R.E.M.

By Maura briannaorg: “Savoy Truffle” by The Beatles, “Candy Shop” by Andrew Bird, “Orange Crush” by R.E.M. tomewing: “Eat Yrself Fitter” by The Fall, “Breakfast” by The Associates, “C is for Cookie” by Cookie Monster

By Al Shipley Key bands: R.E.M., The Replacements, XTC, The Pixies By the time Billboard began publishing a Modern Rock singles chart in 1988, there was already a clutch of American bands getting consistent radio play. And for the first few years of the chart, jangle ruled the roost.

By Mike Barthel Do people ever get into a band later in their careers?  R.E.M. is a good example, as they seemed to attract waves of new fans at different points in their discography, and those new fans were not always interested in the releases that predated their discovery of the band.  And evergreen artists...

 NY - R.E.M. Song After extensive consultation with fans of Michael Stipe et al on my buddy list, I'm comfortable saying that the Internet is wrong on that point. Compare the original with the ad, after the jump. Now that that's been cleared up, can anyone tell me what ...

By Lucas Jensen Coming up around the same time as R.E.M., the band's influence and history on the Athens music scene can't be understated–they practiced at the original 40 Watt location–but it goes much farther than that. I often see this sort of thing written about Pylon: "Though they never achieved R.E.M.'s l...

By Maura Johnston THE HAPPIEST STATE IN THE WHOLE U.S.A.: Yes, Salt Lake City was a happy place, with R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People" airing underneath the opening scenes of grinning Utes and a guy dressed as a bunny and lots of polite responses to rejection and lots of pearly white teeth and an overall vibe that Rand...

By Lucas Jensen In 1998, I moved to Athens, Ga., from Starkville, Miss., for a variety of reasons: I'd just gone through a bad breakup; my sister lived there; I was angling for a job with an Athens promotional company. A lifelong R.E.M. obsession didn't hurt. Deep down, though, what really drew me there was a feeli...

By Dan Gibson It's still a little strange to see top 10 lists now, but if it's not too early for the onslaught of Christmas music to invade every public space I seem to go to, I suppose it's OK to start trying to wrap 2008 in a cute bow. Which brings us to what's apparently British music mag list day, with the onc...

By Chris Molanphy In the last couple of decades, we’ve seen the album as one-hit-wonder, and its opposite, the album as multi-single aircraft carrier—from Michael to Madonna to Shania. Perhaps Taylor Swift represents another new model entirely: the album as buffet.

By Maura Johnston Ever in tune with fashion's shifting winds, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has moved on from being a shirtless Marc Jacobs model to designing limited-edition, 150-euro polos for Lacoste. (That's $192.72 at current exchange rates, FYI.) Yes, now you too can wear the same shirt worn by people wh...

By Michaelangelo Matos Generally speaking, releasing a best-of is a sign of a career that's pretty much finished. Obviously there are major exceptions: Madonna's Immaculate Collection, Pet Shop Boys' Discography, and R.E.M.'s Eponymous come to mind, with the latter being a shining example of a specific sort of...

By Matthew Perpetua Soundchecks often serve as safe zones for musicians, a place where they can feel free to goof off and take chances that might not be suitable for an audience of people who've paid big money to hear straight versions of their favorite songs. R.E.M., however, is a bit less precious about the momen...

By Anthony Miccio 3. Kid Rock Oh sure, "All Summer Long" is nostalgic. But not for this. Michael Jackson Plans Comeback With New Kids On The Block [Showbiz Spy] Green Day live @ Paint Factory 1989 prt1 [YouTube] Siskel & Ebert review "Rattle & Hum" [YouTube] Kid Rock - Yo Da Lin In The Valley [YouTube]

By Maura Johnston 11. MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana 28. Illmatic, Nas 36. CrazySexyCool, TLC 40. Ready to Die, The Notorious B.I.G. 60. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Pavement 70. My Life, Mary J. Blige 77. Dummy, Portishead 81. The Downward Spiral, Nine Inch Nails 82. Grace, Jeff Buckley 99. Live Through This, Hole

By Maura Johnston The New York metropolitan area was treated to some fierce (in both power and awesomeness to behold) thunderstorms on Saturday, and they happened to coincide with R.E.M.'s concert at Long Island's Jones Beach Theater—a venue which, as you might deduce from the name, sits right on the Atlant...

• Live Nation threw 150 million D's at Jay-Z. • R.E.M. made everyone get nostalgic enough to actually pay money for a new album again. • And on a sad (well, sorta-sad) note, Ramiele hitched up her high-waisted shorts and exited American Idol's contestant pool.

By Dan Gibson George Strait seems lined up for the top on next week's album sales chart, but it seems like depressing me with an appearance on Today earlier this week paid off for R.E.M.—Accelerate will likely grab the No. 2 spot, according to the occasionally reliable projections over at HITS. The Matt Laue...

By Maura Johnston From time to time, we like to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Under consideration today is the latest album by R.E.M., Accelerate, which hits stores tomorrow: Earlier: The New R.E.M. Accelerates Past Its Release Date To The Web

• Meanwhile, Gnarls Barkley dropped its album a little early. • Spin in 1990: Charmingly clueless about hip-hop. Spin in 2008: Charmingly ga-ga for R.E.M. • We said goodbye to American Idol's skunk-haired Janis Joplin wannabe Amanda Overmyer—but we may be saying hello to her again soon.

By Anono-Critic After a decade or so of evincing little interest in the band (neither, frankly, did any of the big American rock mags during the time, although Mojo and Q could be counted on to do cartwheels upon each record's release), Spin makes much of the increased "rock" quotient of R.E.M.'s new album, Ac...

By Dan Gibson At very least, it's nice to hear a big, strong opener: "Living Well..." sounds great loud, and R.E.M. sounds like a band with purpose. Michael Stipe's lyrics are largely fine throughout—although there are some real clunkers—and he's gotten slightly better at being cryptic again, which to me is...

By Dan Gibson The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has determined that, for their purposes, R.E.M. can now be considered an Irish band. This might be somewhat surprising to, say, Americans who have assumed for sometime that considering the band was formed in Athens, Georgia they would be one of our own....

By Kate Richardson Last night on Anderson Cooper 360°, R.E.M. premiered the videofor their new single "Until the Day is Done"/ trailer for the upcoming Anderson Cooper adventure "Planet in Peril." The song is so bland it kind of makes the polar bears want to go extinct. But is it, as Jess predicted yesterday, "th...