R.I.P. R.E.M.

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Mike
(Photo by Stefano Andreoli)

(P.S. The reason I posted this is because Michael Stipe is, or was at one point, a pretty serious photography collector.)

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by charlie: "I saw them 22 times and met them all at least once. I can not tell you how pleased I am that they have moved on and will not end up a sad and pathetic sideshow of what once was a great band. RIP but you will hear more music from most of them independent of REM and can already. They did everything about as good as a rock band ever could, and walk off heads held high with no drama."

Featured Comment by Mark M.: "Don't forget their song 'Camera' from the 1984 album 'Reckoning.'"

Comments

[John Hall]

Makes me feel old....
Thanks for recognizing them on TOP!
cheers,
john

[Mike Johnston]

Well, I don't know what it really means. I mean, does anybody think they won't get back together if and when they want to? Alternately, I'm not sure I even thought they were still together...to me they're an '80s band who had a lot of influence on a lot of people, some great albums and some solid "soundtrack of our lives" hits, and if you'd quizzed me about it I would have bet they were active well into the '90s, but I'm not sure I could have told whether they were active over the past 10 years or not.

Still, Michael Stipe is (or was at one point) a pretty serious photography collector, so I tend to think of him as "one of us."

Mike

[Dave]

It's not like it's the end of the world, Mike.
I feel fine.

[raizans]

did we miss anything?

[Richard]

"...to me they're an '80s band who had a lot of influence on a lot of people,"

Well, not on me -- I didn't know what it was, so thanks for explaining.

Richard

[John]

I could never forgive them for inflicting "Stand" and "Orange Crush" on the world (or perhaps I should never forgive the radio world for inflicting them on me so often), so I was never really able to appreciate their music.

[Mike Johnston]

"Well, not on me -- I didn't know what it was"

Richard,
I meant on a lot of other American bands of the period.

Mike

[Nikola Ovcharski]

I love them

[James Rhem]

For years I've heard the rumor that the name of the band derived from the enthusiasm of one of its members for the photography of Ralph Eugene Meatyard. I tried to track this down and got close but never confirmed it.

[Mark M.]

...and didn't they use a photo of Michael Stipe (probably his high school senior portrait) with the words "They airbrushed my face" written over it as album art for "Eponymous?"