  R.E.M. hail from Athens, Georgia
and formed in 1980. The band consists of
Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitar),
Mike Mills (bass), and Bill Berry (drums).
Originally Stipe and Buck began playing music
together as Mills and Berry were doing the
same. After being introduced together by a
friend, the 4 men teamed up to play at a
friend's party, calling themselves the
"Twisted Kites." Soon after, the
named themselves R.E.M. and began touring
small, southern gigs playing cover tunes. In
the meantime, the band started to refine
their sound, write their own tunes, and
develop a following. R.E.M. began their
career with a large following with college
audiences in the early 80s and were regarded
as one of the pioneers to the alternative
music sound. As alternative music moved
beyond college radio and into other music
platforms, R.E.M. kept the pace and grew in
universal popularity as well. When punk rock
faded and synthesized alternative music grew
in the early 80s, R.E.M. maintained a pure,
un-synthesized rock/alternative sound.
 R.E.M.'s debut EP, Chronic
Town, was released on I.R.S. Records
and was a hit with alternative audiences and
underground music fans.
 R.E.M. released Murmur.
R.E.M. hits the US charts for
the first time with a re-recorded version of
"Radio Free Europe."
Rolling
Stone named Murmur "Album of the
Year."
 Reckoning was released with the
tracks "(Don't Go Back To)
Rockville" and "So. Central
Rain."
R.E.M. released Fables
Of The Reconstruction.
 R.E.M. released Life's
Rich Pageant with the hit "Fall On
Me."
 # 82
Singles Artist of the Year
R.E.M. kicked off the year
touring the U.S.
Life's
Rich Pageant was certified gold.
The release of Dead
Letter Office included the Chronic
Town EP and various
unreleased tracks and b-sides.
 R.E.M. began to feel success on
the pop charts with the release of the Top 10
Document and the Top 10
"The One I Love" (which was also
nominated for a MTV Video Music Award in '88
for Best Direction). Other track
favorites on the LP included "Finest
Worksong" and "It's The End Of The
World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." Document was ranked at #41 in Rolling
Stone's "100 Best Albums of the
Eighties."
 Document was certified gold.
 # 196
Singles Artist of the Year
Document was certified
platinum.
 R.E.M. signed with Warner Bros.
Records.
Stipe could be heard on the
Disney compilation, Stay
Awake, with "Little April
Shower" (accompanied by Natalie
Merchant).
A hits compilation, Eponymous, was released.
The video for "The One I
Love" was nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Direction.
 After the release of Green R.E.M. stopped touring
for awhile to focus on their music. Hits from
Green included "Orange
Crush," "Pop Song 89,"
"Turn You Inside Out," and "Stand."
 # 46
Singles Artist of the Year
Green was certified gold.
Green was certified
platinum.
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Stand."
R.E.M. embarked on their
"Green World Tour."
R.E.M. hit the Top 10 with "Stand."
The video for "Orange
Crush" won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Post Modern Video.
 # 19
Singles Artist of the Year
 R.E.M. released Out
Of Time which contained their biggest
pop hit, "Losing My Religion." The track
marked the first time the band lip-synched in
a music video, and it paid off.
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Losing My Religion."
 Out
Of Time was certified platinum and hit
#1.
R.E.M. hit the Top 10 with "Losing My Religion."
Fables
Of The Reconstruction was certified gold, Reckoning was certified gold,
and Out
Of Time was certified 2x platinum.
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Shiny Happy People."
The video for "Losing My Religion" won 6 MTV Video Music
Awards including Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Direction (Tarsem), Best Art Direction (Jose Montana), Best Editing (Robert Duffy), and Breakthrough Video, and was nominated for
Best Alternative Video, Best Cinematography, and Viewer's Choice.
R.E.M. hit the Top 10 with "Shiny Happy People."
R.E.M. could also be heard on a
tribute LP for Leonard Cohen
(I'm
Your Fan) with the cover "First We
Take Manhattan."
Murmur was certified gold and
Out
Of Time was certified 3x platinum.
R.E.M. won 2 Billboard Music
Awards for Top Modern Rock Artist and Top
World Album.
 # 108
Singles Artist of the Year
R.E.M. were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Out
Of Time).
R.E.M. won 3 Grammy
Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group ("Losing My Religion"), Best Alternative Music
Performance (Out
Of Time), and Best Music Video, Short Form ("Losing My Religion") and was
nominated for Album of the Year (Out
Of Time), Record of the Year and Song of the Year (songwriter) ("Losing My Religion"), and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group ("Radio Song").
R.E.M. also won a Brit Award for
Best International Group.
Out
Of Time was certified 4x platinum.
 R.E.M. released Automatic
For The People. The LP contained the hits
"Drive," "Man On The Moon," and the
haunting "Everybody Hurts." Rolling
Stone said of the LP, "...R.E.M.
has never made music more gorgeous...
musically irresistible..." The LP was
ranked at #23 in NME's
"Greatest Albums of All-Time" and
the Village Voice's 3rd Best Album
of 1992.
Stipe could also be heard on Neneh
Cherry's LP, Homebrew, on the track
"Trout."
R.E.M. topped the Billboard
Modern Rock Tracks chart for 5 weeks with
"Drive."
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Drive."
 Automatic
For The People was certified 2x platinum.
 # 27
Singles Artist of the Year
Stipe and Mills took part n
MTV's Rock & Roll Inaugural Ball.
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Man On The Moon."
R.E.M. won a Brit Award for Best
International Group.
R.E.M. could be heard on the Coneheads soundtrack
with "It's A Free World Baby."
The video for "Man On The
Moon" was nominated for 6 MTV Video Music
Awards including Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, and Viewer's Choice.
 R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Everybody Hurts."
Rolling
Stone: "The 100 Top Music Videos" included Losing My Religion" at # 3, "Man On The Moon" at # 41, and "Orange
Crush" at # 93.
R.E.M. hit the Top 10 with "Everybody Hurts."
Automatic
For The People was certified 3x platinum.
 # 49
Singles Artist of the Year
R.E.M. were honored with the
Rock the Vote Patrick Lippert Award.
R.E.M. were nominated for 4 Grammy
Awards for Album of the Year and
"), Best Alternative Music
Performance (Automatic
For The People), Best Pop Performance by a Duo
or Group with Vocal ("Man On The Moon"), and Best Music
Video, Short Form ("Everybody Hurts").
Green was certified 2x
platinum.
 The video for
"Everybody Hurts" won 4 MTV Video Music
Awards including Breakthrough Video, Best Direction (Jake Scott), Best Editing (Pat Sheffield), and Best Cinematography (Harris Savides), and
was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, and the Viewer's Choice.
R.E.M. released Monster. The LP continued the
band's commercial and critical success and
the band began touring again after a six year
break, and found sold-out stadiums. Many fans
and critics also argued Monster showed R.E.M.
returning to their original raw
rock/alternative sounds. Hits from the LP
included "What's The Frequency,
Kenneth?", "Bang And Blame," "Crush
With Eyeliner," and "Tongue."
R.E.M. topped the Billboard
Modern Rock Tracks chart for 5 weeks with
"What's The Frequency,
Kenneth?"
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"What's The Frequency,
Kenneth?."
Monster topped the Billboard
Pop Albums chart for 2 weeks.
R.E.M. performed on Saturday
Night Live.
R.E.M. hit the Top 10 with "What's The Frequency,
Kenneth?."
Monster was certified 2x
platinum.
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Bang And Blame."
R.E.M. topped the Billboard
Modern Rock Tracks chart for 3 weeks with
"Bang And Blame."
 # 28
Singles Artist of the Year
R.E.M. hit the Top 10 with "Bang And Blame."
R.E.M. were named Best Band by Rolling
Stone (Critic's Choice), won a Brit
Award for Best International Act, and headed
out on a world tour.
Automatic
For The People was certified 5x platinum.
R.E.M. cancelled the remaining
European tour dates after Berry underwent a
craniotomy for a ruptured aneurysm on his
brain. Monster was certified 3x
platinum.
R.E.M. were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album (Monster).
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Strange Currencies."
More concert dates are cancelled
in Europe when Mills had surgery to remove a
intestinal tumor.
Monster was certified 4x
platinum.
R.E.M. were honored with the
Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music
Awards and the video for "What's The Frequency,
Kenneth?" was nominated for Viewer's Choice.
 # 60
Singles Artist of the Year
R.E.M. was named Best Band and
Best Tour by the readers of Rolling
Stone and Best Band by the critics.
R.E.M. contributed the track
"Sponge" to the Sweet
Relief II compilation to benefit the
rainforests.
 New
Adventures In Hi-Fi was released.
Although R.E.M. had just signed a record deal
with Warner Brothers for 80 million dollars,
the new LP was much less of a success than
previous efforts - but the critical acclaim
continued for the LP. Rolling
Stone called the LP
"...R.E.M.'s most ambitious album to
date..."
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"E-Bow The Letter."
The video for "Tongue"
was nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Art Direction.
New
Adventures In Hi-Fi topped the UK
LP chart for 2 weeks.
R.E.M. hit the Top 40 with
"Bittersweet Me."
New
Adventures In Hi-Fi was certified
platinum.
 # 145
Singles Artist of the Year
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