R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by lead singer Michael Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist/backing vocalist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. were noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style, Stipe's particular vocal quality, and Mills' melodic basslines and backing vocals. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.
By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Stipe, Buck, and Mills continued the group as a trio. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success, despite having sold more than 85 million records worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. R.E.M. disbanded amicably in September 2011, announcing the split on its website.
Links To Peel[]
Peel was generally not a fan of the band's music. On his 25 July 1989 show, before playing the Butthole Surfers cover of R.E.M.'s The One I Love, he gave listeners his verdict on the original:
"And these are the Butthole Surfers from their double live semi official LP and their version of an R.E.M. song which you know and love, hate in my case."
He explained more about his thinking on the band in a 1987 NME interview:
"Everyone was warning me I’d get left behind if I didn’t pick up on all the new breed of American guitar bands - REM and The Long Ryders - but to me, that was just the same old thing. Dressed up a bit but just as boring. I didn’t want to listen to it and (emphatically) I certainly didn’t want to play it on my show."[1]
On his 28 October 1989 (BFBS) show, Peel mentioned that the previous week his producer Phil had compared one of Edsel Auctioneer's songs to R.E.M.:
"I should like to be able to tell you that he's now buried in a shallow grave at the side of the A45 road, but alas he's grinning sheepishly in the decompression chamber next to this studio."
In the 90's, Peel remained less than enthusiastic about R.E.M.'s music. On his Peel 181 (BFBS) show in 1991, he was still puzzled by the band's success:
"I mean, I don't hate 'em or anything, and I listen to the records and they sound kind of OK but that's all, but the reviews! People are like, 'LP Of The Year,' 10 stars, y'know, 11 stars, that kind of stuff: people just go quite insane about it. I really don't see it, it's one of those things that's a great mystery to me, like the Stone Roses and U2 and so forth, in every generation. The most successful bands tend to be the ones I don't like or whose appeal is a mystery to me."
In 1993, Peel did play a few R.E.M. tracks, although only while filling in for Jakki Brambles on her daytime show.
In 1997, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck did a joint session with Mark Eitzel on Peel's show.
In 1998 Peel had the band do a session for his show and explained on his 23 November 1998 (BFBS) why he did this:
"Tonight actually, when I go into London to do my programmes for the BBC, we've got a session from R.E.M.. They're not a band whose records I play a lot, but you know when they come up on the radio I quite like 'em, and I saw them on television the other day and they looked really good, and our Flossie's always been really keen on them, and they are of course one of the best-selling bands on the planet. They actually got in touch with us and said, "We'd really like to do a Peel session," so I'm quite knocked out with that."
Even after the session, however, the band still did not get any airplays on his shows, except for the track 'Losing My Religion' in 2004, remixed by SFB and renamed 'Abusing My Religion'.
After Peel's death, R.E.M. paid tribute in 2005 covering the Undertones Teenage Kicks, Peel's all time favourite song, while doing a gig in Belfast. [2]
Two of R.E.M.'s early 80's albums (Fables Of The Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant) were later found in Peel's record collection (see Record Collection: R).
Sessions[]
- R.E.M.
The session is available on R.E.M. At The BBC (8xCD/DVD box, 2018, Craft Recordings) and Live It Up (CD, Unofficial Release, 1999, Silk Purse Music).
1. Recorded: 1998-10-25. Broadcast: 17 November 1998
- Walk Unafraid / Day Sleeper / Lotus / At My Most Beautiful
- Peter Buck & Mark Eitzel
Recorded live: 1997-06-19. Broadcast: 19 June 1997
- Fresh Screwdriver / Old Photographs / Frozen / Helium / Free Of Harm
Live[]
- 26 June 1999: Live set from Glastonbury.
- Daysleeper
- The One I Love
- At My Most Beautiful
- Losing My Religion
- Everybody Hurts
- Walk Unafraid
- Finest Worksong
- Man On The Moon
Other Shows Played[]
SFB feat. R.E.M - Abusing My Religion
- 1986
- 20 October 1986: Superman (LP - Lifes Rich Pageant) I.R.S. (Kershaw sits in for Peel)
- 03 November 1986: Superman (LP - Lifes Rich Pageant) I.R.S. (Kershaw sits in for Peel)
- 04 November 1986: Hyena (LP - Lifes Rich Pageant) I.R.S. (Kershaw sits in for Peel)
- 1993
- 06 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): Everybody Hurts (single) Warner Bros.
- 07 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): Losing My Religion (single) Warner Bros.
- 09 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles): Everybody Hurts (single) Warner Bros.
- 2004
- 09 March 2004: Abusing My Religion (Maxi: Abusing My Religion) S.F.B. Remixes