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R.E.M. has called it quits after 31 years of trailblazing the alternative rock scene. In a simple statement on their website, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers give thanks to fans for sticking with them.
In honor of the band's breakup, check out 10 choice R.E.M. cuts, and tell us which of their songs is your favorite in the comments section below.
"'Man on the Moon' was not going to get finished," Scott Litt recalls of that frenzied day in 1992. What would become R.E.M.'s quintessential hit was dangerously close to not making it onto the band's masterpiece, "Automatic for the People." The song was done, its instrumentation already committed to tape. But Michael Stipe, the band's enigmatic frontman, lacked those Andy Kaufman lyrics until the last minute. "We kind of made him finish it," says Litt, who produced six R.E.M. albums between 1987 and 1996. "When I hear that on the radio, I'm very thankful for that one day."
Just weeks after R.E.M.'s breakup following a three-decade run, a rare cassette from the band's earliest days has hit the Internet. Thanks to a blog, "The Power of Independent Trucking," and a generous reader, R.E.M. diehards and alt-rock audiophiles can hear a six-track cassette demo, originally recorded in April 1981 with producer Mitch Easter.
Breakup Playlist: 10 Essential R.E.M. Songs
Laid down at Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, NC, the early cuts were intended as a promotional tool for Michael Stipe and company on their first visit to New York City.
The cassette contains two different takes of three different songs: "Sitting Still," "White Tornado," and "Radio Free Europe," which would eventually become R.E.M.'s debut single three months later on Hib-Tone Records.
According to guitarist Peter Buck, only 400 copies were made back in 1981.
R.E.M. announced its amicable split Sept. 21, following 15 studio records, numerous hit songs, and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2007.
A career retrospective, "Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011," is due for a Nov. 15 release via Warner Brothers.
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