REM, Rapid Eye Movement, was founded in Athens, US, by young artists Michael Stipe, (born on 4th January 1960 in Decatur near Atlanta), Peter Buck, (born on December 6, 1956 in LA), Mike Mills, (born 17th December 1958 in Orange County, California) and William Berry, (born in Duluth, Minnesota on 31 July 1958). The band’s routes go all the way back to 1972 when Mills and Berry met as scholars in ninth grade in Georgia. After their original band The Frustration failed they moved to Athens in ‘78, where they met friends Stipe and Buck. After an initial friendship REM was born in 1980.
With 13 albums to date, after 20 years of entertaining rock, REM are undoubtedly one of the most famous and influential rockgroups to roll out of the states.
After the EP Chronic Town in 1982, the first album “Murmur” was released in 1983. The singles “Radio Free Europe” and “Talk about the Passion” were instant hits in the UK and US. REM were shy, but quietly confident, and that showed as they were distinctive to the point of instant recognition at such an early stage of their careers, a rare occurrence. The second album “Reckoning” followed a year later. It was recorded in 12 days. “Don’t Go back to Rockville” and “Pretty Persuasion” were its most acclaimed tracks. The controversially named “Fables of the Reconstruction” was released in ’85. Buck described it as “a snapshot of us in our 24 year old nervous breakdowns.” It was mixed, out of control, and weird. It was rock and roll in the eyes of it’s creators.
The following year, in 1986, “Life’s Rich Pageant” was recorded, and included the hits “I Believe” and “Cuyahoga”. “Document” followed in 1987. The record was discreetly based on the perception of America at the time, and included one of their greatest hit singles to date, the distinctive “It’s the End of the World as we Know it” and “The one I love”. 1988 witnessed the release of a best-of named “Eponymous” and “Green”, which contained the hit single “Orange Crush”.
1991 ran “Out of Time”. This is arguably the first or second best album ever recorded by REM, and contains their biggest hit to date, “Losing my Religion”, and the well known “Shiny Happy People.” The next year the album many see as the bands greatest, “Automatic for the People” was released. It contains the massively famous “Everybody Hurts”, perhaps one of the most emotional and inspirational songs of all time, with Berry being mainly responsible for the musical motif. “Automatic” also contained the famous “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight” and “Man on The Moon”. Next up, in 1994, was “Monster”, the band’s only real hard rock record, with the singles “Bang and Blame” and “What’s the Frequency Kenneth” included.
In 1996 came “New Adventures in Hi- Fi”, which included hits “E- bow the Letter” and “Electrolite”. It was on the Monster Tour of October 1997 that drummer Bill Berry decided he’d had enough of the music industry and quit the band. After a long talk, Stipe, Buck and Mills decided to keep REM alive as a three- man group. In 1998 “Up” was released, and was a product of the band’s turmoil. The only hit- single was the creditable “Lotus,” perhaps one of the band’s best songs, but was underrated and overlooked by many due to the lack of flare in the album itself. The band rose from it’s ashes with the mellow “Reveal” in 2001. “Imitation of Life” and “All the Way to Reno” were instant radio hits, and “I’ll take the Rain” and “The Lifting” were also included in one of REM’s best albums ever.
REM also recorded music for the movie “Man on the Moon” starring Jim Carrey and Courtney Love, and it is on the album of the same name that “The Great Beyond” and songs from the movie can be found. The recently released “In Time” best- of is a celebration of time spent with Warner Bros. and contains the singles “Bad Day” and “Animal”.
20 years on from the beginning and Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills, and departed drummer Bill Berry are internationally famous rockstars, and REM have promised to rock on.
Bio written by: MatthewArcher |
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