# REM officially disbands



## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

31 years! Wow, it doesn't seem that long.

Rock icons R.E.M. split after 31 years (updated with band members’ statements) | Ampersand | National Post


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Just saw it on the CBC site.

Gotta say, I never really found more than a couple of their songs really listenable, but a lot of people liked them, and the band meant a lot to a lot of folks.


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2011)

Somewhat melancholic. But also really annoying that they picked today, the date of Troy Davis' execution in Athens, to announce this.

So much for a band with a social conscience, they couldn't have waited a day? You can almost hear all the white people in GA thankfully their Fox news feed will be full of this news instead of the travesty that is Troy Davis' execution instead...


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

iaresee said:


> Somewhat melancholic. But also really annoying that they picked today, the date of Troy Davis' execution in Athens, to announce this.
> 
> So much for a band with a social conscience, they couldn't have waited a day? You can almost hear all the white people in GA thankfully their Fox news feed will be full of this news instead of the travesty that is Troy Davis' execution instead...


Was the band somehow involved?


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Was the band somehow involved?


No, but they're from the area.

I can't say I care. Maybe if this happened back in 1993 or 94 when the band was at the top of its game, but they've been pretty irrelevant since then. If anything, I'm surprised it's taken so long.

On a related note, I read somewhere that Bono is now mulling the relevance of U2. He apparently thinks that U2 has been verging on irrelevance for a while. I coulda told him that


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

hollowbody said:


> On a related note, I read somewhere that Bono is now mulling the relevance of U2. He apparently thinks that U2 has been verging on irrelevance for a while. I coulda told him that


Yeah, U2 really needs a new singer!


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## Petey D (Sep 8, 2011)

Yeah, it probably should have happened about ten years ago. I never really got REM anyway, the only song of theirs that I really liked was Orange Crush. But my condolences to REM fans everywhere anyway.


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2011)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Was the band somehow involved?


They've been heavily liberal activists for...forever. They've supported a number of pro-human rights causes over the years, Amnesty International among them. The Davis stuff is happening on their doorstep. Seems weird they'd do this today. Out of character. But I maybe that's why it's over for them?


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I was 30 when they first came out, I was stuck in the progressive rock and classical music mode at the time, so I never really paid attention to them.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Somewhat melancholic. But also really annoying that they picked today, the date of Troy Davis' execution in Athens, to announce this.
> 
> So much for a band with a social conscience, they couldn't have waited a day? You can almost hear all the white people in GA thankfully their Fox news feed will be full of this news instead of the travesty that is Troy Davis' execution instead...


That's a coincidence. I was just reading about the Troy Davis story today. It does indeed sound like a travesty of justice.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I like REM. They've written a lot of great songs. I still play Losing My Religion periodically.


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

Well its time for them to spend all of that money they've made over this amount of time and its not like they are ging to do nothing Micheal has been involved out here on the west doing film and the rest of the guys have been doing side projects.ship...........it does seem fiiting that it was on my birthday that they started and on my birthday when they disbanded


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Milkman said:


> I like REM. They've written a lot of great songs. I still play Losing My Religion periodically.


That may be the only sng of theirs that I know. Most likely recognize a few others, but that one rings a bell. I have never purchased any of their material though.


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## Guest (Sep 22, 2011)

GuitarsCanada said:


> That may be the only sng of theirs that I know. Most likely recognize a few others, but that one rings a bell. I have never purchased any of their material though.


If you only buy one of their discs Automatic For The People is pretty damn solid from start to finish. But Out of Time comes a close second. I think OoT is a happier disc. I like AftP for its atmospherics.

_Sweetness Follows_ is a pretty amazing track by any standards.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

iaresee said:


> If you only buy one of their discs Automatic For The People is pretty damn solid from start to finish. But Out of Time comes a close second. I think OoT is a happier disc. I like AftP for its atmospherics.
> 
> _Sweetness Follows_ is a pretty amazing track by any standards.


Yeah, Automatic is a no-brainer. Nightswimming is a track that absolutely devastates me (in a good way) every time I hear it.


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## Guest (Sep 22, 2011)

hollowbody said:


> Yeah, Automatic is a no-brainer. Nightswimming is a track that absolutely devastates me (in a good way) every time I hear it.


I could go between Nightswimming and Sweetness Follows for my favourite R.E.M. track.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

GuitarsCanada said:


> That may be the only sng of theirs that I know. Most likely recognize a few others, but that one rings a bell. I have never purchased any of their material though.


oh Man, they have alot of really solid songs. Losing my religion, Nightswimming, Everybody Hurts, The River, man on the Moon.. really great musicianship and songwriting.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

Superman
It's the End of the World as We Know It
Fall On Me
Finest Worksong
The One I Love
Orange Crush
Stand

Classic REM from 86-88 when they were College radio darlings. I pretty much lost interest in them after discovering the Grebo scene in the UK at that time.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Stand
Losing My Religion
Everybody Hurts
Roam
Orange Crush
Man in the Moon
The One I love

Great songs with tasteful and toneful guitars


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

Milkman said:


> Stand
> Losing My Religion
> Everybody Hurts
> Roam
> ...


Completely forgot Man in the Moon and Stand. Classic post 88 REM!


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

Streaming the "new"?? (last??) REM album on NPR;

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/06/14179...part-truth-part-garbage-1982-2011?sc=fb&cc=fp


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