R.E.M.

It's been close to three months since the break up of R.E.M. One of my favorite bands in high school and too this day and age . The announcement came September 21st from the bands website they were "calling it a day as a band". I didn't really know what to think. Very few bands have had the kind of impact on me they have. Ramones, Stereolab, Housemartins, The Smiths, Radiohead and of course R.E.M. are the most important bands in the world, at least according to me.

I remember hearing them as a young child during th earlier days of MTV. The video for So. Central Rain would play somewhat regularly. Of course I was 8 at the time and this kind of music had no effect on me. Fast forward to 1991 and Out of Time is hitting record store shelves and Losing My Religion is on regular rotation on every radio station and MTV. I am in junior high school and this band pretty much takes over my life and influences the way I look at rock music from there on in.

I go out of course and buy every record, single and import I could find of them. I was obsessed. Today I look at Out of Time a different way than I did then. I still love it, but prefer Murmur and Reckoning over anything else they have done.

When I heard of the break up my heart sunk. I was just about to leave work for home when my wife sent me an article of the break up. That ride home I sat and thought about all the great R.E.M. moments. They sure had a lot of great ones, from Michael Stipe singing a duet with 10,000 Maniacs on LuLu's To SIr With Love to the MTV Unplugged to their work with the late Warren Zevon in the Hindu Love Gods to Peters chiming guitar on Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians Perspex Island to every Saturday Night Live performance.

I was pleased to hear they were going to put out the Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982 - 2011 collection. A career spanning collection which I have to say fell short of my expectations. Of course I always say "I should've put that collection, it could have been so much better". The reality is if I did that it would not have fit on 2 discs. 4, maybe 6 disc set. My idea when doing a career spanning collection is to dig deeper. B-sides, odd takes, live cuts. But I guess that isn't geared toward those kinds of fans anway. So it does the job for everyone that has heard them on the radio over the years and comes with three tracks recorded before the break up.

I will still miss this band and look forward to anything they may do in the future.