R.E.M. were the typical college dropout band of friends when they played their first gig in Athens, Georgia. The line-up of Michael Stipe, Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills had all hung around their hometown record stores, eventually succumbing to their collective musical interests and forming a band. In 1980 as a tight gigging outfit they played across the state gaining good reputation for their twisted pop tunes and choice cover versions.

 

The next year the band recorded and released their debut single Radio Free Europe. The single was limited to 1000 copies and it’s sound fell on kind ears amongst the college radio stations in the US. The increased interest in the band and the extra touring led to a contracts with IRS Records.

 

1982 saw their debut EP, Chronic Town continue the increasing interest in the band and it led up to their debut album, Murmur, which was released in 1983. Rolling Stone magazine named it their Album Of The Year, beating off Michael Jackson 'Thriller' and The Police 'Synchronicity'.

 

Tours across Europe were a success, the student friendly sound of the band earned them a reputation on this side of the Atlantic too. Next album Reckoning was released in 1984. It was a frantic sounding record, put together in less than a fortnight but the single So. Central Rain was another radio hit on the college-syndicated shows.

 

Recorded in their new second home of London 1985’s Fables Of The Reconstruction was a shift in the bands sound. While the underground rock scene was full REM-alike bands with catchy guitar led intelligent pop, the band themselves were suffering from more depressive thoughts. Constant touring had led to a cabin fever mentality that pervaded the whole record. It was still their most successful record so far selling over 300,000 copies with none of the typical hit singles or radio support.

 

The band settled into an appreciation of their lot. With constant touring, a more politicised worldview and freedom to be whom they wished they began working on the next album. Life’s Rich Pageant, released in 1986, had all the expected REM sound and outsold its predecessor easily. The single Fall On Me, another college radio hit, was expected to hit the charts but as before critical approval was the best they got. Several months after Life’s Rich Pageant, the group released the B-sides and rarities collection, Dead Letter Office, which include their debut Chronic Town EP.

 

The growth in the bands fan base and their pop hook laden sound meant that success was only a wait away. It came in 1987 with Document. Produced by Scott Litt -- who would produce all of their records over the course of the next decade -- Document climbed into the US Top Ten and went platinum on the strength of the single The One I Love, which also went into the Top Ten; in the UK it became their biggest hit to date, reaching the British Top 40.

 

In 1988 R.E.M. surprised fans by signing a multi-million dollar contract with major label Warner Bros., who released their next album, Green, in 1988. With hit singles Stand and Pop Song 89 frequently played on the radio, R.E.M. was finally a household name and Green went multi-platinum. R.E.M.'s famous 1989 world tour saw the group playing to huge audiences in North America and packing clubs in Australia, Japan and Europe.

 

The stresses of the huge Green Tour gave the band a reason to relax for a while in 1990. During this time all members of the band worked on side-projects. Hindu Love Gods, an album Buck, Berry and Mills recorded with Warren Zevon was released.

 

R.E.M. were back together in 1990 to record their seventh album, Out of Time, which was released in the spring of 1991. It went to No. 1 in both the U.S. and UK on the strength of the Top 10 singles Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People. The album sold nearly five million copies and won several Grammy awards. No tour was undertaken to support the album, but that did little to dent REM’s presence as one of the world’s biggest bands.

 

A promised ‘rock’ album was postponed and a more contemplative, moody sound was settled on for 1992s Automatic For The People. The textures of the album were added to by string arrangements by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. As different as Automatic For the People was from Out of Time, it still was a multi-platinum success producing the hit singles Everybody Hurts, Drive and Man on the Moon.

 

In 1994 a Monster was let loose by REM. This was the ‘rock’ album as had been promised for the past few years. It’s sound was grunge-like, and is said to have been influenced by the death of Michael’s friend, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. The album won praise for it’s rediscovered attitude and entered charts across the world at #1. With new enthusiasm and multi million sales the band began their first tour in over five years. Unfortunately the Monster Tour of 1995 was beset by problems: Bill Berry nearly died of an aneurysm in Switzerland, Michael Stipe suffered a hernia and Mike Mills underwent surgery for stomach problems. Despite these setbacks, the band pressed on, playing at sold-out stadiums worldwide and the group recorded the bulk of a new album.

 

In 1996 the band resigned to Warner Brothers, reportedly for a record-breaking sum of $80 million. The next album New Adventures in Hi-Fi was a collection of the songs recorded during the Monster tour. The massive figure paid for the band services was not immediately paid back. Though it received B reviews and debuted high in the charts, the album failed to generate any hits, and it only went platinum where its three predecessors went quadruple platinum.

 

In 1997, after two decades with R.E.M., drummer Bill Berry announced that he was retiring from the band. A period of decision making and settling within the band saw them do as they had back in 1989 after the Green Tour. Solo projects from the band seem to be a way of reassessing what it is to be REM. Michael Stipe worked with his film company, Single Cell Pictures, who have produced movies such as Velvet Goldmine and Being john Malkovich. While Peter Buck performed with the groups Tuatara and the Minus Five; Buck also produced albums for several bands and wrote with Mark Eitzel of American Music Club, a band in REM's peer group.

 

REM continued as a three piece, using the adage “a three-legged dog can still walk”. Sessions for their next album included work with Barrett Martin, ex-Screaming Trees drummer, and heavy use of drum machines. Neither was accepted into the fold on a permanent basis. The album Up was the bands 11th and it is accepted as their most experimental to date. It included the UK Top 10 single Daysleeper and more slanted interpretations of REM-style rock ballads.

 

In 1999 a soundtrack album for the movie Man On The Moon included a fantastic slab of REM called The Great Beyond. The band supplied the whole soundtrack finding it a good follow on from their track of the same name; both were inspired by the life of American comic Andy Kaufman.

 

The band followed the soundtrack in 2001 with the release of Reveal. As is expected it was a critical and commercial success allowing the previous years turmoil’s to be forgotten.

 

Now in their third decade of the business REM are one of the most popular and important bands on the planet. They have reassessed themselves repeatedly, developed new ideas and overcome the loss of band members. While they have outstripped many early peers and moved into the multi-million dollar realms of mega stardom, now it is likely the band have settled again, happy with themselves and their standing.