R.E.M split up

I always thought that announced "split ups" were a bit silly - most bands do it at some point but barring deaths they usually re-unite at least temporarily.

Obviously REM will play together again someday. "Indefinite hiatus" is a more apt term.

REM: good band.

 

My wife will be crushed.

 

True. But I'd be shocked if they never played again. I think what this announcement means is that they won't be recording together as REM anymore.

 

Good- they had a long run. Maybe they'll do some interesting solo or production work.

 

"The Eagles will play together again 'when hell freezes over'." -Don Henley, 1980.

"For the record, we never broke up, we just took a 14-year vacation." -Glenn Frey, 1994.

They may play together again, or maybe not. Crowded House called it a day in 1996. It wasn't until Paul Hester's death in 2007, that Neil Finn took stock of things, and decided he wanted to play in a band again after 11 years of solo work. So Crowded House started up again.

In short, never say never.

BL.

 

R.i.p. R.e.m.

 

R.E.M. will be high school and college to me. Good music, good memories.

/Raises glass.

 

Confucius say: Even shiny happy people die eventually.

 

It's about time.

 

Now how would the Rolling Stones feel about that comment

 

Uh oh overflow!

 

Yeah, well, when was the last time REM made the news?

I mean, "We're splitting up! No more! Never again! Done! Finished forever and evermore!" just gets more press than, "[size=-2]You know, we're out of new ideas and aren't planning on touring or releasing anything anytime soon, so don't hold your breath, thanks.[/size]"

It's not like being in a band means you actually have to show up every morning at 8:00.

 

Am I the only one that didn't realize they were still together?

 

You and me both. I thought they broke up when the drummer left or was kicked out.

They had a few good songs.

 

Sad for me...as they where one of my all-time favorite bands. Breakup was probably overdue...but what an amazing 31 year run. Glad to hear that they did it on their own terms...amicable...no bickering. That said...I don't think Peter Buck's heart has been into it for a good 10 years...and the music suffered.

The run from Chronic Town through Document is one of the greatest rock album runs out there.

 

Another good 80s-"ish" band calls it a day. I find some parallels between this development and that of another band popular in the 80s and early 90s, New Order. NO recently called it quits in amicable fashion as well, and long after one of the band members left (in New Order's case, keyboardist Gillian Gilbert).

Oh, and in response to obeygiant:
Leonard Bernstein!

 

Murmur is my favorite.

Stipe IMO is a great poet.

 

Great memories of seeing these guys in Chapel Hill

 

My favorite band. Their recent stuff is not as great as early and mid-career, still every album has some great songs (e.g. Sad Professor)

 

The reportedly poor sales of the 'collapse into now' album no doubt contributed to this....

Automatic for the People, Out of Time & New Adventures in Hi-Fi are my favorites, with UP & Reveal shortly behind.

 

No Surprise considering the sales of their last album. Think in 5-10yrs some marketing genius will hype some reunion concert shows and they'll get together just to play the old hits.

 

I am glad to see them call it quits. After Bill Berry left, they just weren't the same and I couldn't get into the music.

They gave us tons of amazing music though.

 

Sad to see them call it quits, but they had a good run. I tend to listen to heavier music these days, but they were the band that got me into music when I was a kid, and though I don't listen to them as much as I used to, every time I do I'm still blown away by how talented they are. I think all bands [if they manage not to implode first] eventually reach a point where they tire of touring and promotion. I guess they just reached that point. But I'm sure we'll hear from them in the future. Michael seems to be busy with his production company and art, and I'm sure Mike and Peter will have a go at producing other bands. 30 years is a pretty incredible achievement though. I honestly can't see many of todays indie bands lasting that long. It seems like a lot of them are discarded for the new Pitchfork/NME flavour of the month before their third album has dropped.