R.E.M: Their Life and How They Lived It

They crawled out of the southern United States twenty-four years ago, three men and their mumbling lead singer. Later hailed as Anti-Reaginites and THE voice of their troubled generation, they were really just a rock and roll band. This is the story of R.E.M, their life, and how they lived it.

All four members- Bill Berry, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, and Michael Stipe- were in their early twenties when their first indie single was released in 1981. Now, they are in their early forties, firmly in middle age. Having released their 'best of' collection last year, marking fifteen years with Warner Brothers, one is left to ask: is R.E.M still relevant in todays music industry? Can they still appeal to the youth, a contemporary audience that is no longer of their generation?

R.E.M's importance in the eighties and early nineties cant be denied. As Gina Arnold quite superbly put it in her acclaimed work Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana, they galvanized the entire subculture and made it into a community. They alone defined 1980s US Indie rock. In the post-punk world, they played the game by their own rules. They toured relentlessly, but only when they wanted to. Quite oddly, their greatest absence from the live stage was when they were at the peak of their commercial success.

This was the complete opposite of what went before them, but they helped to make it the archetype. In 1984, Milo Miles noted the band's avoidance of "scattershot hatred, mordant hectoring, and wan ennuiIts plain the band respects earthy thinking and empathizes with daily struggles." And Avers Arnold: "Their niceness stood in bright relief against the scary world of angst and pain the rest of rock 'n' roll celebratedThey were our mirror, put on earth to reflect what we were, in case we didn't know. And what we were, it turned out, was sick of anger, ugliness, and 'anti-everything' cant."
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Although still on the indie label IRS, the band's fifth studio album "Document" shot to platinum, largely due to massive radio play of the single "The One I Love." After signing a major label deal with Warner Brothers in 1988, the multi-platinum "Green" followed. The next four years saw the release of what was arguably R.E.M's finest major label material and certainly their most critically acclaimed: 1991s Out of Time and 1992s Automatic for the People. "Out of Time" exceeded all expectations, going four times platinum in the US and five times platinum in the UK. New Adventures built even further on the success. Grammy awards, world fame, and critical acclaim followed. With an estimated 30 million albums sold between 1991 and 1994, it seemed that the world had gone mad for R.E.M. All of this was achieved, quite amazingly, without any major tour. This asserted R.E.M as the biggest band in the world, certainly rivals to U2's throne. However, disaster struck in the mid 1990s.

A shocking revelation came in October 1997, one that sent tremors around the pop music world. Drummer Bill Berry, with the band since its inception, announced his retirement. Bill Berry, amongst other members, was the victim of numerous health scares in the recent past, including a brain hemorrhage on tour in 1995. The band decided to carry on their careers regardless, as a three-piece band. A three legged dog is still a dog, said Stipe.

Unfortunately, their first album as a three piece, Up, flopped badly in the US. Sales totaled only 117,000 copies in its first week of release. Almost a year after its release, in the summer of 1999, US sales figures stood at around 600,000 copies ("Out of Time," their best selling album in the US, had sold over 4 million in this period). Eventually, sales reached two million worldwide. Although these sales figures may have worried Warner Brothers, R.E.M themselves didnt seem concerned. As guitarist Peter Buck said, Im way past the age when selling records means anything to me. In fact, it never really did mean anything.
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Despite such failures in their native country, R.E.M continues to maintain strong sales throughout the rest of the world. Their next album "Reveal" would also reach number one despite a strong week of releases, including those by ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and Bon Jovi. Glowing reviews of "Reveal" appeared throughout the music industry press. Last year's 'best of' compilation "Out of Time" also proved a major hit, reaching the top spot in its first week of release.

All this would suggest that whilst the stature of R.E.M may be dwindling in the US, where as the millennium approached youngsters would turn to a musical diet of rap-rock and manufactured pop, this certainly isnt the case elsewhere. If you go to a live show in Europe, you will see the arena packed with people of all ages, from young hip crowds to middle-aged dads who were there in the beginning. (Watch their latest live DVD Perfect Square and the look of ecstatic delight on the faces of the substantial German crowd).

Perhaps the reason for their apparent decline in the US is apathy amongst youth who don't care to listen to and understand a band that became increasingly experimental in the latter half of the last decade. Fans are left to never quite catch up with the latest sound until the next one comes around.

Perhaps its overexposure. After eight years in the underground, 16 years on a major label, 12 albums, not to mention compilations and their first E.P, R.E.M have saturated the American music industry.

Out of step and lovingly original at its inception, R.E.M. is trying to find its feet as a three piece in the ever changing popular music scene. So, are they existing just to exist, or are they still a great band?

"Reveal," released in 2001, is the band's most recent studio album, and it suggests the latter. Lush tones and a freshness that hasnt been with the band for a decade all give positive signs. Nevertheless, the listener cannot help feeling that at times it is a tired album; perhaps an album made by a band running out of ideas. Ultimately, this sets up a great problem for R.E.M and their next album, scheduled for release in the one year. Do they want to make an experimental record, pushing themselves in directions not seen before, at the risk of further plummeting sales in the US? Or shall they just stick out a re-working of their early nineties' material, and perhaps see their sales figures grow once more in the US?

Shall they be R.E.M, or an R.E.M cover band? The decision is theirs.

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