Wednesday video - R.E.M.

Well, this is a bit of sad news.  R.E.M. is over.  Thirty years in, the band apparently thinks that it has run its course.  Admittedly, R.E.M. hasn't been a significant cultural force in over a decade and, really, probably fifteen years.  But when they were, they were.



And, thirty years.  Wow.  It puts all the hoopla about Pearl Jam's 20 year reunion in perspective.  They're only 2/3 of the way to R.E.M.'s mark*.

I'll admit that when R.E.M. was at its highest point**, I was not a fan.  Indeed, part of that time was during my younger, metal/classic rock years and I was actively not a fan.  But, like any good college-going music lover in the early 90's, R.E.M. was hard to ignore and it grew on me as I scoured their back catalog of Murmur and Document et al.  To this day, this song is one of my favorites:

And, one more for good measure:

*  And, good God, compare that to the Stones' FIFTY years as a band.  Sheesh.
**  I think there's a pretty solid consensus that 1987-1993 is your basic timeline here.