the band's singles, as well as a number of rarities. The band's 1988 Warner Bros. debut, Green, was recorded in Memphis, Tennessee and showcased the band attempting to experiment with their sound. The band had now been brought to international attention, with radio hits like "Stand," (a Top Ten US hit) and continued their political interest with the anthemic "Orange Crush" and "World Leader Pretend," the first R.E.M. song to have its lyrics printed in the album sleeve. After the Green tour ended the band members unofficially decided to take the following year off, the first extended break in the band's career.

R.E.M. reconvened in mid-1990 to record their seventh album, Out of Time. Released in the spring of 1991, it was the band's first album to top both the US and UK charts. A lush pop album, Out of Time boasts a wider array of sounds than their previous releases, and included folk and classical instruments, an orchestration, and a collaboration with the rapper KRS-One on the opening "Radio Song." Out of Time's lead single "Losing My Religion" became the group's most successful track release when it reached number four on the Billboard charts. The album's second single "Shiny Happy People" was also a major hit, reaching number ten in the US and number six in the UK; it was one of three songs on the album to feature vocals from Kate Pierson of fellow Athens band The B-52's. Despite the lack of touring to support the album, Out of Time became R.E.M.'s most successful album, selling more than four million copies in the US.

After spending some months off, R.E.M. returned to the studio in 1991 to record their next album. Late in 1992, they 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 somber Automatic for the People "[seemed] to move at an even more agonized crawl," according to Melody Maker. Many songs were graced by string arrangements by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. At the time there were rumors about Michael Stipe's health, which were received in the context of the album's themes of loss and mourning. Considered by a number of critics (as well as Buck and Mills) to be the band's best album, Automatic for the People was a quadruple-platinum success. The album reached number one and two in the UK and US, respectively, and generated the American Top 40 hit singles "Drive," "Man on the Moon," and "Everybody Hurts." As with Out of Time, no touring was done in support of the album.

After piecing together two slow-paced albums in a row in the studio, 1994's Monster was, as Buck said, "a 'rock' record, with the rock in quotation marks." Though the result was conceived as a back-to-basics album, the recording was difficult and plagued with tension. Like Out of Time, Monster topped the charts in both the US and UK. The singles "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Bang and Blame" were the band's last American Top 40 hits, although all the singles from Monster—including the UK-only singles "Crush With Eyeliner" and "Tongue"—reached the Top 30 on the British charts.

In January of 1995 R.E.M. set out on their first tour in six years, beginning several collaborations with prominent stage and lighting designer Willie Williams. On March 1, two months into the tour, Berry collapsed on stage during a performance in Lausanne, Switzerland. It transpired that he had suffered a brain aneurysm. He had surgery immediately and had fully recovered within a month. Berry's aneurysm was only the beginning of a series of health problems that plagued the Monster Tour. Mills had to undergo abdominal surgery to remove an intestinal adhesion in July; a month later, Stipe had to have an emergency surgery to repair a hernia. Despite all the problems, the group had recorded the bulk of a new album while on the road. The band brought along eight-track recorders to capture their shows, and used the recordings as the base elements for the album. After the tour was complete, the band entered the studio and recorded the rest of the album.

R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1996 for a reported $80 million, the largest recording contract in history at that point. 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi was their longest album to date. The album featured the seven-minute "Leave," the band's longest song to date, which was composed by Berry. Another notable track on the record was its lead single "E-Bow the Letter," a collaboration with Patti Smith, who had been one of Michael Stipe's earliest influences. Critical reaction to the album was mostly favorable; however, in light of such a huge contract sum, the album marked a considerable downfall of the band's commercial success. Though it debuted at number two in the US and number one in the UK, the album failed to generate the sales of their previous three albums'. Also in 1996, R.E.M. parted ways with their long-time manager Jefferson Holt, allegedly due to sexual harassment charges levied against Holt by a member of the band's home office in Athens. The group's lawyer, Bertis Downs, assumed managerial duties.

In April 1997, the band convened at Buck's Kauai holiday home to record demos of material intended for the next album. The band sought to reinvent its sound and intended to incorporate drum loops and percussion experiments. Just as the sessions were due to begin in October, Berry decided, after months of contemplation and discussions with Downs and Mills, to tell the rest of the band that he was quitting. Berry publicly announced his departure three weeks later in October 1997. Berry told the press, "I'm just not as enthusiastic as I have been in the past about doing this anymore . . . I have the best job in the world. But I'm kind of ready to sit back and reflect and maybe not be a pop star anymore." Stipe admitted that the band would be different without a major contributor: "For me, Mike, and Peter, as R.E.M., are we still R.E.M.? I guess a three-legged dog is still a dog. It just has to learn to run differently."

Having taken time off to gather their thoughts, rest, and travel, the remaining members of R.E.M. returned to the drawing board at Toast Studios in San Francisco to work on their next album. They ended their decade-long collaboration with Litt and hired Pat McCarthy to produce the record. Nigel Godrich was taken on as assistant producer, while the band decided to use drum machines, and drafted in ex-Screaming Trees Barrett Martin, and Beck's touring drummer Joey Waronker. The recording process was plagued with tension, and the group came close to disbanding. Also, Mills played guitar and keyboards more often than his typical bass duties, which are more often than not played by lead guitarist Buck. Led off by the single "Daysleeper", Up (1998) debuted in the top ten in the US and UK. However, the album was a relative failure, selling 900,000 copies in the US by mid-1999 and eventually selling just over two million copies worldwide. While R.E.M.'s American sales were declining, their commercial base was shifting to the UK, where more R.E.M. records were sold per capita than any other country and the band's singles regularly entered the Top 20.

A year after Up's release, R.E.M. contributed the track "The Great Beyond" to the soundtrack of the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon. The band also wrote the instrumental score for the movie, a first for the group. "The Great Beyond" only reached number 57 on the American pop charts, but was the band's highest-charting single ever in the UK, reaching number three in 2000.

R.E.M.'s 2001 album, Reveal, shared the "lugubrious pace" of Up. Global sales of the album were over four million, but in the United States Reveal sold about the same number of copies as Up. The album was led by the single "Imitation of Life," which reached number six in the UK. Reveal included drumming by Joey Waronker, as well as contributions by Scott McCaughey (a co-founder of the band The Minus 5 with Buck) and Posies founder Ken Stringfellow. Writing for Rock's Backpages, The Rev. Al Friston described the album as "loaded with golden loveliness at every twist and turn," in comparison to their "essentially unconvincing work on New Adventures in Hi-Fi and Up." Similarly, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called the album "a spiritual renewal rooted in a musical one" and praised its "ceaselessly astonishing beauty."

In 2003 Warner Bros. released the "best of" compilation In Time, which featured two new songs, "Bad Day" and "Animal." That same year during a concert in Raleigh, North Carolina, Berry made a surprise appearance, performing backing vocals on "Radio Free Europe". He then sat behind the drum kit for a performance of the early R.E.M. song "Permanent Vacation," marking his first performance with the band since his retirement.

R.E.M. released Around the Sun in 2004. Stipe had suggested the new album would be "primitive and howling," and the band had released a stark political protest song called "Final Straw" free over the Internet during the invasion of Iraq, leading fans to expect a return to roots. Instead, the album (and the final recording of that song) was ultimately more processed than even Reveal, although it featured some of Stipe's most personal songwriting. Around the Sun received a mixed critical reception, and peaked at #13 on the Billboard charts. The first single from the album, "Leaving New York," was a Top 5 hit in the UK. For the record and subsequent tour, the band hired a new full-time touring drummer, Bill Rieflin, who had previously been a member of Ministry. In late 2004 the band toured with Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Bright Eyes and others on the Vote for Change tour. Throughout 2005, the band embarked on their first full-length world tour since the Monster Tour ten years earlier. During the tour, R.E.M. participated in the Live 8 concert event.

EMI, which owns the I.R.S. catalogue, released a compilation album covering R.E.M.'s work from the I.R.S. years in September 2006 called And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987, accompanied by a DVD entitled When the Light Is Mine: The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 released at the same time. In September 2006, all four original band members performed during the ceremony to honor their induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. While rehearsing for the ceremony, the band recorded a cover of John Lennon's "#9 Dream" for "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur," a tribute album benefiting Amnesty International, as well as releasing the song as a single for the album and the campaign, "#9 Dream" was Berry's first studio recording with the band since his departure almost a decade earlier. In October 2006, R.E.M. was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its first year of eligibility. The band was one of five nominees accepted into the Hall, and the induction ceremony took place on March 12, 2007, at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The group was inducted by Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder and performed four songs with Bill Berry.

Work on R.E.M.'s fourteenth studio album commenced in early 2007. The band planned to record with producer Jacknife Lee in Vancouver and Dublin, where they played five nights in the Olympia Theatre between June 30 and July 5 as part of a "working rehearsal." The dates are their only planned concerts for 2007. Speaking of the dates Stipe noted, "Returning to Dublin for our live rehearsal this summer provides the great start we need for our next album’s work," and that he "[intends] to hit the ground running." Mills said the band chose the Olympia—a historic music hall built in 1879—because of all the great shows they’ve seen there over the years: "From the Waterboys to Lou Reed. I am thrilled to play at this wonderful venue, and in front of some of the best fans in the world." R.E.M. Live, the band's first live album (featuring songs from a 2005 Dublin show), was released in October 2007.

In a 1988 interview, Peter Buck described typical R.E.M. songs as, "Minor key, mid-tempo, enigmatic, semi-folk-rock-balladish things. That's what everyone thinks and to a certain degree, that's true." All songs are credited to the entire band, even though individual members are sometimes responsible for writing the majority of a particular song. Each member is given an equal vote in the songwriting process; however Buck has conceded that Stipe, as the band's lyricist, can rarely be persuaded to follow an idea he does not favor. Among the original lineup, there were divisions of labor in the songwriting process: Stipe would write lyrics and devise melodies, Buck would edge the band in new musical directions, and Mills and Berry would fine-tune the compositions due to their greater musical experience.

Early articles about the band focused on Michael Stipe's singing style (described as "mumbling" by The Washington Post), which often rendered his lyrics indecipherable. Stipe commented in 1984, "It's just the way I sing. If I tried to control it, it would be pretty false." Producer Joe Boyd convinced Stipe to begin singing more clearly during the recording of Fables of the Reconstruction. Stipe harmonizes with Mills often in songs; in the chorus for "Stand," Mills and Stipe alternate singing lyrics, creating a dialogue.

Peter Buck's style of playing guitar has been singled out by many as the most distinctive aspect of R.E.M.'s music. Buck's "economical, arpeggiated, poetic" style reminded British music journalists during the 1980s of 1960s American folk rock band The Byrds. Buck has stated "[Byrds guitarist] Roger McGuinn was a big influence on me as a guitar player." Comparisons were also made with the guitar playing of Johnny Marr of alternative rock contemporaries The Smiths. While Buck professed being a fan of the group, he admitted he initially criticized the band simply because he was tired of fans asking him if he was influenced by Marr. Mike Mills' melodic approach to bass playing is inspired by Paul McCartney and Chris Squire of Yes; Mills has said, "I always played a melodic bass, like a piano bass in some ways . . . I never wanted to play the traditional locked into the kick drum, root note bass work." Mills has more musical training than his bandmates, which he has said "made it easier to turn abstract musical ideas into reality."

R.E.M. was pivotal in the creation and development of the alternative rock genre. All Music Guide states, "R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock." In the early 1980s, the alternative rock of R.E.M. stood in contrast to the post-punk and New Wave genres that had preceded it. Music journalist Simon Reynolds noted that the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s "had taken whole swaths of music off the menu," particularly that of the 1960s, and that "After postpunk's demystification and New Pop's schematics, it felt liberating to listen to music rooted in mystical awe and blissed-out surrender." Reynolds declared R.E.M., a band that recalled the music of the 1960s with its "plangent guitar chimes and folk-styled vocals" and who "wistfully and abstractly conjured visons and new frontiers for America," one of "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day." With the release of Murmur, R.E.M. had the most impact musically and commercially of the developing alternative genre's early groups, leaving in its wake a number of jangle pop followers. R.E.M. has continued to influence many subsequent alternative bands, such as Pavement and Live.

R.E.M.'s early breakthrough success has served as an inspiration for other alternative bands. Spin referred to the "R.E.M. model"—career decisions that R.E.M. made which set guidelines for other underground artists to follow in their own careers. Spin's Charles Aaron wrote that by 1985, "They'd shown how far an underground, punk-inspired rock band could go within the industry without whoring out its artistic integrity in any obvious way. They'd figured out how to buy in, not sellout-in other words, they'd achieved the American Bohemian Dream." Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate said, "They invented a whole new ballgame for all of the other bands to follow whether it was Sonic Youth or the Replacements or Nirvana or Butthole Surfers. R.E.M. staked the claim. Musically, the bands did different things, but R.E.M. was first to show us you can be big and still be cool." Between 1991 and 1994, a period that saw the band sell an estimated 30 million albums, R.E.M. "asserted themselves as rivals to U2 for the title of biggest rock band in the world."

Throughout the band's career, R.E.M. has sought to highlight social and political issues. According to the Los Angeles Times, R.E.M. is considered to be one of the United States' "most liberal and politically correct rock groups." The members of R.E.M. are "on the same page" politically, sharing a liberal and progressive outlook. Mills has admitted that there is occasionally dissension between band members on what causes they might support, but acknowledged "Out of respect for the people who disagree, those discussions tend to stay in-house, just because we'd rather not let people know where the divisions lie, so people can't exploit them for their own purposes." An example is that in 1990 Buck noted Stipe was involved with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but that the rest of the band was not.

R.E.M. has helped to raise funds for environmental, feminist and human rights causes, and has been involved in campaigns to encourage voter registration. During the Green tour, Stipe took time during sets to inform the audience about a variety of pressing socio-political issues. R.E.M. helped raise awareness of Aung San Suu Kyi and human rights violations in Burma, when they worked with the Freedom Campaign and the US Campaign for Burma. The band participated in the 2004 Vote for Change tour that sought to mobilize American voters to support Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. R.E.M.'s political stance, particularly coming from a wealthy rock band under contract to a label owned by a multinational corporation, has received criticism from some quarters. Former Q editor Paul Du Noyer criticized the band's "celebrity liberalism," saying, "It's an entirely pain-free form of rebellion that they're adopting. There's no risk involved in it whatsoever, but quite a bit of shoring up of customer loyalty. And when I read their expressions of how cross they are at the election of [US president] George W. Bush, I just hear the sound of Democrat teddy bears being thrown out of cots."

Since the late 1980s, R.E.M. has been involved in the local politics of its hometown of Athens, Georgia. Buck explained to Sounds in 1987, "Michael always says think local and act local—we have been doing a lot of stuff in our town to try and make it a better place." The band has often donated funds to local charities and to help renovate and preserve historic buildings in the town. R.E.M.'s political clout was credited with the narrow election of Athens mayor Gwen O'Looney twice in the 1990s.

*Murmur (1983) *Reckoning (1984) *Fables of the Reconstruction (1985) *Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) *Document (1987) *Green (1988) *Out of Time (1991) *Automatic for the People (1992) *Monster (1994) *New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996) *Up (1998) *Reveal (2001) *Around the Sun (2004)

*Buckley, David. R.E.M.: Fiction: An Alternative Biography. Virgin, 2002. ISBN 1-85227-927-3 *Gray, Marcus. It Crawled from the South: An R.E.M. Companion. Da Capo, 1997. Second edition. ISBN 0-306-80751-3 *Platt, John (editor). The R.E.M. Companion: Two Decades of Commentary. Schirmer, 1998. ISBN 0-02-864935-4 *Sullivan, Denise. Talk About the Passion: R.E.M.: An Oral Biography. Underwood-Miller, 1994. ISBN 0-88733-184-x

*Fletcher, T. Remarks: the story of R.E.M. Omnibus, 1989. ISBN 0-7119-1813-9.

*Official R.E.M. website