R.E.M.
FREE!
R.E.M.: Rock Reconstruction Getting There
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1985
FABLES OF YEARS spent on the road. Decadent tales of groupies and drugs and arrogance and misspent lives near the top. You won't find any ...
R.E.M.: Automatic For The People
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 1992
MILLIONS HAVE BEEN waiting on the new R.E.M. album, and almost none of them is barmy. ...
AUDIO
AUDIO: R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe (2003)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, December 2003
Gavin Martin quizzes the R.E.M. front-man on movies, religion, his gayness, Bill Berry's departure and a whole lot more.
File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 46.4mb, total interview length: 50' 45" sound quality: ****
ARTICLES IN LIBRARY
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, January 1983
THIS EP IS SO ARCANE that I had to play it six times in a row to get a handle on it – and even ...
Review by John Morthland, Creem, July 1983
I KEEP HEARING about the rise of the new garage bands, who draw their inspiration from the original punks, those brash, anarchistic, one-hit bands so ...
Review by Richard Grabel, NME, September 1983
R.E.M., LIKE THE B-52's, come from Athens, Georgia, but it must be the other side of town. Where the Bs are flamboyant, emblazoning their borrowed ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, NME, November 1983
IF YE Smythes are anything to go by, rock's set-piece quartet of voice and guitar, bass and drums is making a decided comeback. Witnessing R.E.M.'s ...
Interview by Blake Gumprecht, Alternative America, Winter 1983
FROM INGLORIOUS beginnings playing a birthday party, R.E.M.'s independent first single, 'Radio Free Europe', was Robert Palmer's choice as 10th best single of 1981 in ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, NME, January 1984
REM's presence as a genuine group staunchly committed to rock's most crucial attitude, this being the simple desire to play a little honest loud-hearted music ...
Four Guys Working For The Sainthood
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, NME, April 1984
"THERE'S TWO SCHOOLS OF MUSICIANS" argues guitarist Peter Buck. "One just digs playing and is in it for fun, the other wants to get rich ...
American Paradise Regained: R.E.M.’s Reckoning
Review by Mat Snow, NME, April 1984
WHEN I HEAR word ‘plangent’ I reach for my applause button. Which is why Reckoning and its predecessor, last year’s Murmur, confirm R.E.M. as ...
Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Record Magazine, June 1984
R.E.M.'s Hip American Dream ...
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, July 1984
R.E.M. DIDN'T go courting success but the acclaimed Georgia quartet is learning to deal with it. ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, August 1986
NOW WHERE did this panther spring from? Seems like only a minute ago I was hacking my way through a jungle of ugly pop fever ...
R.E.M.: Lifes Rich Pageant (IRS)
Review by Andy Gill, NME, August 1986
THE ONLY BAND that mutters, as an American commentator wittily described REM, are back, and not before time, too. The past few years have seen ...
R.E.M.: Deconstructing The Fables
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, October 1986
Their sight fully restored with the release of their latest creation, R.E.M. are looking straight ahead once more and enjoying Life’s Rich Pageant. EDWIN POUNCEY ...
REM and 10,000 Maniacs: Rulers Of The Campus
Interview by Mark Cooper, Guardian, The, September 1987
College rock is alive and gigging in the US. MARK COOPER hears why from Michael Stipe of REM and Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs ...
Interview by Jon Savage, Observer, The, May 1989
"I COULD TURN YOU inside out! But I choose not to!" R.E.M.’s singer Michael Stipe, back arched, is bellowing into a megaphone. Five songs into ...
Michael Stipe: What Are Friends For
Interview by Mark Kemp, Option, September 1990
2 SODA FOUNTAIN glasses full of strawberry-banana smoothie, a plate of nachos covered with melted cheese, a gorgeous Manhattan spring afternoon: what more could a ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, April 1991
If R.E.M. appear to walk the street of Athens, Georgia, as if they owned the place – well, that's because they do. Now, as the ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1991
DESPITE MICHAEL STIPE'S production activities with the likes of the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies and the recent emergence of Tourfilm, from 1989's Green tour, R.E.M. have ...
Review by Max Bell, Vox, April 1991
THEY MUST have scratched their heads at Burbank when R.E.M. delivered Out Of Time. Far from capitalising on the success of Green, where America's most ...
Interview by Mike Mettler, Guitar School, September 1991
EMERGING FROM the haze of haircut bands that dominated the early '80s was R.E.M., a mysterious and gripping outfit hailing from the college town of ...
Review by Mat Snow, Q, November 1991
FOR FIVE YEARS R.E.M. steadily grew on Miles Copeland's IRS label until they took the Warner Bros shilling and were thus promoted to the big ...
R.E.M.: Touched! Chuffed! Etc!
Report and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, January 1992
For R.E.M., 1991 will always be the year in which a low-key LP brought them high-profile success, the year a tiny tour won them a ...
Interview by Mat Snow, Q, October 1992
THE LAST RESORT is a civilised eatery offering a wide selection of imported beers in what must surely be – after Asbury Park, New Jersey ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, October 1992
Ten years down the road, Athens, Georgia’s little-band-that-could takes stock of fame, fortune and folk music.* ...
R.E.M.: Lyrically Dark, Musically Oddball
Interview by Mat Snow, Q, November 1992
R.E.M.'s new album, Automatic For The People, is released this month. Here, the group dissect the LP, track by track...hang on, Automatic For The People? ...
Rapid Eye Monster: R.E.M. and the Reconstruction of New Fables
Interview by Gerrie Lim, Big O, September 1994
IF ROCK LYRICS ARE the fragile touchstones of this post-punk era, one concisely summarizes all the aspirations and angst of these psychically shifting times. ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 1994
YOU CAN JUST HEAR THE PHONE CALL. "The album's ready. Hire the Irish castle!" When the world's biggest bands have something to promote, money's no ...
Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994
When U2 swapped their Romany drifter look for the PVC strides and comedy shades, there was, after the initial confusion, a general hum of approbation. ...
Conference Call: Mike Mills talks to 10cc!
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1995
ON THE receiving end of the PR’s pointy red fingernail: Sylvie Simmons... ...
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, May 1995
Fabled and reconstructed, the all-new, star-spangled, itinerary-wielding R.E.M. were poised to take on the world. Then Bill Berry took ill. ADRIAN DEEVOY caught the doomed ...
R.E.M./Radiohead: Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford, CT
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, October 1995
SCARY 'MONSTERS' AND SUPER 'CREEPS' ...
Mark Eitzel with Peter Buck: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Rolling Stone, 1997
AN OLD CHAPEL in Islington, North London, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s old ‘hood. The stage is set up around the pulpit; the audience sits in ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 1997
'People liked it when I was drunk and fell over onstage all the time. That was very popular in Europe for a while' ...
Rock Criticism and the Rocker: A Conversation With Peter Buck
Book Excerpt by Anthony DeCurtis, Rocking My Life Away, 1998
IN SEPTEMBER 1994 R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck kindly took time off from promoting R.E.M.'s Monster to do an interview with Anthony DeCurtis, who wanted an ...
Tibetan Freedom Concert: People Have The Power
Report by Paul Lester, Uncut, August 1998
MONDAY, JUNE 15, THE CAPITOL BUILDINGIt is 10 days before Bill Clinton's historic first presidential visit to China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. An ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 1998
R.E.M., MORE than just about any band you can name, were whacked mightily with the Great Rock Dilemma stick: how does an intelligent, introspective, underground ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, NME, January 1999
Last week, Pete Waterman the Brian Clough of pop, stoutly defended his new teenpop cadets Steps and his revitalised label PWL. Here Doctor Waterman offers ...
REM: Man On The Moon — Soundtrack
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000
R.E.M.'s ASSOCIATION with Andy Kaufman goes back to 1993 when they penned 'Man On The Moon', Stipe's achingly personal tribute to the late comedian. ...
Byrd Brains: Matthew Sweet and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck Ponder Country-rock’s Finest
Review and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Revolver, Spring 2000
The Byrds:(Untitled/Unissued)ByrdmaniaxFarther AlongLive at the Fillmore West – February 1969 ...
Review by The Rev. Al Friston, Rock's Backpages, December 2001
REVEAL IS, well, a revelation — especially for anyone as weary of the bogus and posturing Michael Stipe as this writer is. After the band’s ...
Book Excerpt by Tony Fletcher, Omnibus Books, 2002
An extract from Remarks Remade: The Story of R.E.M. by Tony Fletcher, first published by Omnibus Press in 1989 and in three subsequent editions, the ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, June 2002
It's 1984, and America's in thrall to Valley Girls, Day-Glo socks and 'Billie Jean'. Is this really the best time for a jangly Georgia folk-rock ...
R.E.M. at Brixton Academy, London
Report by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, June 2003
SEEING A BAND OF REM's stature at a medium-sized venue such as Brixton Academy is undeniably some sort of occasion. The suspicion nags, though, that ...
R.E.M.: St James's Church, Piccadilly, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, Independent, The, September 2004
R.E.M. ARE NO strangers to the "secret" show, having pioneered them back in the ‘80s, when they would appear at places such as the tiny ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, September 2006
THE ROOF TERRACE alone in Michael Stipe's ultra-deluxe Knightsbridge hotel suite is bigger than most luxury flats. Boasting its own sauna and dining hall, the ...
Mitch Easter Interviewed: Perfect Sound Forever - The Director's Cut
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, unpublished, Summer 2007
NOTE: This is a vastly expanded version of the Mitch Easter feature, "Perfect Sound Forever," written for issue #76, of Magnet, published summer 2007. Interviews ...
back to LIBRARY
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
download eBooks and audio interviews
RBP on Spotify: The Absolute Best o' Burt
RBP Album Club, June 13th: Miki Berenyi and Lucy O'Brien celebrate a Blondie classic
Essential Listening: Mick Gold meets Patti Smith in '76
Essential Reading: RBP's awesome Ozzy anthology
Essential Reading: Nina Antonia introduces her new poetry collection
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut