I’m always fascinated by how music groups come together, make their own special brand of music, and handle the success and fame that comes with it. The Name of This Band is R.E.M.: A Biography (2024) presents the history of a band who stayed together for 30+ years. Peter Ames Carlin interviews many key figures around R.E.M. and shares the stories of the band’s successes…and mistakes.
Four college friends – Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry – banded together in the Spring of 1980 to play their very first performance at a college party in Athens, Georgia. That led to a record contract with a small record company, I.R.S. Records, and five albums later, R.E.M. was one of the top bands in the U.S. In 1988, R.E.M. then signed with Warner Records and their album sales soared!
Although the 1990s was a transition period for the band, R.E.M. managed to continue to build their audience, to tour internationally, and to increase sales. Are you a fan of R.E.M.? Do you have a favorite R.E.M. song? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: The Things They Wouldn’t Do — 1
Part I The Music of Dissent
1 Super Fucking Famous — 13
2 Birdland — 16
3 Bad Habits — 27
4 An Oasis for Artists and Misfits — 33
5 Dance This Mess Around — 39
6 Let’s Make a Band — 44
7 Don’t Rock ‘n’ Roll, No! — 49
8 A Party in the Church — 60
Part II “We’re Still Laughing. It’s a Real Shock.”
9 Picture James Brown Fronting the Dave Clark Five — 69
10 We Weren’t Really Close in a Lot of Ways — 77
11 Hey, He Really Knows His Shit! — 87
12 A Certain Amount of Chaos — 93
13 Sit and Try for the Big Kill — 101
14 Lots of Impressive First-Time Songs — 108
15 Wolves Out the Door — 115
16 Chronic Town, Poster Torn — 124
17 Murmuring — 129
18 R.E.M. Submits — 136
19 A Collective Fist — 144
Part III This One Goes Out
20 Here We Are — 155
21 My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord — 162
22 Shadowfax — 167
23 So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star — 172
24 Gravity Pulling Me Around — 178
25 A Magic Kingdom, Open-Armed — 187
26 What If We Give It Away? — 196
27 Life’s Rich Demand — 206
28 Things We Never Thought Would Happen Have Happened — 212
29 Conquest — 222
Part IV The Monster
30 Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi — 235
31 Are You Ready to Rock ‘n’ Roll? — 241
32 The Fever — 251
33 A Breath, This Song — 257
34 Near Wild Heaven — 262
35 Shiny Happy — 270
36 The Most Improbably Successful Group in Music Today — 277
37 These Are Days — 284
38 Does Everyone Still Want to Do This? — 295
39 Enter the Monster — 308
40 Did Someone Put a Curse on Us? — 319
Part V The Name of This Band Is R.E.M. and This Is What We Do
41 How the West Was Won…– 333
42 …And Where It Got Us — 342
43 I’m Outta Here — 350
44 Airportmen — 359
45 The Name of This Band Is R.E.M — 368
46 The Murmurers — 375
47 This Is Going to Be Loud — 384
48 It Was What It Was — 392
49 Let’s All Get On with It — 401
Acknowledgments — 411
Notes — 415
Bibliography — 427
Index — 429
GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
| Man On The Moon | 5:14 | ||
| The Great Beyond | 5:07 | ||
| Bad Day | 4:08 | ||
| What’s The Frequency Kenneth? | 4:01 | ||
| All The Way To Reno | 4:46 | ||
| Losing My Religion | 4:29 | ||
| E-Bow The Letter | 5:26 | ||
| Orange Crush | 3:53 | ||
| Imitation Of Life | 3:58 | ||
| Daysleeper | 3:40 | ||
| Animal | 4:03 | ||
| The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite | 4:08 | ||
| Stand | 3:12 | ||
| Electrolite | 4:07 | ||
| All The Right Friends | 2:48 | ||
| Everybody Hurts | 5:19 | ||
| At My Most Beautiful | 3:36 | ||
| Nightswimming | 4:18 | ||
| Rarities And B-Sides | |||
| Pop Song ’89 (Acoustic) | 2:59 | ||
| Turn You Inside Out | 4:18 | ||
| Fretless | 4:51 | ||
| Chance (Dub) | 2:35 | ||
| It’s A Free World Baby | 5:14 | ||
| Drive (Live) | 4:01 | ||
| Star Me Kitten | 3:31 | ||
| Revolution | 3:05 | ||
| Leave (Alt. Version) | 4:43 | ||
| Why Not Smile (Alt. Version) | 3:02 | ||
| The Lifting (Demo) | 5:22 | ||
| Beat A Drum (Demo) | 4:29 | ||
| 2JN | 3:28 | ||
| The One I Love (Live) | 3:26 | ||
| Country Feedback (Live) | 6:17 | ||
| Bad Day |
