All language subtitles for Rem By Mtv (2014) [1080p] YIFY - YTS

- I think we probably
Have the capacity

To write a hit song,

To record it in a way

That radio would really
Accept it with open arms,

And that a record company

Could really get
The machine going behind it,

And we could be incredibly rich
And--you know, people

All around the country
Would recognize our names.

I'm not willing to do that.

I don't that radio
Deserves me yet.

[R.E.M.'s orange crush]

♪ ♪

- ♪ follow me,
Don't follow me ♪

- ♪ i've got my spine,
I've got my orange crush ♪

- ♪ collar me,
Don't collar me ♪

- ♪ i've got my spine,
I've got my orange crush ♪

- ♪ we are agents
Of the free ♪

- ♪ i've had my fun ♪

♪ and now it's
Time to serve ♪

♪ your conscience overseas ♪
- ♪ over me not over me ♪

- ♪ he's coming in fast
Over me ♪

♪ high on the roof ♪

♪ thin the blood ♪

♪ another one
On the waves tonight ♪

♪ coming in,
You're home ♪

[applause]

- yup, you got a good reception
Over there.

Now, it's peter buck?

- yup.
- now, peter...

Introduce the members
Of the band.

- this is mike mills.
He's the bass player.

Bill berry, the drummer.
- yup.

- michael stipe, the singer.
And me, peter buck.

[r.E.M.'s carnival of sorts
(box cars)]

♪ ♪

- ♪ there's a secret stigma
Reaping wheel ♪

♪ stranger stranger
To these parts ♪

- did you know each other
Before you started the band?

How did you get together?
- not really.

We met at parties.

That--we didn't know
Each other very well.

- he and i do.

- we were
High school buddies.

- we went to the same
Junior high school.

We were just the antithesis
Of each other,

And we really
Did despise each other.

I mean, it's like we just
Took one look at each other

And it was like--

And as it turned out,
We didn't know this,

But we had a mutual friend,
A guitarist,

That lined up
A jam session one day,

And who should walk
Down the steps but mike mills,

And it's like, "oh, god,"
And to this day

If i had to play the clarinet
Or the guitar,

I would have packed up
My stuff and left,

But here i looked at the drums
Like, "oh, boy.

I'm stuck here
And it's his house."

So we made
The best of it

And played and had
A fun little jam session,

And we just--we
Got over it right then.

We just shook hands
And said, "look,

Let's put this
In the past."

And we became best friends,
And we still are.

- what's happening there
In athens, georgia?

- well, nothing, and everyone
Wants to do something.

You know, form a band,
Go to a party.

- peter and i were kind of
Toying around

With the idea of putting
Something together musically,

And he had never been
In a band before.

- pete was working
At the wuxtry record store,

Which is still the best store
In athens.

And michael went in there
Buying records, and they met.

- i think i called him richard
For the first three months

That we knew each other,

And, you know,
This is so typically peter.

He never corrected me.

- he was kind
Of an exotic character,

Michael was.

Had good musical taste,

And we became friends.

- well, if athens
Wasn't the way it was,

We probably
Wouldn't have gotten together.

- athens was influential in
That there were

And there still are a lot
Of people there that kind

Of have this
Need to have

Some kind
Of creative output.

- it was a typical athens story,
You know?

Four guys meet at a party
And want to play other parties

And drink beer and have fun.

- the night we met mike,

He had maybe been
Over-served at the bar,

And he was wearing
A leather jacket

And sitting on the ground
And yelling

'cause he wanted to get up
To the bar to get to his drink.

- and he was like,
"this is the guy who plays bass

Who i was telling you about."
I was like, "no, way.

"no way i'm gonna be--
I'm not even gonna get on--

"i'm not gonna be in a band
With this guy.

There's no way on earth."

- instantaneously--
Within, like, an hour,

We were a band.
- wow.

- you know,
It wasn't even an audition.

So we went over and play,
And we wrote three songs,

And we just went, "what?"
- boy.

- "we're a band."

- we had a couple of songs

That bill and i
Had written back in macon

With a friend of ours...
- yeah.

- and so we showed them
To michael and peter,

And i remember being
Incredibly impressed with

What they did with
Our little basis of a song.

Both of them.

And i was like, "man, these guys
Can take it other places."

- you--i heard that you
Got together initially

Just to play one party.

Is that right?
- we lived at a church,

Michael and i, in athens.

It was
An old abandoned church,

And we threw a party
For someone, a birthday party.

- right now this looks like
A decrepit abandoned old church,

But ten years ago, it was
A decrepit abandoned old church,

But with r.E.M. Inside of it.

- and the church had a little
Proscenium in the back.

You'd have to climb
Through a closet to get to it,

And it was a stage.

Holes in the stage and holes
That fell down half a story

To the dirt basement
Where the graves were.

- we just wrote ten songs
And got ten covers,

And played for a friend of our's
Birthday party.

- we let people know
That it was going on.

We had kegs of beer and,
Like, 700 people showed up.

Lots of free beer
And a free show?

That's kind of an impetus
To enjoy the band,

And three of the people
That showed up

Were booking agents
From clubs,

And all of 'em were just
Like, "you guys want a job?"

And we're like,
"you're kidding."

- athens was so totally
Unselfconscious

At that time that people--
You know, you could do anything

And nobody would
Think twice about.

No idea that there was actually
A scene going on.

- it was real innocent;
I've never seen a place

Where there was less attention
To things like career.

You know, maybe you'd have
A fire eater open for a band.

We had a guy
That juggled chainsaws once.

It was real non-rock and roll,
In that anything goes.

- yeah.
- you know?

And a lot of people
That were in bands

Couldn't play at all,
You know?

And they were learning.
It was--it was really exciting.

- none of us really
Had that much experience.

I think that's really
What the greatest thing

We had going
For us.

We had just absolutely no idea
What was going on.

- you really played the clubs
And all that down there.

- bikers bars,
Pizza parlors.

Any place
That would let a band play.

We played more
New wave nights

And gay discos
Than any band i could name.

It was pretty interesting
Actually.

It was more fun
Than most the dates we played.

- that's a proving ground.

- basically we were just playing
Around athens.

Then we decided, "well,
You know, let's go to atlanta.

You know? Try that."
It was starting to work.

So we started booking tours
Around the southeast,

And we'd start them
On, like, friday.

So we'd take
Friday off of school,

And maybe
The next monday, too,

And that started
Turning into thursday

All to the next tuesday,

And eventually we were all doing
Quite poorly in school,

And more than one of us

Was invited
To actually leave school.

- we finally started to realize
That we might be

Able to actually
Make a living at it,

And that was a revelation
In itself.

We did go out
And play everywhere

And anywhere
That we could.

A lot of little towns
Where no bands ever went.

And when normally
The only rock and roll

They could ever see
Was the big arena shows.

- we were actually playing
In real little places,

And people
Were seeing us.

We were probably the first band
Some of those people saw

Who didn't have
A record contract

And that didn't do,
Like,

The hits of the day
In the local disco or whatever.

- we were just, like,
Speed freaks, you know?

And the faster we could go,
The better,

And the faster we could play,
The better,

And the more we could cram
Into every day, the better.

We just wanted
To get in the van

And see the u.S.
Like jack kerouac did.

♪ gardening at night ♪

♪ gardening at night ♪

♪ gardening at night ♪

- with does r.E.M.
Stands for?

- well, if you look
In the dictionary,

It means rapid eye movement,

And that's the time
When you dream,

When you're asleep.

Our name doesn't necessarily
Have to mean that.

- we found it in a dictionary
At 3:00 in the morning,

And we were desperate
For a name.

We couldn't think
Of anything.

That would just seem
Not to offend anyone,

And it was very short
And simple, so we picked it.

- we wanted a name
That wouldn't put us

In any particular category
Musically,

And at the time when we
Got together four years ago,

Bands pretty much didn't have
Names that were just letters.

- we spent, you know,
A year and a half writing--

Kind of writing
Abc elementary songs

Getting ourselves ready to
Figure out how to write music.

- all of a sudden
We were writing songs

That actually
We really were proud of.

- we recorded
Radio free europe.

We put it on that
Little label hib-tone.

Within, gee, a month,
It was like, you know,

top ten single of the year
In new york times, and you know,

It's just kind of--you know,
You just kind of go,

"well, whatever."

- ♪ calling on in transit ♪

♪ calling on in transit ♪

♪ radio free europe,
Radio ♪

- i've been listening
To your music for a long time,

And i really like it,
But i still am having trouble

Trying
To figure out your lyrics.

Is there any way, like,

You know, you can get a copy
Of them or something?

- we don't hand out
Copies of the lyrics.

- it's 'cause they change
Every time we play.

- yeah, they're always changing.
They're--

- but you--
- we're kind of against that.

The words to the songs

Are as much a part
Of the song as the bass,

And there's no reason

Really to separate the two.

- ideally you should just
Listen to the songs

And just intuitively feel
What they're about.

Get your own impression
Of the songs rather than kind

Of being beaten on the head
By a story or something.

- well, what i was saying in the
Early days wasn't a real lot.

I was kind of just moaning and
Howling along with the music.

You know, language, to me,
And music really don't mix well.

- there have been times
When i have not known

What he was talking
About exactly,

But usually i don't bother
To ask

Because one way or another,

They conjure up
Very strong images in my mind.

- i had just heard of r.E.M.

Because i'd seen
A poster for 'em at a club,

And i had some idea from the way
The poster looked that they

Were, like, this sort of
Electronica band, you know?

So they just came to my house,
And i still was thinking that,

And then of course i discover
They had this total disdain

For the production of the era,
Which was kind of cool,

'cause i was really just
Starting to record stuff myself,

But i really enjoyed any way you
Can be contrary about it all,

And they were
Very contrary.

- we hired
Mitch easter to do

what became
The chronic town ep,

And we were gonna
Put it out ourselves.

We started getting interest,

And we were all interested
In i.R.S. Records

Because they had
The buzzcocks,

The go-go's,
The fleshtones.

- we wanted two things

Once we started
Approaching the business,

Or the business
Starting approaching us.

We wanted to
Never be in debt,

And we wanted to have total
Control over everything we did.

I.R.S. Was the perfect company
For that

Because they wouldn't spend
Any money on anybody anyway.

[chuckles]

- when i signed r.E.M.,

My own--half the people
At i.R.S. Thought that,

You know,
"what are you smoking, man?"

It's just like,
"this guy can't sing.

You can't understand
A [...] word he's saying."

I love the fact

That you see something
You think is great

And you have this vision
That they will evolve

And the marketplace will one day
Appreciate that they're great.

- ♪ in a corner garden ♪

♪ wilder lower wolves ♪

- their whole theory was when
You get on the road and tour,

We're not gonna
Spend tons of money

On the promotion, the press,
Or videos.

You're just gonna work, and
We felt really good with that.

We got our e.P. Out
Within three months

And used it as a platform
To go on the road.

- we had a picture
In our head

Of where we wanted to go
With the first record.

I knew which songs
Were gonna be on it.

I knew what kind of instruments
And all that.

- i was really shy
About my voice,

So we brought
My vocal way down,

And in 1983, you know,

Every song you heard,

Every popular song had--

The drums were
The loudest thing,

And so we turned
The drums way down

Because we didn't want
To be a disco band.

We didn't want
To be radio stuff.

So we turned
The drums way down.

We turned
The vocal way down.

Everything else came up,

and we dumped a lot of reverb
On it, and that was murmur.

♪ talk about the passion ♪

♪ talk about the passion ♪

- when murmur
Came out and sold,

I guess,
100,000, 125,000 copies,

That was--
That was huge.

I mean, that was much more

Than i think ourselves or i.R.S.
Records ever expected it to do.

- it was named the record
Of the year by rolling stone.

record of the year over
Michael jackson's thriller.

- getting named
Album of the year

When there were other
Very, very commercial records

In the marketplace
Was like, "what?"

I mean, like, kind of,
Like, hard to believe.

- that was a little bit
Of a wakeup call for me.

Like,
"what on earth is this?"

- i think that the way
The record got made

Was us two producing it,

And i was never
Totally sat well, you know,

With the--back at
The authority's headquarters

And stuff, and the fact that
This record that had been made

Sort of in a secret with them
Kind of feeling like,

"oh, well we've thrown
This one away," you know?

Doing so well was kind of like,
"yeah." you know?

It's kind of like now that's...
- now that's truth.

- little minor revenge
Against the sort

Of standardized thinking...
- the man.

- about who has to produce
A record and all that, you now?

And the kind of record
You have to make.

- murmur has a real kind of
Flannery o'connor feel to me,

And i don't know why.
- and the thing--

- all i have is kudzu.

- people don't know
What kudzu is.

- this is what takes
Over the south.

- does it make you feel
At home at all

By seeing
Some of that stuff?

- this kind of pulls at my heart
Like--like i can't tell you.

I really feel
Like i'm at home now.

- well, none of them
Are actually born in the south.

- yeah.
- you know?

They're seen as the--right
Up there with stonewall jackson,

And i think--i don't think any
Of 'em are born there, you know?

- as far as being
A southern band goes,

whoever the guy that writes
For the village voice

That keeps saying that we may
As well be from chicago,

You know,
He's really wrong.

I mean, if he's expecting
Cowboy hats and spurs

And really twangy vocals,

If that's his idea of
Southern, then he's kind of--

He's really wrong.
- ♪ did you never call? ♪

♪ i waited for your call ♪

♪ these rivers
Of suggestion ♪

♪ are driving me away ♪

- reckoning we recorded
And mixed very fast

so that we wouldn't try
To make murmur part ii.

- you know, we'd go in there
And we'd just knock out

The basic tracks on first
Or second take, all of 'em,

And--
- no matter how bad he plays.

- exactly.

- ♪ i'm sorry ♪

♪ i'm sorry ♪

♪ i'm sorry ♪

♪ i'm sorry ♪

- you know,
We did reckoning in 11 days,

Recorded and mixed it,

And i don't think
Any of us slept that whole time.

It was really insane.

- michael was starting to
Withdraw a little bit.

We did make sure
Michael was in a place

Where he could be
Completely free of any sense

Of people prying on him
Or pressure to perform.

Those were problems,

And those were things that we
Had to address as a--real issues

In terms of
Making a record.

- i was fasting
The whole time.

Those guys were drunk the whole
Time, and it was crazy,

And i was drunk, too, actually,
Near the end,

'caused i couldn't take
The fast anymore.

I think i broke it
With beer.

- if you lived in new york
Or los angeles, you know,

You'd hear whatever's hot
And have to listen to it,

And in athens, you know,
It kind of all drifts by

And you can pick out
What you want to listen to.

So it's--we just have
This real amalgamated style.

- when i first started out,
It's--everyone, you know,

Is like the post punk days,

And everyone was playing
Big stacks and marshalls,

And it was like the ramones,
And i loved all that,

But i just didn't really feel
That that was me.

I didn't want to wear a leather
Jacket and be like them,

And i tended to go for something
A little bit more folky

And pastoral
Or whatever, i mean,

As far as guitar playing.

- what kind of music
Do you consider yourself making?

- rock and roll,
I guess.

You know--
- pure rock and roll?

- if you come up with a really
Good phrase, we'll use it.

We haven't found one
That suits us yet.

We used to say folk rock
A long time ago.

- till everybody
Else started saying it.

- before the folk rock revival
Happened,

And then all of a sudden
There was a folk rock revival,

And it was like,
"oh, my god.

We're part
Of a movement."

- have you got
A good expression for it?

Rock and roll, is that is?
- rock and roll, yes.

- rock and roll.
Yeah.

I mean, really--there really
Isn't--i get--

Everyone's always trying
To pin labels on everyone else,

I guess,
But it's rock and roll.

[dissident guitar playing]

♪ ♪

- 1985 was probably
The hardest year

That the band had.

- we were
Overworking ourselves,

And definitely
Underpaying ourselves.

I mean, we were making
$140 each a month.

- why were things so dark
Around the time of fables?

Can you elaborate at all?

- oh, the weather.
- weather.

- we went into the studio
In london,

Which was
A massive mistake.

We were there in,
I think march,

And it was miserable.

It was cold.
It was snowing.

- now london's a pretty dull
Place actually,

If you're--you know,

Unless you know all the hot
Spots, so it was basically--

- and we're pretty dull boys.
- yeah.

It was just plod into the studio
And do it,

And plod back home.

- when we recorded
That album,

It was a very rough time
For us as a band.

We weren't sure
That we wanted to continue

Doing what we were doing.

- ♪ time and distance ♪

♪ are out of place here ♪

- it was seemingly maybe
The end.

- it wasn't so much tension
Between us.

It was just general tension.

I mean,
None of us were very happy,

And, you know,
We kind of said,

"well, we'll just work
Our way through it."

- well, to say
We got on each other's nerves

Is probably
An understatement.

- well, we almost broke up,

But instead we put out
This record

That is incredibly dark
And kind of very introverted,

And not at all--

It's just very kind
Of constrictive.

- even by that point we'd been
Through enough adversity

To know that, "okay.

Well, we can weather this.

"let's just
Make this record,

"and we'll--you know,
We'll do it again.

It's not the end
Of the world."

- but everything
I think is gonna be successful

Is not successful,

And every time i think something
Is really going down the toilet

It goes right to number one.

- right now there's a lot
Of bands out there

Sweating over
Who's number one.

Well, i don't know what to tell
You other than the truth.

r.E.M.'s fables of the
Reconstruction is number one.

You did it,
R.E.M. You're number one.

Even the south can't rise
Any higher than that!

- whoo!

[r.E.M.'s can't get there
From here]

♪ ♪

♪ when the world
Is a monster ♪

♪ bad to swallow
You whole ♪

♪ no kick the clay
That holds-- ♪

- you're listening
To wrsu fm,

New brunswick,
Rutgers university,

and here is r.E.M.
With the carnival of sorts.

They were one
Of the first bands that was,

Like, broken almost entirely
On college radio,

And it--it's sort of true.

You heard a few
Of the songs

On regular
Mainstream radio,

You know,
Over and over again possibly,

But for the most part,
They were college radio,

And so i think it's neat

That they're going around
And touring the colleges.

- spring concerts are
One way for students

To ease the pressure
Of oncoming final exams,

And r.E.M. Is
One band that students

Have no trouble relating to.

- ♪ i'm sorry ♪

♪ i'm sorry ♪

- college radio really did kind
Of make r.E.M., i mean,

They picked up on us when all
The big radio stations

And all
The big record stores

Really didn't want
To have that much to do with us.

- i mean, we've always
Done really well at colleges,

And, you know, college
Radio's been real supportive,

But i don't know
Why we picked up more fans

There than anywhere else.

- it's one of three things.

They have more leisure time,
More money,

Or they take more drugs,

And i haven't decided
Which one.

Both: more leisure time.

- i think probably one
Really good thing about r.E.M.

Is that we could maybe
Be defined as a common voice,

And it's something
That most people

That are in college right now
Are the same age that we are,

And they can maybe pick up
On the songs

Faster or better than maybe
People in other age groups

Or people who aren't going
To college, i don't know.

I would say that they
Can kind of take the songs

And make them their own.

I certainly don't think
That r.E.M. Has spear-headed or,

You know, been the leader
Of any kind

Of revolution in music,
You know, in american music.

I mean, that's ridiculous
To even think about.

There are a lot more college
Radios--

- sorry.
- these are nerds.

- these are nerds;
This is what you've been hearing

The entire time.

- i don't think
Anything is important, but--

- as far as we're concerned.
- this is fun,

And it's enjoyable, and,

You know,
It's good experience,

But as far as important,

I can't think of anything
That's really important.

- [laughs]

- we don't live
To be a critic's band.

We don't strive
To be a critic's band.

We don't strive
To be a band, hardly.

We just kind of are here.

- you know, the four members
Of r.E.M. Approach their craft

With a purity of vision
That's really rare

In the commercial jungle
Of the music industry.

They're remarkably free
Of either cliche or pretense.

Now, as a musician myself,

I can say that
There are times

When we play just
For the sheer fun of it.

Now r.E.M. Have that spirit,

So here they are enjoying
What they really do best.

- ♪ the walls are built up
Stone by stone ♪

♪ the fields divided
One by one ♪

♪ and the train conductor says
Take a break, driver 8 ♪

♪ driver 8 take a break ♪

♪ we've been
On this shift too long ♪

- i would just sit around with
Guitars, usually peter and i,

And just play things until
Something useful comes out.

If nothing useful comes out we'd
Try it again the next night,

But that's what we were doing
The night was ju--was--

That's how we write songs.

It's kind of a brainstorming
Hit-or-miss process

That you just play and do

Everything you can think of
Until something good comes out.

- ♪ buy the sky
And sell the sky ♪

♪ and bleed the sky
And tell the sky ♪

♪ don't fall on me ♪

♪ don't fall on me ♪

- we've written
Quite a few hit records.

We didn't record 'em to be hit
Records, so they weren't.

- i was kind of, like--

Almost like the record company
To these guys.

They were a little afraid
Of what i might believe in.

- it's just like a review

I read not too long
Ago that says that don has

Little tolerance for anything
That doesn't advance the song

Or make the song better,

And yet he works real well
With us in that sense.

- i thought
They could be a radio band,

And this idea
Scared them to death.

- and do you think
People were, like,

Wondering if you were
Trying to break out

Of some kind of cult status
Working with--you know,

Like you were maybe going
For a hit this time around?

- ♪ answer me a question
I can't itemize ♪

♪ i can't think clear,
Look to me for reason ♪

♪ it's not there ♪

♪ i can't even rhyme ♪

♪ begin the begin ♪

- stipe would take the track
Away, stay up all night,

Run around to some quarry
Out in the boonies,

And come back with a set
Of lyrics the next day

Called "hyena"
Or whatever it was.

- i hope that people
Are able to take a lot

Of the songs
On the record

And apply them
To their everyday life

And apply them to the things
That are weird.

- it's evocative,

But what is this?

I mean, how are you
Trying to connect?

- how would they apply it
To their own life?

- i would just--i would hope
That people would...

Hmm.
That's a hard one.

I can't get that specific,
Probably.

- and the discussion was, well,
I am not gonna write--

I think the word used
Was "banal."

Banal lyrics,

And it was
Just like, oomph.

- to me,
That typified what working

With the band
Was all about.

It was this rock wall

That you would run into that
Would be who r.E.M. Are,

And it was
A sacred place.

You really didn't
Go in there.

- he was the first person
To work with us in the studio

Who really questioned
What i was going on about,

And i admire him
For it now.

He made life hell for me
During the making of the record,

'cause it wasn't my job
To question what i was doing.

I just did it.
- what was that whole thing?

Laa-ti--
I mean, it wasn't laughing--

- it's just--it's a word.

- it is a word?
- it's a word.

It starts with an l,
And laughing starts with an l.

- i know.
- it's called alliteration,

I think, right?

Alliteration is
Where you use the same sound

Over and over again,

And i do that a lot.

Children do it a lot too.
Old people do it a lot.

Goo-goo.

- it was the first time
In my life that i worked

With people that didn't really
Communicate with words.

- people tend to think of us
As this mystic art band that,

You know--"please give us
Another record,"

When in fact we're--
You know,

We're just, like,
Four guys with whatever.

- whatever we are.
- speaking for myself

And for the band, a great deal
Of what we do is consciously--

Not consciously, but not
Thinking about what we do,

Because if you trust
Your intuitive sense,

Then you're gonna
Be able to pull through.

- they taught me that.

They taught me through
Their own very,

Very mysterious relationships
That they had together.

'cause they didn't talk about
How they were gonna do things.

Things just
Kind of happened.

- the title comes from
A pink panther film.

Inspector clouseau, he falls out
Of his car, falls in the car--

- [french accent] it is all part
Of life's rich pageant.

- yeah, and all these mistakes
Are part of life's rich pageant.

He can do the accent
Better than i can.

- i don't know;
We don't really like

To analyze
The creative process too much.

It's kind of scary. That's not
What we kind of want...

- yeah.

- we don't want to know.
- craft is one thing,

And we're pretty good at the
Crafting of the song, right?

- but inspiration's the most
Important part,

And you never know
When you're gonna be inspired.

- peter made one
Brilliant decision

At the beginning
Of this whole thing.

He decided that all the songs
Would be credited

Equally to all four of us...
- yeah.

- and i will confess
That at the time i

Thought that it was like, "well,
What if i write the song?

I want the credit for it."
You know?

- peter, who's slightly older
Than the other guys,

Has an encyclopedic knowledge
Of musical history,

And in peter's mind,
The thing that breaks bands up

Are arguments
Over songwriting credit.

- but as it worked out,

We all do write the songs,
You know?

- yeah.
- everybody comes up with--

With at least a quarter
Of every song, and--

And i know that that's been
A major thing

That has kept us from being
At each other's throats

Because--again,

Not to be crass or callus
About it, but that's where--

A lot of the money comes from,
Is the songwriting royalties,

And the fact that we're
All sharing in that equally...

- yeah.
- i think has definitely

Smoothed the way for things.

- we just made individual
Decisions one at a time.

We never really
Had a huge game plan.

We just did what felt
Right at the time.

- we kind of
Control ourselves,

But it's a kind
Of loose control.

Since we all vote,
It's a democracy.

No one of us can say,
"we're gonna do this.

We're gonna do it."
So we tend to kind

Of just wander
From place to place

As far as the decisions
We make, and so they

All have to be something that
We just are comfortable with,

But whatever integrity
We have it's just kind of--

Just 'cause we do what we do,
And it--you know, it's--

It's not really
A thought-out process.

Like, well,
We have to maintain this image.

We just-- we get up
In the morning

And you look in the mirror,
And this--

You know, you've got
To be happy about that.

- at this stage,
There was no secret.

This band was gonna be huge.

There was--
By this time,

All the hard work was about to
Pay off, and everyone knew it.

- i mean, i was hearing people
In offices that tell me

In los angeles a month

Before we cut the record that,
"well, this is the record

That's gonna make you
As big as u2."

You know, i was like,

"you haven't even heard
The songs yet; how do you know?

I mean, it might really stink."
We've been around long enough

So that the people

That we used to go into
Radio stations they'd say,

"sorry,
We can't play your records.

You don't fit in,"
Now we fit in.

- it's kind of like the music
Business and radio

And all that stuff
Has finally caught up with us.

It's not like
We're doing something

That's extraordinarily
Ahead of its time,

But it's taken them

The entire '80s to be able
To accept music

That's not kind
Of predisposed towards radio.

Uh-oh.

♪ that's great it starts
With an earthquake ♪

♪ birds and snakes
And aeroplanes ♪

♪ and lenny bruce
Is not afraid ♪

♪ eye of a hurricane
Listen to yourself churn ♪

♪ world serves its own needs,
Dummy serve your own needs ♪

♪ feed it off an aux speak,
Grunt, no, strength ♪

♪ ladder starts to clatter
With fear fight ♪

- you know, our last record,
Lifes rich pageant,

It did fairly well,
And--you know, it went gold.

Our first gold record.

We wanted to kind
Of capitalize on that success

By making a little bit more
Of a left field type album.

It's a little bit
More chaotic

And it addresses
Some political things

A little bit more directly maybe
Than we have in the past.

- ♪ it's the end of the world
As we know it and i feel fine ♪

[r.E.M.'s the one i love]

♪ ♪

♪ this one goes out
To the one i love ♪

- the fact that that became

Our first hit
Was just as much

Of a surprise to us
As anyone.

- ♪ this one goes out to
The one i've left behind ♪

♪ a simple prop ♪

- could you talk about
What the one i love is about?

- well, it's pretty evident.

It's right there, to me.

- i thought
It was really obvious that it

Was not a love song at all.

- ♪ fire ♪

- the one i love
Is a very vicious breakup song,

And it's very cold
And cruel.

- it was always kind of amusing
To play it in concerts.

You know, you start that song
And the guys

Would hug their girlfriend,
Kiss their girlfriend,

And it's like, "well,
You don't really understand,"

[chuckles]
And that's fine.

It doesn't matter.
I mean, it--you know,

Michael writes a song about
Whatever he thinks it's about,

And then whatever you think
It's about is what it's about.

You know?
There's--

We're not trying to beat
Anybody over the head

With message or meaning
Or anything like that.

It's--the best music is one

That you can take and adapt
To your own life

Or to your own experience,

And it has to mean
Something to you.

Whether--whatever it means to us
Is not nearly as important

As what it means to you.

- for me, it's about e-minor
To d to g to c.

- captain, i'm picking up
A transmission.

It appears to be from fans
Of the rock group r.E.M.,

Which originated
In athens, georgia.

- hm.

- dr. Mccoy's home state.

- r.E.M. Has a following
Somewhat like the grateful dead.

- well, yeah.
You know, i can see that.

We work in kind
Of the same way

Where we do exactly
What we want to.

We tour when we want to.

We've built a kind
Of real steady following

Of people
That are fairly fanatical.

I mean, musically we
Have nothing in common,

But i think that both bands
Create their own world

Around them,

And that's--

It's something that the fans
Kind of enter into also.

I mean, it's like you
Build your own community.

- it's a lot more people
Listening

To r.E.M. Than ever before.

I mean, it's almost doubled,
The people that are buying,

You know, just in one year.

I mean,
How do you figure that?

- it's kind of exciting
To talk about, you know,

"well, we're top ten," but,

you know, being on the cover
Of rolling stone

Wasn't, like, the pinnacle

Of my career or something
That i'm proud of.

You know?
It just happened.

You know,
All the success

And the getting big and all that
Doesn't really affect me,

Except that more people
Approach me on the street,

And...

You know,
That's kind of--that's bad.

- when the band
First started,

It was the joke
Of the band that--

'cause you never go--
You go everywhere and they go,

"well, who's the leader?"
And everyone would point at me,

And they'd go, "well,
It's his band,

'cause he's the biggest [...]
In the band," and,

You know, it--that was--

None of us ever
Wanted to be the spokesman.

Michael is the singer.

People look at him
And expect him to say things.

- the media
Has been kind of a monkey,

And it--sometimes it's funny
And sometimes it's pretty heavy.

You know? Here.

It was a really big leap

For me as a shy person
Just to present myself.

I mean,
I really knew that i--

You know, i really wanted to be
In the band and stuff, but,

You know, i had hair
That covered my face,

And i could hug myself in lots
Of layers of clothes,

And that was easy and fine
For a while,

But then, you know, people
Really did want to talk to me,

And they were sincere
About it.

- you know,
That's just a natural thing.

It's the lead singer
Who's gonna be

The front man of the band?
- sure.

- and he's come to terms
With that.

- i'm here
To talk to you tonight,

And you're going to listen.
- he enjoys it.

He enjoys the kind
Of challenge of, you know,

Manipulating the media
Or whatever.

- i would say that if there's
A motto that, you know--

That went--a motto

That went along with film,

That went along
With recording music,

That i've repeated to myself
Over and over again,

It would be courage...

Courage and clarity
And thought and statement

And intent and action.

- the three of us are kind of
Happy it's michael and not us.

Michael's been
On all these covers of magazines

And we haven't been,
And bill goes,

"man, if i wanted to be
On the cover of a magazine,

I wouldn't be a drummer."

- i would say as a band

We've certainly
Attained a great deal,

And things that we never thought
Would happen have happened,

And i would say that we're
At a real crossroads right now

In a lot of different ways.

All of them
I would say are very positive,

And, you know,

It's just a pop band
At the end of the day.

It's just a rock show
After all.

♪ ♪

I have a real knee-jerk side
To me about many big things,

And--but i don't--i don't think
That that applies

To, you know, my band at all.

I really don't.

- we had a lot of regard
For i.R.S. And the people there,

But we also realized we kind
Of hit the ceiling.

- ♪ your finest hour ♪

♪ ♪

- this contract--
- i know.

It's the talk of the town.

- everyone talks about it,
But i don't know.

It's kind of boring, really,
When it came down to it.

It was like, you know,

Six hoagie sandwiches
Piled up,

But it was made out of paper
Instead of cheese,

And we just kind of flipped
Through it and said,

"yeah, we're gonna sign it,"
And we did.

- but something like that
Is bound to have some sort

Of effect somewhere,
Isn't it?

At least in the way
People perceive you.

Obviously it does.

- i--you know,
I didn't stop being.

I didn't, you know,
Eat different things

For breakfast or--
- yeah.

- or whatever.

- you're not going out
And buying condos

Or anything, right?
- yeah.

A whole slew of them,
You know.

- hello, warner brothers,
And welcome to new orleans,

The sun and sin capital
Of the world.

This is my associate, and we've
Been working hard, very hard,

And very long--that's enough,

For the record we're putting out
That we're thrilled

to be putting out
With all of you called green.

- ♪ hello, i saw you,
I know you ♪

♪ i knew you ♪

♪ i think
I can remember your name, name ♪

♪ ♪

There's a period of time
Where,

As songwriters, those guys

Were throwing these things at me
That were so bubble gum

And so over the top
With pop music

That i accepted it
As a challenge and was, like,

"i'll raise you
And see you one,"

And i wrote the most inane
Lyrics i could possibly write.

- ♪ stand in the place
Where you live ♪

- ♪ now face north ♪

- ♪ think about direction,
Wonder why you haven't ♪

- as the audience got larger
And larger, it was impossible

For me to not change
To match that.

I realize that, you know,
At one point in our career,

I was reaching people that were
40 or 50 feet away.

At this point in our career,

I was reaching people
Who were way, way up there,

And you know, you know,

I was that big,
And so it was necessary

To make brighter lights
And a bigger persona

And films behind us.

- ♪ when i was young
And give and take ♪

♪ and foolish said
My fool awake ♪

♪ when i was young
And fever fell ♪

♪ my spirit
I will not tell ♪

♪ you're on your honor,
On your honor ♪

- now when you, like, go out
In front of these big audiences

And you think, "well, they're
Listening to my politics.

They're listening
To this or that," i mean,

Do you think about that? Like--
- yeah, i do.

- what they're getting
Out of it?

- i think it's a pretty
Important role that i play,

I mean, in pop music,

Which is pretty low on
The ladder of important things.

I think it's a sad state
Of affairs

When it's up
To the entertainment industry

To bring issues
Like this to the forefront.

Assault weapons are capable
Of shooting dozens

Of bullets in seconds.

Advanced nations manufacture
Some 70,000 different chemicals.

Today's earth day.
Tomorrow's earth day.

The day after is earth day.
Every day is earth day.

This is a symbolic gesture
At best,

But it's a good one.

I think rather than
The public burning out

On the environment,

The environment
May well burn out on us.

i'm michael stipe.
This is 120 minutes.

I'm for the environment.

This is michael stipe.

It's earth day.
Celebrate.

- you have this--
This podium,

In fact, from which to state
What you believe.

I mean, obviously you must have
Reflected on, you know,

Why fate has kind of cast

You in this role
Of archetype,

Why it's your job
To do this.

- i'm not a real great believer
In fate.

I am a pretty big believer
In fortune,

And i feel very fortunate

That i've been able
To achieve the success

That i--that i've--
That i've gotten,

The level that it's put me at,
And the fact

That people are listening to me
For better or worse,

And hopefully for better,
You know?

That i can present something
That--that is, on the one hand

Entertainment
And rock and roll and music,

And something that you can look
At as furniture or as wallpaper,

To clean the dishes to,
Or if you want to dig deeper,

It's something
That you can think about,

Something
That might provoke you.

[cheers and applause]

[r.E.M.'s radio song]

♪ the world is collapsing
Around our ears ♪

♪ i turned up the radio ♪

♪ but i can't hear it ♪

- after the green world tour,
You know, peter didn't even want

To look at an electric guitar,
Much less play one.

- and, like, with most efforts,

We don't really

Pick a conceptual road
That we want to take.

We kind of know
What we want to avoid,

And that's the only thing
We knew going

Into the songwriting process
For this record.

I mean, we wanted to avoid
The guitar, pretty much.

You know, we'd lived with
The big rock and roll lineup

Playing the arenas and stuff,

And the loud, you know,

Kind of impersonality
Of playing

Those big, huge situations,
We wanted to leave that behind.

It was fun,

But we--you know,

The '90s needed to be
Something different for us.

- the rest of us, in terms
Of musical direction like that,

We were always more reactive
And not proactive,

And we'd let peter be
The proactive one,

And he'd say,
"this is what i want to do,

And this is
Where i feel we should go,"

And unless anybody

Had a huge problem with that
We'd say, "that's fine."

- i personally wanted to make
Kind of a more baroque-sounding

Record for a long time.

- ♪ i turned up the radio ♪

♪ but i can't hear it ♪

- well, you know,
I love guitar,

But i was kind of in danger
Of becoming very competent.

Or almost competent, you know,
Which--

I mean, for me, songwriting
Is the main thing i do,

And to keep it fresh, it's nice
To try different instruments.

- ♪ oh, this lonely deep
Sit hollow ♪

♪ half a world,
Half a world away ♪

- for me, the mandolin
Was kind of a shortcut

To stupidity again.

- for us, as a band, it was kind
Of a record of challenges.

It was an incredible challenge
For these guys to write

On instruments that were not
Their primary instruments.

It was
An incredible challenge

For me to write the type
Of songs

That i've always despised.

- is the new record
More political or overtly

Political?
- no politics.

- mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

Is--is that a conscious effort
This time, or--

- yup.
- why?

- i felt like it.

- mm-hmm.
- they're all--

It's all love songs.

- they're so common.

There's so many love songs
That are so poorly written,

So of course
The one biggest challenge

As a lyricist
That i could bring on myself

Would be to write a body of love
Songs that were "intelligent,"

Quote-unquote,
That--that were not stupid.

- i'm really happy
With the song writing.

I--it's one of
The first records

We've ever done where i walked
In before we laid down a note

And just was really pleased
With the songs.

I think they're
Very diverse and--

You know, it's still us;
If you don't like us,

You're probably not gonna like
This one either.

- it's--it's destined
To be pop legend.

It's--it's the best thing
We've done.

- really?

- yeah. [mumbles]

It's gonna redefine music.

I think it really is.
- really?

- yeah.
- how so?

- well, it's--
It's brilliant.

- so then you think
It's gonna--

You think it's gonna
Redefine pop music?

- i think we already have.
[laughs]

Even before this record.
- and all that,

But we still don't have a name
For the record yet, so...

- what are
Some of the ideas?

- every record
We've ever had, the name

Just occurs real early
And it makes sense

'cause it kind of says
What the songs are all about,

But i think
The songs are so--

Nothing links them, really,
Either lyrically

Or musically that--
I don't--

Nobody knows
What to call it.

- every time that we make
A record we put up a list,

And it says, "name this--
Name this record."

Mike mills did this one,
And we're on our fourth page.

This is the first page,

Featuring
Such great titles as,

"imitation crab meat."

We were thinking of calling it
"willful obscurity."

- "trolling for olives."

- "dignity and aplomb."
- "love is squalor."

- "cat butt."
- "pomegranate."

- those are too literal
For us.

I mean, we needed something
More oblique.

- warner brothers
Called us and said,

"look, your record release
Is going to be affected.

"the release date's gonna
Be affected

If you don't name this today,"
But they had all the artwork

Ready except the actual title.

I mean, it was just blank
On the mock-up.

- it was like, pick a title
That day or else

It's just gonna be--it'll be
Like spinal tap, you know?

How black can it be?
This black.

Well, there would be no title
On the record.

- and it was, "oh, [...].
We're out of time."

You know?
And it was like, whoa.

- the big shocker,
Of course, to warners

Was when they announced
That they weren't gonna tour,

And how happy did
That make them?

- we just felt, you know,
Let's not go on the road.

Let's not just
Be a performing unit right now.

Let's just concentrate on kind
Of working and writing

And seeing
Where it takes us.

- it's like write songs,
Record them, tour them.

Take a small break
And do it all over again.

- without a band touring,

The record company has to spend
Twice or three times as much.

- every single person
That talked to us said, "well,

You know what, you're just
Kissing your career good-bye,"

And they're like "you're making
An acoustic record

And you're not gonna tour.
Well, forget it.

Everything you've worked
For all these years is gone."

[r.E.M.'s losing my religion]

♪ ♪

- ♪ oh, life is bigger ♪

♪ it's bigger than you,
And you are not me ♪

♪ the lengths that
I will go to ♪

♪ the distance
In your eyes ♪

♪ oh, no,
I've said too much ♪

♪ i set it up ♪

♪ that's me
In the corner ♪

♪ that's me
In the spotlight ♪

♪ losing my religion ♪

- they had this odd,
Compelling acoustic bass song

With a mandolin
As the lead

That everybody thought would be
A great first song,

Not 'cause it was
A big hit single

But because it was
A beautiful song.

- it doesn't really
Have a chorus.

The main instrument
Is a mandolin.

It's really long.
It's five minutes plus long.

All the ingredients
For a total disaster

As far as a single goes.

- and why not let the statement
Be, "this is our band.

"this is what
We sound like now.

"it's different.
It's changed.

it's not the same as green."
- and we'll just put it out

And we won't tour and we'll
Probably fade into obscurity

And nobody will ever
Hear of us again.

- ♪ i think i thought
I saw you try ♪

♪ ♪

- you know, the record came out
And it sold,

Like, ten million copies.

- ♪ but that was
Just a dream ♪

♪ that was just a dream,
That's me in the corner ♪

- 'cause after ten years
Of putting out records,

this band has finally
Released an album, out of time,

and a great hit single,
Losing my religion,

That have taken the american
Musical mainstream by storm.

- i'd go to new york
And for the first time, like,

65-year-old black men
Would go,

"yo, mike," on the street,

Whereas before it was
25-year-old white people

And--and no one else.

- i think having a number one
Record was really--i mean,

Obviously that's a big event
In your life.

It doesn't happen
To most people,

But i was kind of worried
That it was gonna hurt us.

Like, "oh, no.
This is gonna--

"we've totally lost
Our street credibility.

"you know, next week
We're gonna be off the charts

And nobody's gonna
Want to know our names."

- r.E.M.
For losing my religion.

- ♪ that's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion ♪

- and the winner is...

- big moment here.

R.E.M.

- you've got this public forum,
You know?

If you win an mtv award

You don't want to go up
And thank god and your manager.

Well, that's what everyone else
Does. God gets thanked enough.

And your manager, fine.
You know?

But you've got a chance
To say something,

And when i'm 80 years old
I don't want to think,

"well, gee, you know,
I just got up there

And reveled in the moment
Of being successful,"

'cause it's just shallow
And pointless

And vaguely embarrassing.

- hold on.

This might be lengthy.

Everybody,
Thank you so much.

Peace.

- r.E.M.,
♪ shiny happy people ♪

Hey, hey, hey,
Hey, hey.

Pull that bus over to the side
Of the pretentiousness turnpike.

Okay, pal?
I want everybody off the bus.

I want the shiny people
Over here

And the happy people
Over here, okay?

[r.E.M.'s shiny happy people]

♪ ♪

- ♪ shiny happy people
Laughing ♪

- we all knew even then
That shiny happy people,

While it's a good song,

It's not really what you want
To be remembered for in history.

- i'm aware
Of how stupid this is,

And i'm not manipulating people

By introducing
Hooky, catchy things,

But i'm right there
Beside you laughing at myself,

Laughing at the song,
And at the same time

Really grooving on it
And really digging it

And saying, "god, what a--
What a great song."

- it's silly.
I mean,

It's supposed to be silly,

And there's nothing wrong
With doing silly songs

Every once in a while,
But--but fo--

To have them as a single

And to have pe--'cause people--
For some reason that title,

People just love
That title.

They can make any headline

Or any photo caption
They want to, and it's pithy,

And it relates
To contemporary--

You know, it's just--
It's really irritating, and--

And, you know, i knew--we knew
That was gonna be trouble.

- out of time also
Marked a venture into politics.

The outspoken r.E.M.
Included a postcard on the back

Of that album that fans
Could mail to their congressman

In support of the so-called
Motor voter bill,

Which registered
Eligible people

To vote when they got
Their driver's license.

- it's gonna make people
Feel more franchised,

Like they have a better reason
To go out and vote,

And i hope
It makes a big difference.

- i think it's been estimated
That there are 50 million people

Who might get on the register
Who wouldn't have before.

I really see it
As an equal rights bill.

- to paraphrase michael,

Some people
May not know it yet,

But george bush
Is out of time.

- i'm here with mike mills
Of r.E.M.

Have you ever seen
So many happy democrats?

- not at one time in my life,
And i'm one of 'em.

It's a great thing.

- ♪ one love ♪

♪ one blood ♪

♪ one life ♪

♪ you got to do
What you should ♪

♪ one life ♪

♪ with each other ♪

♪ sisters ♪

♪ brothers ♪

♪ one life
But we're not the same ♪

A standard bag,

And it's, uh, 2 1/2 ounce
Of peanuts, net weight,

"automatic for the people."

They liked the slogan.

They wanted to use it
As the title of their album.

This is really great,
You know?

And i was just so happy.

I think there's been a smile
On my face ever since then.

- i don't think "automatic
For the people"

Necessarily sounds
Southern.

I guess if you know
The story it does,

But we just kind of
Liked the ring of it.

- "automatic for the people"

Is a slogan for weaver d's soul
Food restaurant in athens.

You walk in,
You get a plate of food.

You say, "i'd like
Some pork chops and greens."

He goes, "automatic."

So it just means that--

You know,
That he's got some food.

It's gonna be good,
And you can have it.

Well, here's a record, we think
It's good, and you can have it.

You know,
That's what we think.

- r.E.M.,
When they came to me,

They were saying,
"we want to send your peanuts

"to various radio stations
Around the world

Along with the album
As a promotional item."

[r.E.M.'s drive]

♪ ♪

- ♪ smack crack ♪

♪ bushwhacked ♪

♪ tie another one
To the racks, baby ♪

♪ ♪

- i think the progression
That ran from out of time

through
Automatic for the people

Was more that we
Were thinking anything goes.

Any little instrument
That you want to throw down

On top of this--you know,
If we want to put a harpsichord

On something, we'll do that.

If we want to put a cello
In here, we'll do that.

- ♪ maybe i ride,
Maybe you walk ♪

♪ maybe i drive
To get off, baby ♪

- the record is kind of stark
In some ways.

It's not maybe exactly
What people expect.

You know, at that time
I didn't even have a house.

I was driving around in the car
And listen to the cassettes

And staying
In $19-a-night motels,

And i just didn't
Really feel

Like it really
Meant anything.

- each one of us had
Their own personal things

Going on,
Good or bad,

That just kind of--

It--that was a hard record

To focus on.

I mean, the songs were kind
Of these nebulous ideas

That we just
Allowed to take shape.

- we accomplished something
That we set out to accomplish,

Unconsciously or otherwise,

In terms of
Making a record

That was, you know,
Largely acoustic

And using
Unorthodox instrumentation

For a rock and roll band,

And also, you know,
Dealing with subject matter

That was unorthodox
To rock and roll.

- but you don't want
To have too much attitude

When you're talking
About your own mortality,

Or anyone else's mortality,

Because death always wins,
And--

- we found--yeah. God.

Hmm, how about that?

Ultimately for me,
That record

Is very uplifting.
- yeah.

- but it does deal
With a very dark subject,

And one
That maybe rock listeners

Aren't used to
Dealing with on that level,

Or with that level
Of vulnerability and openness.

[r.E.M.'s everybody hurts]

♪ ♪

♪ when the day is long ♪

♪ and the night ♪

♪ the night
Is yours alone ♪

♪ ♪

- it was three chords.

Anybody that's just started to
Play guitar can play that song.

- ♪ of this life ♪

♪ well, hang on ♪

I actually started playing it
When peter and mike were around.

Before i even finished it they
Were already doing their thing.

- ♪ don't let yourself go ♪

♪ ♪

♪ 'cause everybody cries ♪

- so, yeah, i came up
With the three chords

in everybody hurts.

- ♪ and everybody hurts ♪

♪ ♪

♪ sometimes ♪

- everybody hurts, r.E.M.

- we get to take this home
And put it on our shelf,

But there's--you know,

There are a lot of things
You can't put on a shelf,

And what this song is
And what this song

I think has become is something
That you can't put on a shelf,

And that's yours,

And it's everybody's
Out there, and...

I'm a lot more involved
In the videos

Than the other guys
In the band

Because of my untapped desire
To be a great photographer,

Probably,
Is where it stems from.

When we had to do the artwork
For our first single,

Peter said, "you're the art
Major, you do it,"

And from there on out
It was my job

To produce all the graphic stuff
And all the creative stuff

And pick the video directors
And what have you.

I've always thought
That we're like--

Our songs are like
Little films, you know?

A lot of people
Don't get the plot,

But that's okay.
That's okay.

♪ ♪

probably my favorite
R.E.M. Video is man on the moon,

Just 'cause i look like,
You know, steve mcqueen.

[chuckles]

I kind of look
Like steve mcqueen.

- i can see that.
You got the hat.

- i had all the gear.
- man on the moon? Oh, yeah.

That's my--
That's my favorite video.

I mean, we got to wear
Cowboy hats and fake tattoos.

- i got to play a bartender,
And i've always aspired

To be a bartender,

And i got to live out
My fantasy just that day.

- ♪ now, andy, did you hear
About this one? ♪

♪ tell me are you locked
In the punch? ♪

♪ andy, are you goofing
On elvis? ♪

♪ hey, baby
Are you having fun? ♪

♪ if you believed ♪

♪ they put a man
On the moon ♪

♪ man on the moon ♪

- when we wrote the song man
On the moon, it was kind of--

It was one of those songs
That kind of didn't make a lot

Of sense,
But it didn't need to.

It was about andy kaufman,
And he was just so

Incredibly ahead
Of the curve

In terms of what he
Was presenting as a comedian

And as
A performance artist.

Years and years later
We write the song.

A couple years later
Somebody's written a script,

And now this film
Is being made.

- let me ask you this.
Man on the moon

Is the soundtrack
To the andy kaufman--

What songs
Do you guys have on it?

Let me put this
Out here.

- we did everything except
The songs that aren't ours.

In terms of doing interviews
Or not doing interviews,

I think it--pretty much
Every other record

I step back and--

'cause i just
Feel bored with myself.

I don't really have
Anything new to say.

I feel like i'm going
Over the same territory,

And it's tedious for me.

- michael's always been
Fairly enigmatic personality,

And he didn't do interviews
For a couple years

'cause he didn't really
Want to talk to people,

And all of that
Combined with,

You know, the steady rock
And roll rumor mill, "well,

I haven't seen him in public
For a while," you know?

Went to--i mean,
I was supposed to be a junkie

During those years too.

You know, everyone's like, "oh,
He always wears long sleeves."

- but in not playing the game

In the last few years,
Amongst various rumors,

One was that you were dead--
I mean,

Like, for instance, like--
- that i was dead?

- well, i mean, the automatic
For the people out there--

- that i have aids.
- you know, i wore a hat

That said, "white house stop
Aids," and it all kind of

Started rolling around
Then, i think.

We weren't touring.

We put out a record
About mortality and death,

And, you know, i
Started wearing tighter clothes,

And people saw that,
You know, i weigh 131 pounds.

- any statement would have been
The wrong statement to make,

And it would have
Looked bad,

So we just really
Didn't say anything.

I mean, if people asked we
Would say, "yeah, he's healthy.

He's fine," but, you know,
We didn't go into panic mode.

I mean, i felt sorry for
The fans who took it seriously,

And i felt sorry for our friends
Who it hurt.

- i didn't want to immediately
Come forward with a note

From my doctor saying
That i'm perfectly healthy,

Because i thought
It would stigmatize people

Who are hiv positive
Or who have aids, you know?

In a way that they've been
Stigmatized enough.

You know,
I realized at one point,

I guess, pretty early on
That i couldn't leave it up

To journalists
Or reporters

Or people talking to me
That were then going out

And putting this word out
To a much larger audience.

I couldn't leave it up to them

To draw the line of what
Was too private, you know.

I had to draw
It really distinctly.

I don't just really think
It's anybody's business

What i do with my [...],

Unless they're sitting
On my lap.

I swear.
[laughter]

Sexuality and desire
Are very fluid things,

And in a world

That tends to think of things
As one way or the other,

There's another,
And i fit into the other.

Now, nobody really wanted
To hear that in 1994.

If--you know, if i [...]
Or if i [...]

Or if i alternate
Between, you know...

It's kind of
Nobody's business, frankly.

All the lyrics that i've written
For the most part,

With a few exceptions,

Are really
Gender unspecific,

And that's the way i--
You know,

That's less of
A political statement, and--

And more of just a desire to be
The band that writes songs

That anyone can sing no matter
Who they're living with

Or who they're--you know,

Who their desires fall onto.

I kind of wanted--i wanted
Everyone to be able to sing...

Along and not feel excluded.

- ♪ she's got ♪

♪ pretty persuasion ♪

♪ he's got ♪

♪ pretty persuasion ♪

- well, what is
The kind of stuff

That you guys
Are listening to?

I mean, every song

Has a real kind of
Different vibe to it.

- well, we listen to music.

We like all kinds
Of stuff.

Lead belly,
Bikini kill,

The breeders,
The pixies, r.E.M.

- it was incredibly
Complimentary

And really shocking to me
That the lead singer of nirvana,

Early in their career,

Would even refer to r.E.M.

In anything but a negative
Light, you know, and i was--

I was amazed
That he was not ashamed to say

That he was a fan of ours.

- i remember talking to michael
On the phone

When kurt and courtney were
Staying at his house in athens,

And michael will tell you
This himself.

He just--he liked kurt
Tremendously, tremendously.

And it also, i think,
Meant a lot to him

That kurt and courtney
Liked him so much,

And liked his music
So much and that they

Respected him in that way
Really meant a lot to him.

- and mike would just call him
And talk about rock

And movies and stuff.

And because he inspires a lot
Of trust and respect in people,

It was just really
Well received.

It was nice
To see him make a friend

Because he didn't have
A whole lot.

- when kurt died, we were just
Getting rowing on monster,

And i got the call in the studio
From a friend of mine.

You know, i mean,
It was shocking and upsetting.

I mean, we--you know,
We basically closed up shop

For a couple of days
And went out and...

Tried to find some way
To deal with it, you know?

Drink a toast to kurt.

- i felt like i had lost an ally
In the world of music,

And somebody who i really deeply
Respected and liked as a person.

You know, i miss him.
I wish he wasn't dead.

- it was not too much
Far in time

After the loss of river phoenix,
Who was a really good friend

Of michael's and the rest
Of the guys.

He was much--even younger than
Kurt, similar circumstances.

It was sad.
It was a very somber time.

- you know, it sobered up
The process

Of making that record
In a huge way,

But, you know, as--

At the same time you--you know,

Like i said, you have
To accept it and deal with it

And then try to find inspiration
In it, maybe if you can,

And move on and try
To do good work,

'cause you don't have
Any choice.

[what's the frequency,
Kenneth]

♪ ♪

- ♪ what's the frequency,
Kenneth? ♪

♪ is your benzedrine,
Uh-huh ♪

♪ ♪

- we were definitely aiming
For a hard, loud sound on this.

- and what was the catalyst
For that?

- sitting on stools
For the last two weeks.

- [all laughing]
- yeah.

Tired butts.

- ♪ i thought i'd pegged you
An idiot's dream ♪

- what's the frequency
This weekend?

- we don't know.
It's mtv weekend, all weekend,

R.E.M. Weekend.

- ♪ i never understood
The frequency ♪

♪ uh-huh ♪

♪ ♪

- how does it feel having
The most anticipated album

Of the year?
- oh, is it really?

It's gonna--a lot
Of records are cerebral.

A lot of records
Are from the heart.

This one's more
From the crotch.

It's kind of a [...] record.
- [laughing]

- can you say [...] on--
- i don't know' could we--

- we do write these kind
Of serious songs

On quite many occasions,

But i've got to say i get a kick
Out of teenagers

Standing in front
Of me going...

- my entire adult life i've been
In a rock and roll band.

- yeah,
That's pretty amazing.

- i was 19
When we started r.E.M.

Now i'm 34.

It's a teenage
Preoccupation,

Playing guitar,
Doing this in front of people.

It's an inane thing
To do as an adult,

And i'm childish enough to get
Really a kick out of this thing,

This weird way
Of doing this,

And i kind of--
I revel in that.

It's the stupidity
Of being 17 again.

- it's a pretty weird way
To, like--to live, you know?

It's a pretty strange way
To enter into adulthood,

But it's no less strange
Than a lot of other jobs,

I guess.

I'd much rather be a rock
And roll singer than, like,

A senator, so, yeah.

- i've been a busboy,
And i like this better.

I mean,
What else would i do?

This is fun.

You know,
You do it so long,

You kind of forget
That it's a real job,

But this tour
Is gonna be a reminder.

- yeah, you know,
It was time to do it.

Five years off.
I was ready to go again.

As much as i hated a lot
Of parts of being on the road,

Being away from home,

I was ready to go again.

- the monster tour starts
In perth, australia, on--

Actually the first night
Is friday the 13th, january.

That's for good luck.

- i don't know how much fun
This is gonna be.

I mean, i haven't done--

I haven't been--done it in five
Years; i'm not out there yet.

The--it starts,

You know,
In just a few days.

I think it's gonna
Be a huge amount of fun.

I'm totally looking forward
To it, but, who knows?

- ♪ i know you called ♪

♪ i know you called ♪

♪ i know you called ♪

♪ i know you called ♪

- how'd it feel
Playing for the first time

In five years
To such a large crowd?

- it felt like i did it
Yesterday.

It was just like
There wasn't five years gone.

- i wasn't nervous
At all about the show

Until our tour manager
Came in and said, "ten minutes."

Then i officially
Got nervous.

So that's the way it is.

You don't worry about it
Until right before you go on,

And then you're nervous

And you do the show
With a nervous energy,

And then it's over
With until the next time.

So i feel really good
About it.

I think it's gonna
Be a great year.

- i don't know what to say
To anybody who's gonna come

See us in concert except that
You should probably do it.

'cause we are
Pretty good.

On a good night,
We're great.

And i'm really excited
About being out here,

And that's probably enough
Self-promotion for tonight.

- scary news
From the r.E.M. Tour.

R.E.M. Drummer bill berry
Is resting in a swiss hospital

After suffering a ruptured brain
Aneurysm during a show.

- we were playing,

And bill was supposed
Come forward and play bass,

And he came out, and it was like
The night of the living dead.

His eyes were wide open,
And he was holding his head,

And he was swaying, and then he
Just collapsed on me, you know?

And i was like, "jesus, bill.
What's wrong?"

He goes, "i think i've had--
I've just got a migraine."

He said, "i've had migraines
Before, this is an awful--

It's the worst migraine
I've ever had."

- it hurt.

It felt like a bowling ball
Hit my head,

And the lights
Kind of dimmed,

And the next thing
I knew i was on the floor.

I remember every bit of it.
I didn't pass out.

I didn't go into shock
Or anything; it was scary.

- they eventually got him
To the hospital

And operated on him
Virtually immediately.

- it was miraculous
That we were

In lausanne, switzerland,

When he collapsed
With a brain aneurysm.

You know, we were two miles

From the greatest brain surgeons
In the world.

- the very first day
Mike and--

Michael and i went up
To mike's room,

And just said, "okay.

We're not hiring
Another drummer

And we're not going
On the road without bill."

You know,
Virtually everyone

Is saying, "you can't just
Not do these dates,"

And it was like,
"no, i'm sorry.

"this--that's not the way
This band works.

"i mean, i'm not gonna
Go leave bill in a hospital

"dying and go, you know,
Iggly-piggly down the road

And do a rock show.
Forget it."

- initially they
Said, "well, you know,

You have to stay here,"
And i was like, "no, no.

"you don't understand.
You need to give me something

For the pain 'cause i need
To get back out on the road,"

And they're like, "no, no, no.
You don't understand."

- at that point
I thought the tour was over.

I just thought, "well, you know,
If bill recovers,

Maybe he'll want to do something
In a couple years,"

And he was just like,
"i'll be ready in two weeks."

And we were just like,
"you know, that's insane, bill.

They just cracked your head
Open like a coconut."

- r.E.M. Fans have been
Holding their breath

Wondering if the tour would even
Happen ever since berry

Suffered a ruptured aneurysm
In his brain on march 1st.

- would you like to be the guy
That ended the r.E.M. Tour

Halfway through because you had
A little boo-boo in your head?

No, just took three
Or four weeks

For my body
To recover for it.

- bill's recovered
Really well.

I mean,
We wouldn't be out here

If it wasn't 100% safe
And all that,

But it was surprising to me
That we were out this quick.

- and if you're wondering
How bill is,

You can open up the program
And see the x-ray of his head.

- let's put it this way, now
That we've played another show

And everyone knows
That we can do it, and the--

And bill's okay
And everything's fine,

We really downplayed the drama
Of what occurred in switzerland.

It was really
Very frightening.

- we spent the next month
Over there,

And then there was another month
Or so of bill

Recuperating here at home
Before he felt strong enough,

And restarted
The whole thing,

And then, you know, there we are
Back in switzerland,

And mike comes down
With something, and it ended up

Being a really pretty serious
Abdominal operation for him.

- i had what's...
- other--

- known by the lovely term
Of abdominal adhesions.

It's complications
From an appendectomy

I had the year before.

- they finally figured out
What's wrong,

And he needs an operation
Right then.

Well, that was the night
We were supposed to play prague.

We'd already rescheduled
The show once,

So now we have to announce,
In prague,

That once again we're not gonna
Be able to play the show,

Which creates a certain amount
Of disappointment.

People wonder are we messing
With them?

- it's frustrating
Because you don't want to--

You want to make
The shows, you know.

You're out there to do--
You know, you're out there

Partly because you love it,
But you're also doing a job.

- mike drafted a little press
Release before he went

Into the hospital--
"to our fans in prague,

We will be back
No matter what."

A month a later
We tacked on--

We flew in and did a show
Just in prague,

Just for the fans there.

That's the night that michael
Came down with his hernia,

So michael's walking
Around prague going,

"you know,
I'm not feeling quite right."

-i had a hernia
Because i sing hard.

The doctor told me
I was pushing the--

Pushing from singing is what
Caused it to happen.

I've had it
For a few years.

I never knew what it was.

- so, i'm in this hospital
With michael in the hallway.

Michael's just talked
To this doctor who says,

"yeah, you can play the show,
But, you know,

You might want to be careful;
You might want to sit down."

These kids walk up--

Kids, you know,
Maybe 20 years old, backpack.

Look like typical travelers
Around europe,

And they see michael
And they go,

"is the show
Still gonna be on?"

And michael goes, "yeah,
The show's still happening."

They do the show.
We get him on an airplane.

He's operated on, emory hospital
In atlanta the next morning.

- and with us right now,
The band is looking both ways

Before they cross
The street,

R.E.M., how are
You guys doing?

- hey, tabitha.
We're doing good.

- michael, you're the most
Recent surgery victim.

How you feeling?
- do you want to see it?

- yeah.
- i can show it to you.

- show me, baby.

Oh, there we go.

Very nice.
Thank you.

Okay.
You can put that up now.

- you know,
In defense of myself,

I was on pain killers
The whole time

That i was showing my scar
To the world, and--

- as you know,
Michael stipe

Is still recovering
From his hernia operation,

So he's moving
A little slower these days,

But i checked
The tote board,

And if you can believe this,
It's actually been 38 days

Since r.E.M. Has had
A medical emergency.

- you know, we had to have
A sense of humor about it,

But it--when mike fell
It was like, "okay, whatever."

When i fell it was like,
"this is ridiculous."

- what are the odds of three of
The four guys having--

In bill's case very serious,

In mike's case
Pretty darn serious,

And in michael's case
Less serious, but still,

Three guys going under the knife
In a four month period?

- it turned out to be the tour
Of attrition, you know?

Everybody but peter
Ended up in the hospital.

[r.E.M.'s i took your name]

- ♪ if there is
Some confusion ♪

♪ if there is
Some confusion ♪

♪ if there is
Some confusion ♪

♪ who's to blame? ♪

- that tour we were
Also writing and recording

A whole album at sound check,
Which was just insane.

I mean, bill's come back
From aneurysm.

Mike has
Internal operation,

And we're spending two hours
Every day at sound check

Writing and recording
New songs.

You know, i don't know
What we were thinking.

- it's something that we've
Never been able to do since,

like, reckoning,
Is do material on the road.

- it's not about bad food.
It's not about hotels.

It's about putting yourself
In this kind of whirlwind.

- we just wanted to kind
Of capture the kind of insanity

And the weirdness
And the alienation

And the total upside-down
Aspect of life

By writing them on the road
And recording them on the road.

- it was done mostly
On the road,

And then we took
A good few months in the studio

To sort of flesh it out
And finish it up

And polish it
A little bit.

- one, two, three, four.
- i--no. You--

I don't think
We should start cold.

Just play--give me
Two for nothing.

- okay, two for nothing?
Okay, cool.

- yeah.
- one, two, three, four.

[r.E.M.'s new test leper]

♪ ♪

- ♪ i can't say
That i love jesus ♪

♪ that would be
A hollow claim ♪

♪ he did make
Some observations ♪

♪ and i'm quoting
Them today ♪

♪ "judge not
Lest ye be judged" ♪

♪ what a beautiful
Refrain ♪

We've been in
For five weeks,

And i think--
Is that right?

Five weeks
In the studio working.

- how do you feel
About the songs?

- the songs are great.

I mean, i--

The kind of--the band--

I think talking to mike
And talking to peter and bill,

Everybody's the happiest
With this record

As we've been
In a long time.

- please welcome patti smith.

[cheers and applause]

- i was the 52nd member
Of the patti smith fan club.

- have--
- so i--i mean, i've--you know,

And i've been ever since doing
A third-rate hack job on,

You know, some male patti sm--
Version of patti smith,

And haven't really
Been called down on it yet,

But it served me well.

♪ i wore it like a badge
Of teenage film stars ♪

♪ hash bars cherry mash
And tin foil tiaras ♪

♪ dreaming
Of maria callas ♪

I have yet to meet a musician
Who i really,

Really respected
Who wasn't profoundly affected

By patti smith's music,

And so--yeah,

I mean, she, you know--

She abstractly,
Through her work,

Changed the course
Of my life forever and ever.

For that
I'm forever indebted,

'cause i like my life
And i like where i'm at.

- ♪ i'll take you
Over there ♪

♪ i'll take you
Over there ♪

- i remember going to see patti
When i was 17 or 18 in 1976,

And, you know it--
I would have just given probably

20 years off my life
If i could have been,

You know, the rhythm guitar
Player in that band,

And it was a great band,
A great experience.

To be in the studio
With her singing

On a song that i wrote
Was just incredibly moving.

- [vocalizing]

- ♪ it tastes like fear ♪

- [vocalizing]
- ♪ it pulls us near ♪

- [vocalizing]
- ♪ it tastes like fear ♪

- i was really proud
Of that record,

And i still am,
Two years later.

Unlike most records,
You know?

Two years later i
Can shoot holes through it,

And our entire catalogue
I could go,

"i can sing that better.

"that should have never
Made the record.

"why are the drums
So low on that one?

"why is your vocal
So reverb on that one?

You should have worked harder on
Those lyrics because they suck."

- i feel like that record
Suffered for a lot

Of reasons
That weren't its fault.

I think there were
Some misperceptions

About how it was recorded

And the amount of effort
And energy that we put into it,

But a lot of people
Think it was a live album

Or a bunch of knock-offs
Or something

That was just thrown together
On the road and then put out.

- you know,
We'd gone '91, huge record,

'92, huge record,
'95, huge record.

'96, '97,

Record didn't do as well.

- i think
The stupid record deal

Sort of overshadowed it,
Unfortunately.

- if you said r.E.M.
To somebody in 1996,

They didn't say anything
About the record.

They said, "oh,
Did you hear about their deal?"

That was way more

In the ether than we ever
Thought it would be.

It was like to us,
"okay, well,

"we renegotiated our deal
With warner brothers.

"well, okay.
That kind of stuff happens.

"that's kind of
A business story.

No big deal."
Well, it ended up

Being a lot bigger deal
Than people thought.

- i...

Was...

Cool...

♪ i look good
In a glass pack ♪

♪ i look good and mean ♪

♪ i look good
In metallic sick ♪

♪ wraparound
Blackout tease ♪

- how do you feel about getting
The video vanguard award

In terms of a lifetime
Achievement of filmmaking?

- old.
- i think the vocabulary

That we've used, that michael
Has helped kind of pioneer

Is now kind
Of a vocabulary

That everyone
Uses making videos,

And, you know,
In that sense i think, you know,

The award's for michael
And his kind of vision.

- ladies and gentlemen,
R.E.M.!

Whoo!

[cheers and applause]

- hi.
- michael!

- a friend the other night--

A friend the other night
Asked me,

"what is
The video vanguard award,

And what does it mean?"

And i said,
"i don't really know.

I think the word vanguard
Means in the front."

I said, "i think
It means that we're a band.

"we've been together
For a long time,

"without breaking up,

"without selling
Ourselves out.

"we've made a whole lot
Of videos.

We've made a whole lot
Of videos that don't--

You know, don't suck."

Thank you very much.

- i think if you asked
All of us, the assumption

Would be that ten years
From now we'll still be a band.

I mean, we may not be at
This level ten years from now.

We'll be making records,
And we'll be doing things

And working together,
But we are fe--

I feel like we're working at
A really kind of strong level.

The last three records
Have been really good,

And we're writing new songs all
The time that are really good.

So we might as well
Just keep doing it.

I mean, there's plenty of time
To stay at home

And do nothing
When we're older.

♪ ♪

- we started pre-production,
As you know,

In athens
At john keane's studio,

And we were
A couple of weeks in,

And there was definitely
Something going on.

- they had been
Recording for about--

I guess about a week,

And bill wasn't there,

And i was going,
You know, "where's bill?

Why isn't he here?"
- between mike and myself,

We'd written,
Like, 45 songs,

And i was so excited about
Getting in to do this record

That i couldn't sleep
At night.

I mean, i was--you know, my life
Was focused on this for months.

You know, i was making demos,
And--you know,

I just--i was so excited, and i
Was calling mike and michael,

And i was going,
"oh, man, this is so great."

You know, i'd left word for
Bill; he never called me back.

- i thought that he was gonna
Come in later

And do some drum parts
Or something,

But halfway
Through the session,

He made the announcement
That he was leaving the band.

- bill, you said some
Of your priorities have shifted.

What are those priorities

And why do they mean
You can't be in r.E.M. Anymore?

- well, when you don't have
The enthusiasm that for 17 years

I've managed to have, matched
With these guys, you know,

You need to make a change.
- i was devastated.

I mean, i--i'm like
The grandma in the band.

- i thought he was insane.
I mean, i just--

I was like, "bill,
You can't be in your right mind

If you're thinking that," but,
You know, he talked to us,

And he convinced us all
That he was in his right mind.

He's not depressed.
He's not reacting to anything.

He just didn't want
To do it anymore.

- i had been thinking about it
For a while,

But really
After the surgery,

The brain thing, i mean,
I had a lot of time--

My brain was working fine,

But i couldn't do an--
I'm a hyper person.

You can see
I fidget a lot,

And i was laying in a bed
For two, three weeks

And just couldn't do anything
But think,

And i reassessed
Some things.

- his lack of joy
At the external parts

Of the music business

Seeped into his joy
Of the fun part,

Which was playing
And writing and that stuff,

And eventually it made
That not fun for him either,

And when that became no fun
For him, what's the point?

- we've done something that
A lot of bands,

I think,
Would love to have done,

Which is to maintain

A friendship and a really great
Career for 17 years,

And for him to say,

"i don't want
To do it any longer,"

You know, it really--
It really--

We were left speechless.

- r.E.M., for me,
Is first--

I mean, even before
The music is three--

They're my best friends,

And we actually
Love each other,

And it's...

- we're four very
Distinct people.

We admire and appreciate each
Other a great deal, usually,

And all those differences
Put together are r.E.M.

If any one of us were
To leave this couch right now...

- we'd be more comfortable.
[all laughing]

- the other two
Would be more comfortable,

But we would not
Be r.E.M. Anymore.

- the first thing
That bill said to us was,

"if my leaving breaks up the
Band, i'm not gonna leave."

- no, i would have gone
Through therapy or something

And would have--really,
I would have stayed.

I wasn't gonna let
The band break up over it.

- well, he didn't want
To deprive us

Of the things
That we loved,

And he also didn't
Want to be known

As the guy
Who broke up r.E.M.,

Both of which
I understand very much.

- it was a huge relief to bill
When they said,

"don't worry about it;
We'll stay together."

Once they kind
Of had their talk

And decided to stay together,
Bill said, "okay."

He could quit with a good
Conscience, and that was--

You know,
He's got a good heart.

He wanted the right thing
For the group, and they for him.

- he made a very
Courageous decision.

I mean, to walk away
From this is not easy,

And, i mean, no matter
How much you're disliking it,

To--to throw it all away
Is--is amazingly difficult.

- if bill had quit at the end
Of the tour,

I think we would have
Broken up,

And if we'd finished
The hi-fi record,

Which we had started
On the tour,

And which we were
Really proud of,

And we felt was
A really great record,

If bill had quit at the end
Of that, we would have quit.

- in retrospect,

When all things
Are clear,

He did do it
At the perfect time,

But none of us
Knew that then.

- mike, are you gonna hire
Another drummer?

- no. We--our drummers now come
In little aluminum boxes.

- we don't want
To get a new drummer.

There's no way
To replace bill berry.

We can't--you know,

There will never be
A fourth member of r.E.M.

- the thing
That really drove the decision

To stay together, which only
Took a couple of minutes,

Was they had a bunch
Of songs written, and as long

As they had those songs written
They weren't about to quit.

- and it's like if you
Teach a kid

To swim
By throwing him in the pool.

Well, this is what bill
Did to us.

He taught us how to make
A new type of record

By pulling the drums
Out from under us.

- everything from then on

After bill left
The band was like quicksand.

You know, none of us
Had any idea what--you know,

Where the solid ground was.

- has it changed the dynamic

With the three
Remaining members?

- you betcha, dave.
- yeah?

- yeah, we did have a chemistry
As a four-piece.

We suddenly
Not only doubted

Whether we should still
Be doing this,

But we also lost
Whatever that was

And had no idea
How to find it.

- since we have no rules we had
No way to get out of traps,

And the traps we had this time
Were, "what is the record?

"we've got 40 songs, none
Of which we know how to play.

"who--what's gonna
Make the record?

"i like this song.
Michael doesn't.

How do we deal with it?"
I don't know why.

It was just harder.
It was a lot harder.

- did it come--
Did we come to blows? Yes.

Is that what you were asking?
Yeah.

- you don't look like
A violent type.

I wasn't implying that.

- i'm not terribly violent.
- there was no swinging fists.

- you don't have to actually hit
Somebody to be violent.

I think there were points
When none of the three of us

Thought that the record
Would ever get finished

And that it
Would just--you know,

That the whole thing would
Just collapse and dissolve,

And we would
No longer exist,

And it would
Just be over.

We had to either
Fake it and pretend

Like he'd never left
And hire someone to be him--

Which none of us
Wanted to do--

Or pretty much dump
The whole thing out the window

And start over again,
And that's what we did.

♪ ♪

♪ hey, hey ♪

♪ ♪

- bill loves the record,
By the way.

- good.
- yeah, we gave him a copy

And gave him three days
To listen to it

And met up with him,
Had a couple bottles of wine,

And just talked
About it

And talked about old times,
And it was great.

- boy, when i heard it
I felt like a chump.

[laughs]

You--i'm sure
I must have looked like one.

I mean,
I can listen to it as a fan.

I can come out here
And say,

"you know, i just really think
This new record stinks."

I couldn't say that
In old efforts.

When we were promoting
The records like,

"oh, yeah, this is our best
Record ever, really.

This time--this is the one."
You know?

I'm just like a fan,
Like anybody else,

Except i'm
The number one r.E.M. Fan.

That's the one distinction.

- we're gonna do a song
That was written by bill berry.

♪ perfect circle of ♪

♪ acquaintances
And friends ♪

♪ drink another ♪

♪ coin a phrase ♪

♪ standing too soon ♪

♪ shoulders high
In the room ♪

♪ standing too soon ♪

♪ shoulders high
In the room ♪

♪ standing too soon ♪

- i've been a fan
From the very, very beginning,

and it's--if you listen
To chronic town

then you listen to up,
It's such a huge departure,

Such a journey you've gone
Through, through the years.

How do you account for
The vast changes in the music?

- we had the audacity
To change as we grew older.

- right.
- we've actually allowed it

To happen in a pretty--pretty
Organic way, i think.

♪ receiving department,
3:00 a.M. ♪

♪ staff cuts have
Socked up the overage ♪

- i feel closer to them probably
Now than i did eight months ago,

Just because we've gone
Through, you know,

Our own little hell
And back.

- there's little we're gonna
Do in the rest of our lives

That is better than this.

I mean, you know,
Peter makes me better.

I think
I make peter better,

And michael makes us better,
And we make michael better.

It's--you know, i mean,
And nothing we're gonna

Do individually will equal
What r.E.M. Does collectively,

And that's--that's
Worth keeping, i think.

- they've all got
Other interests.

Mike likes producing people.

Peter plays
With tons of people.

Michael does movies now,

But i think they all realize
That their best work,

What they really
Are here for,

Is to be in r.E.M.

- how long have you guys
Been doing it now?

- 18 years.
- 18 years.

- yeah.
Can i get a round of applause?

- yeah, please.
[cheers and applause]

Is it still exciting
For you?

Do you still--or do you get
On stage and think, you know,

"everybody hurts some..."
- right.

- you know?
Do you still--

Do you have the joy still?

- i have the joy.

♪ headache gray
Don't wake me ♪

♪ with so much ♪

♪ daysleeper ♪

♪ daysleeper ♪

♪ ♪

♪ daysleeper ♪

♪ ♪

♪ daysleeper ♪

♪ ♪

♪ daysleeper ♪

♪ ♪

Thank you.

- we're trying to
Make something that,

You know,
Do the impossible.

We want to give some--the people
Something they've never heard.

That is impossible,
But we keep pushing ourselves

And tearing it op--up
And starting over again,

And i think
That's real healthy.

- art and commerce
Will always come together.

Commerce is a butch top

And always has been,

So you got to watch out,
'cause there's one point

Where it's just
Gonna bitch slap art

To the ground
And kind--and straddle.

- yeah.
- you got to watch out for that.

- that's probably,
For a lot of people at home--

- pardon the analogy.
- [laughs]

- i mean,
You can't worry about sales.

If you're in this business
For sales,

You're bound to be disappointed.
I don't care who you are.

- we've always been
Completely out of step.

We have our own trajectory,

And pop culture will
Sometimes go like this

And kind of knock against us,
And--

We had a hit single or

We're all over tv
Or something.

- oh, god.
Who is that guy?

Get that guy
Off the screen.

He's so sincere.
Oh, my god.

He looks great though,
Doesn't he?

Jesus.
What a fox.

[r.E.M.'s disappear]

♪ i've dragged my feet
Across the seat ♪

♪ and jumped out
The passenger side ♪

♪ the only thing
Worth looking for ♪

♪ is what you find inside ♪

♪ but that had
Not yet appeared ♪

♪ lost invisible here ♪

- every time
You write a new song,

It's just like
The first one almost.

It's like, "oh, my god.
I can still write a song.

I can still come up
With interesting music,"

And it--it's exciting.

It's the process
Of discovery and creation.

- the songwriting is brilliant,
Of course,

I think.
- i think--

- i can say that, can't i?
- i guess, i don't know.

- ♪ i looked for you ♪

♪ and everywhere ♪

♪ i looked for you ♪

♪ and everywhere ♪

♪ tell me why you're here ♪

♪ ♪

♪ i came to disappear ♪

♪ ♪

- we really wanted to get out
And tour this summer.

We thought having
A "best of" thing

Would be
A nice thing to do,

Especially to remind people
In america that we exist still.

We're not as popular
As we once were, which is fine.

You know? We did--
We do really well over here.

- here we're expecting
22,000 r.E.M. Fans here

For the gig live
In cologne.

[r.E.M.'s imitation of life]

♪ ♪

- ♪ charades pop skill ♪

♪ water hyacinth ♪

♪ named by a poet ♪

♪ imitation of life ♪

- playing live
Is its own reward.

I mean, i never looked at this
As if it was, you know,

A career or like a bank,

You put money in,
You get interest back, you know.

It's--we tour
'cause we like to tour.

- you have to appreciate it
Even more because you realize

A, how lucky you are
That you've had the success,

And b, how it could all go away
In a second.

- ♪ this sugarcane ♪

♪ this lemonade ♪

♪ this hurricane
I'm not afraid ♪

♪ come on, come on ♪

♪ no one can see me cry ♪

♪ this lightning storm ♪

♪ this tidal wave ♪

♪ this avalanche
I'm not afraid ♪

♪ come on, come on ♪

♪ no one can see me cry ♪

♪ that sugar cane
That tasted good ♪

♪ that's who you are ♪

♪ that's what you could ♪

♪ come on, come on
No one can see you try ♪

We always have an idea of
What a record is going to be

And we're always
Wildly wrong.

It's never--i mean,
Fiercely wrong.

It's never what we think
It's going to be.

♪ now the universe
Left you for a runner's lap ♪

♪ it feels like home
When it comes crashing back ♪

♪ and it makes you laugh ♪

♪ and it makes you cry ♪

♪ when london falls
And you're still alive ♪

- this record
That we are making now,

We all have a real clear idea
Of what it's going to be,

And i can tell you already
That we're dead wrong.

It's not gonna be that.

- around the sun.

Is there some clue in that title
To the amount of time

It's taken to put
This record together?

- [chuckles]

- god knows it feels
Like it's been,

You know, a millennia
We've been working on it.

Bill and i always tended to be
The guys who are like,

"come on, let's hurry up.
Let's just--

Everything faster, faster."
He's gone. Now i'm--

- he's--
- i'm the lone ranger.

I'm out there
In left field going,

"come on, guys.
Let's go, let's go, let's go."

- having more time on a record
Can be a double-edged sword.

It is nice to be able
To record songs and get away

And take a break and come back
And look at them again,

But if you allow yourself
Too much time,

You end up over analyzing them

And looking for all
The little tiny flaws

And fixing
All the little tiny flaws,

Which is not always
A good thing.

- we had basically just

Kind of stopped
Talking to each other.

We lost a lot of focus,
Not so much as a live act,

But in the studio,
We were just going off

In all these different
Directions

And not really
Communicating that well.

the songs off of
Around the sun

Really worked great live,

More so than they did
In the recorded version.

- ♪ you might have laughed
If i told you ♪

♪ you might have hidden
A frown ♪

♪ you might have succeeded
In changing me ♪

♪ i might have been
Turned around ♪

- we want to thank you
For coming out tonight.

- this is
A very important moment

For each and every one of us,
And for our country.

- we're here tonight
To fight for a government

That is open, rational,
Forward-looking, and humane,

And we plan to rock the joint
While doing so.

[bruce springsteen's
Because the night]

- ♪ come on now,
Try and understand ♪

♪ the way i feel
When i'm in your hands ♪

♪ take my hand,
Now we're undercover ♪

♪ they can't hurt you now,
Can't hurt you now ♪

♪ can't hurt you now-ow-ow ♪

♪ because the night
Belongs to lovers ♪

♪ because the night
Belongs to us ♪

I was a u.S. Citizen
A long time

Before i was a musician,

Before i was
A successful musician,

Before i was a media figure,
A public figure,

Celebrity,
Whatever you want to call it.

I have an opinion as a person,

And if my opinion means

That i put a yard sign
In my front yard--

And my front yard happens
To be a stage this year

Because we just released
The record,

We're just releasing
Another record,

And we're on tour--
That's my yard sign.

[r.E.M.'s man-sized wreath]

- ♪ i turn on the tv ♪

♪ what do i see? ♪

♪ a pageantry of empty gestures
All lined up for me ♪

♪ wow ♪

♪ i'd have thought by now
We would be ready to proceed ♪

♪ but a tearful hymn
To tug the heart ♪

♪ and a man-sized wreath,
Wow ♪

♪ ♪

- are you political at all

In this album?
- yes.

- because you guys
Have been accused--

Especially--sir--

Uh...
[audience laughter]

Accused of having a--
Sort of a political quality,

At least to your lyrics.

- yeah, i write the lyrics.
- is there--

- how much of that in this?

- um, a good portion.

Probably half the songs
Are fairly overtly political.

- and i assume--i assume

That you're standing
By our president.

[audience laughter]

- um, nope.
- time of war.

- time of war, sir.
- that would be--

That would be
A giant assumption.

Yeah.
- all right.

[r.E.M.'s
Supernatural superserious]

- ♪ everybody here ♪

♪ comes from somewhere ♪

♪ that they would
Just as soon forget ♪

♪ and disguise ♪

♪ at the summer camp
Where you volunteered ♪

♪ no one saw your face
No one saw your fear ♪

♪ if that apparition
Had just appeared ♪

♪ took you up and away
From this base ♪

♪ and sheer humiliation ♪

♪ of your teenage station ♪

♪ ♪

- this is getting
Great critical reviews.

People are calling
This your comeback album.

When you hear people say that,

Do you want to tell those people
To go [...] themselves?

[audience laughter and cheering]

- yes.
- 'cause if anybody told me

Like, "hey,
You're coming back,"

I would cut out their eye
With a broken bottle.

You haven't gone anywhere.

- ♪ this inexperience,
Sweet, delirious ♪

♪ supernatural, super serious
Inexperience ♪

♪ sweet, delirious
Supernatural, super serious ♪

♪ wow ♪

[cheers and applause]

- r.E.M.'s music
Is truly all-encompassing.

They've used every color
On the palette.

They've invented colors
On their own.

There are a couple of things
I need to address,

And the hardest one being...

Michael stipe.

How do you explain
The dialogue

Between michael
And the listener?

A dialogue that grew up,
And we grew up with it.

Such wisdom in the feelings
Of these songs

That i think they helped us
Find things

That we knew were inside us,
And i think he--they helped us

Find things that we didn't know
We had inside us,

And i can say that,
Personally,

There are things that i hold

And feel very deeply about
Inside here

That michael stipe
Put in there himself.

This all happens without ever
Being able to understand

A [...] thing he was saying.

[r.E.M.'s gardening at night]

- ♪ i see your money
On the floor ♪

♪ i felt the pocket change ♪

♪ though all the feelings
That broke through that door ♪

♪ just didn't seem to be
Too real ♪

- peter buck plays guitar

Like a guy who worked
In a record store...

[all cheering]

And when i say that,

I say that it's not
Necessarily derivative

Of all this music that he knows,
His guitar playing.

He knows his music so well,
But it's more of a thing

Where he plays through the holes
And invents things

And hits spot that have
Yet to be covered.

♪ ♪

- ♪ the charge is changing
Every month ♪

- now if r.E.M.
Had a secret weapon,

I would say
It was mr. Mike mills.

The secret weapon, i believe,
Is his voice.

It's really not
A background vocal.

It's almost like
A second lead vocal,

And i think it really is
What makes

So many of their songs
Absolutely haunting.

Actually, he was stealth
Till about 14 years ago

When he took to wearing these
Really bright colored suits

With massive embroidery
And rhinestones and--

Right around that time,
The time of the suits.

Bill berry's playing
In switzerland,

And in the middle of a show
An aneurysm bursts in his head,

And he almost dies,
And i think i read somewhere

Where it might have been
Triggered by a-a strobe light,

But i was just thinking about--
It might have been

One of mike's suits.

[laughter]

The orange one, perhaps.

The most difficult hurdle
They've had to reach

Was when bill had to say

That he didn't think
He could keep playing with 'em.

As a fan, it's an incredible,
Exciting thrill

To see him here tonight.

♪ ♪

- ♪ i see your money
On the floor ♪

♪ i felt the pocket change
Though all the feelings ♪

♪ that broke through that door ♪

♪ just didn't seem to be
Too real ♪

- but what i'm saying is,
No matter what

We can give them back
In the form of this honor,

We'll never match
What they've given to us,

And this is not even mentioning
Social causes and activism,

Which is--
Should not be a postscript,

And by some strange power
Invested in me right now,

I hereby induct r.E.M. Into
The rock and roll hall of fame.

- i would like to personally
Thank peter, mike, and bill

For providing me,
The least likely candidate,

To have a place in the rock
And roll hall of fame

With a gang

Who not only accepted me
At face value in 1979,

But allowed a frankly
Fantastical teenage dream

To become an adult
And lifetime reality.

Thank you, guys.

[cheers and applause]
- thank you!

- in closing,

My grandmother stipe,

In her last years, told me--

She grabbed my arm very hard,
As she would,

And she said, "do you know
What r.E.M. Means to me?"

She said, "it means
'remember every moment,'"

And this is a moment
That i will never forget.

Thank you all so much.

[cheers and applause]

[r.E.M.'s man on the moon]

- ♪ andy, did you hear
About this one? ♪

♪ tell me are you locked
In the punch? ♪

- ♪ oh, andy,
Are you goofing on elvis? ♪

♪ hey, baby,
Are you losing touch? ♪

♪ oh ♪

- ♪ if you believed
They put a man on the moon ♪

- ♪ man on the moon ♪
- ♪ yeah, yeah ♪

- ♪ if you believe ♪

♪ there's nothing up my sleeve ♪

♪ then nothing is cool,
Whoa ♪

♪ ♪

- for a band that
Doesn't have lineage,

A lot of--great deal
Of narrative

And a great deal of lineage
In its work,

When you look at the whole,
It actually kind of makes sense.

I think if--you know,
If someone wanted to sit down

And listen to all the records
One after the other,

What you would see is
A band growing up

And a band--you know,
Each member

Kind of becoming
Their own thing and changing.

[r.E.M.'s discoverer]

♪ ♪

- ♪ hey, baby
This is not a challenge ♪

♪ it just means
That i love you ♪

♪ as much as i always
Said i did ♪

♪ i was wrong
I have been laughable wrong ♪

♪ sandpaper, paper mache,
Chalk ♪

♪ hung out wet ♪

♪ ♪

♪ on the city
And your skin now ♪

♪ na, na, na, na, yeah ♪

And we worked really hard.
We had a lot of luck.

We had a modicum of talent,
And we did

The best that we could
With what we had, and--

And it turned out good.
In fact, great.

[chuckles]

♪ that just the slightest bit
Of finesse ♪

♪ might have made
A little less mess ♪

♪ but it was what it was ♪

♪ let's all get on with it ♪

♪ now-ow-ow ♪

- it's a little cliche, but we
Just got together for fun,

And that was all we meant to do,

Was just to play some parties
And go out and have a good time.

- i mean, the only reason
That we have

Any kind of integrity at all
Is 'cause

This is the way
We have to live our lives

To feel good, you know?

You know, i don't know--

The things that the--
I guess that other people do

Are just things that
I couldn't physically do.

You know, the concessions
That you might have to make,

To be successful.

- we weren't really trying
To become huge

Or hugely popular,
And we did want to have fun

And maybe not have regrets
Later in our lives.

I don't have any.
I don't have any.

I don't think
Those guys do either.

- ♪ now-ow-ow ♪

- ♪ discover, discover ♪

♪ discover ♪

♪ discover ♪

♪ disco-o-o-ver ♪

♪ ♪

[song ends]

- wow.

[cheers and applause]

- if i had to go
On a lecture series of colleges

And talk to budding musicians,
You know, i would--

I would say that
The most important thing

Is not to listen to anyone
No matter what.

Don't listen to anything
They say, because they're wrong.

- who's they?

- they is anyone
Except yourself,

And perhaps if you're
In a band situation,

They is anyone
Except yourself

And the people you choose
To be in a group with.

That--you know, that to me
Is the essence...

Of creativity,
Not paying attention to--

Oh, i really hate
The way that sounded,

"the essence of creativity."
Bleh.

- we'll take that out.

[r.E.M.'s shaking through]

♪ ♪

- ♪ could it be
That one small voice ♪

♪ doesn't count ♪

♪ in the room ♪

♪ yellow like a geisha gown ♪

♪ denying all the way ♪

♪ ♪

♪ could this by three be ten ♪

♪ honor marches on ♪

♪ yellow like a geisha gown ♪

♪ denial ♪

♪ all the way ♪

♪ shaking through ♪

♪ opportune ♪

♪ shaking through ♪

♪ opportune ♪

♪ in my li-i-i-ife ♪

♪ i-i-i-fe ♪

♪ ears that are still ♪

♪ children of today on parade ♪