Robert Hilburn Thanks to the arrival of such spirited and purposeful groups as X, the Blasters, R.E.M., and the Replacements, American rock has made a spectacular comeback. – Robert Hilburn
Rob Sheffield Hardly anyone liked R.E.M. who didn’t like them way too much, so part of being an R.E.M. fan meant getting wildly overinvested and then feeling vaguely disappointed by whatever they did next. – Rob Sheffield
Rob Sheffield It was R.E.M. who showed other Eighties bands how to get away with ignoring the rules – they lived in some weird town nobody never heard of, they didn’t play power chords, they probably couldn’t even spell ‘spandex.’ All they had was songs. – Rob Sheffield
Rob Sheffield Thanks for existing, R.E.M. It’s hard to overstate how much these guys changed everything, creating an entire rock audience in their own image. – Rob Sheffield
Rob Sheffield Drive,’ that’s the one. I love dozens of songs by R.E.M., but that’s the one, even though it took me 7 or 8 years to start liking it. – Rob Sheffield
Rico Love I really want to work with Rufus Wainwright. Michael Stipe from R.E.M. I would love to work with Kanye West. – Rico Love
Mike Birbiglia I am diagnosed with what’s called ‘REM behavior disorder.’ As far as the disorder goes, there’s no cure, but it’s going pretty well as far as these things go. I see a sleep doctor, take medication, etc. – Mike Birbiglia
Lukas Haas I’m remixing an R.E.M. track called ‘I’ve Been High’ from their last album, ‘Reveal.’ It’s a beautiful song, but record execs didn’t put it out as a single because it didn’t sound like the R.E.M. we’re used to. So I asked Michael Stipe if I could have the tapes to do a remix, and he agreed. – Lukas Haas
Lee Ranaldo Signing to a major, there weren’t many bands from our sphere that were doing it. I mean, obviously R.E.M. had done it, and Husker Du and the Replacements had done it, and maybe Soul Asylum, but that was probably about it. Those four bands were pretty much the only ones from that milieu that had signed to a major. – Lee Ranaldo
Kate Pierson With ‘Love Shack,’ once we put that chorus in, it did have more of a song structure. Even though the verses are all kind of different, the chorus was there along with ‘The Love Shack’ – I think that really made it a hit. Once we heard it in the studio, we played it for R.E.M., and they were like, ‘Yes this is a hit.’ – Kate Pierson
Karan Mahajan After a post-Bill Berry softening with albums like ‘Up’ and ‘Reveal,’ R.E.M. seems to be toughening up again; on the strength of the first single, ‘Discoverer,’ the band’s new record looks to continue with the same muscular rock and roll that defined its last album, ‘Accelerate.’ – Karan Mahajan
