A comprehensive archive of R.E.M. articles from newspapers, magazines and online.

By Ray Pride
11.08.99
Playboy.com

While he's published books of his photography, Michael Stipe is best known as the frontman for supergroup R.E.M. For most of the past decade, he's also quietly gone about a mission of changing the face of American movies. As a producer, he's put his interests and time behind projects both large and small, such as the remarkably funny documentary on no-budget filmmaking, American Movie. But his biggest splash to date is Being John Malkovich, the surreal, subversive comedy of what goes on in the minds of those who wonder what goes on in the minds of celebrities, written by first-timer Charlie Kaufman and directed by video wonder Spike Jonze.

Being John Malkovich takes big chances, starting with its nutty concept, its casting-against-type (John Cusack as a sniveling puppeteer; Cameron Diaz made ordinary as his unloved wife) and working through to its weird and farcical conclusion. It's filled with the kind of artistry that doesn't come from formula. We talked on a recent Saturday morning in New York, Stipe walking into the room with a freshly made omelet and hash browns.

Playboy.com: So what prompted you to produce?

Michael Stipe: I've been working in film for 12 years, which most people don't know. Probably the only thing that came out with something of a wide release was Velvet Goldmine, the Todd Haynes glam-rock film. But I've done six feature films. Most of the stuff I've done is really under the radar.

PB: What do you like about film?

MS: Like music, it's a very powerful medium. I'm drawn to it. I'm a photographer myself, and I have a lot of friends who work in the film business. There was a point in the early Nineties where I'd been working on very, very guerrilla independent films for a couple of years. Then I wanted to go Hollywood! I knew a lot of people who were incredibly frustrated with the material that they were offered as actors or directors or editors or writers or lighting people or what have you. Naively, I thought, Well, I'll just create another film company that will make movies that don't suck. It's just as easy as that.

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By Jim Bessman
11.05.99
Billboard Magazine

When it came time to score Milos Forman's eagerly awaited Andy Kaufman biopic, "Man On The Moon," the appropriate composer was obvious. After all, the title was lifted from R.E.M.'s 1992 single, itself a tribute to the late comedian whose bizarre but brilliant antics are re-enacted in the Universal/Jersey Films picture.

The film, which stars Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, and Paul Giamatti, opens Dec. 25. The soundtrack is being released on R.E.M.'s label, Warner Bros., in conjunction with Jersey Records; it bows Nov. 23.

Besides containing the group's first movie score, the soundtrack includes the title-track hit, which originally appeared on the 1992 album "Automatic For The People." The set also boasts two new songs: the radio single "The Great Beyond" and "This Friendly World," which is performed by the band with Carrey, who plays Kaufman.

Other soundtrack songs include a warped version of "I Will Survive" as performed by Kaufman's outrageous lounge singer alter ego, Tony Clifton; Exile's pop hit "Kiss You All Over"; Kaufman's own versions of "Rose Marie" and "One More Song For You"; and the Sandpipers' 1958 recording of the "Mighty Mouse" theme, the chorus of which was triumphantly lip-synced by Kaufman on his historic "Saturday Night Live" debut in 1975.

The movie essentially celebrates that and other (in)famous Kaufman gags, so for good reason, the promotional CD for "The Great Beyond" is subtitled "R.E.M. Celebrates Andy Kaufman."

Kaufman's untimely 1984 death from cancer at age 35 was considered by many to be just another hoax, as his best friend and collaborator Bob Zmuda recounts in his recently published biography, "Andy Kaufman Revealed!"

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By Dakota Smith
10.27.99
Sonicnet

R.E.M. won't be eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for several years, but another museum has already taken in the influential Athens, Ga., band.

"Rapid Eye Movement: R.E.M. on Television," a comprehensive exhibit of visual and audio material, is on display at the New York and Los Angeles branches of the Museum of Television & Radio through Nov. 28.

"If people find it interesting and noteworthy, and worth putting on exhibition into an institution, we're certainly appreciative," the band's manager, Bertis Downs, said. The band has yet to see the exhibit, Downs said, although singer Michael Stipe did sit for an interview with the museum in October that's included in the display.

Through music videos, tapes of television appearances, radio spots and a couple of documentary films, the exhibit traces R.E.M.'s evolution from college-radio cult band to rock stars.

The exhibit is part of the museum's ongoing series saluting performers for whom television has played an important role in achieving success. Past exhibitions at the museum have focused on singer Janet Jackson and the late comedian Andy Kaufman.

Including R.E.M. in the series wasn't a difficult choice, said Arthur Smith, a curatorial assistant at the museum. "R.E.M. [have] been in the forefront of innovation in terms of their visual presentation."

"We have been around for a while and done quite a few videos and films of concerts," Downs said.

As part of the R.E.M. exhibition, the museum compiled a 90-minute film that includes "MTV Unplugged" performances; such music videos as "Everybody Hurts" (RealAudio excerpt), "Man on the Moon" and "Losing My Religion"; and clips from the 1995 documentary "Rough Cut" and numerous television appearances.

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By David Daley
10.18.99
Hartford Courant

Michael Stipe had very little interest in film when R.E.M.'s murky,mysterious jangle first emerged from the backwoods of Athens, GA.,more than 15 years ago.

That band's early videos were as impressionistic and allusive as Stipe's lyrics but tended to be simple reflections of the band members rustic, rural surroundings. They wandered about famous Georgian folk artist Howard Finster's farm in the "Radio Free Europe" clip set "Can't Get there from Here" at a roadside stand and a Southern drive-in and "Driver 8" along a long-hidden Athens train tracks.

R.E.M.'s sound grew more accessible, spawing hits like "Losing My Religion" and "The One I Love." But its videos only became more arty and ambitious, like the moody, black and white clip for "Man on the Moon" and the award-winning "Everybody Hurts." which showed the lonely, personal thoughts of drivers stuck in freeway traffic, who slowly abandon their cars and walk away.

Along the band's journey from the margins to the mainstream, Stipe discovered a love for making movies. He co-founded two film-production companies and gave unknown young directors the opportunity to make high-profile R.E.M. videos. And just as R.E.M. influenced a generation of 80's college radio sound-alikes-and profoundly affected the teen-agers who would define the arty, uncompromising side of 90's alt-rock, like Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Stipe and his young proteges are now makng the prescence felt in the film world.

Stipe's Single Cell films produced two of the fall's most talked-about independent films "Being John Malkovich" and "American Movie" Malkovich which co-stars John Cusack Cameron Diaz, and yes, John Malkovich, is the directoral debut for Spike Jonz, who made his name with the music videos for the Beastie Boys "Sabatage" Weezer's "Buddy Holly" and R.E.M.'s "Crush with Eyeliner."

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By Gil Kaufman
10.07.99
Sonicnet

The upcoming soundtrack to the late comedian Andy Kaufman's biographical film "Man on the Moon" will represent a number of firsts for arty folk-rockers R.E.M.

In addition to being the veteran band's first score for a film, the soundtrack will feature the rockers collaborating with the movie's star, comedian Jim Carrey, who will join singer Michael Stipe on the song "This Friendly World."

"Because most of the stuff we did was instrumental, the onus was really on [bassist] Mike [Mills] and [guitarist] Peter [Buck] instead of me for once," Stipe said with a laugh while recording the album earlier this year. "I'm more like an ancillary conductor sitting on the sideline, saying stuff like, 'That's too jolly, let's do more of a Keystone Kops thing here.' That's the kind of direction I give."

Man on the Moon, starring Carrey as the late comedian and Hole singer Courtney Love as his girlfriend, is due to hit theaters Dec. 25. Kaufman (1949-1984), best known for playing mechanic Latka Gravas on the sitcom "Taxi," was an envelope-pushing comedian controversial for his bizarre stunts, such as wrestling women on TV. His comedy was so avant-garde that many fans suspected his death from lung cancer - he didn't smoke - was a hoax.

The 15-track score album hits stores a month earlier, on Nov. 23. The film was directed by Milos Forman ("The People vs. Larry Flynt").

Although Stipe said Buck and Mills mostly ran the ship during the album's recording, the singer will have his chance to shine not only on the first single, "The Great Beyond," but on a duet with Carrey. The unlikely pair share a microphone on the song "This Friendly World," according to a source close to the project who requested anonymity.

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By John Metzger
10.02.99
The Music Box

Scientists have stated that every particle has an anti-particle, yet they've struggled to find much of the anti-matter that makes up our universe. Here's a suggestion -- look no further than the New World Music Theatre in Tinley Park, Illinois. There's no question that this venue is the anti-matter equivalent of Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado.

It's impossible not to feel cheated by the owners of the World, given that they had forced the closure of the more music-friendly Poplar Creek. Since then, Chicago audiences have had to endure the overpriced, cramped confines of the World and have been subjected to its horrible sight lines and pitiful acoustics. As if this isn't enough, the theater's owners have found a new way to torture their patrons, while increasing the returns on their investment. Between sets, they are broadcasting commercials on the World's two video screens. Like some weird homage to A Clockwork Orange, a commercial for a prominent airline and one for a cellular phone company were broadcast repeatedly for forty minutes. Needless to say, I will never utilize either of these companies' services again since the mere mention of their names has become exceptionally nauseating.

The World has never been a good place to see a concert, and every summer concludes with the same vow not to return, but this seems to be a promise whose destiny is to be broken. Some bands only pass through Chicago in the summer, making the World the only viable option. This year, promoters worked their financial magic to bring together several unique pairings, making it all the more difficult to "just say no."

The latest of these was R.E.M. and Wilco, who combined their talents for what should have been a blockbuster concert on August 20. Unfortunately, both bands were robbed by the World's inherent sound problems, which one can only hope will be improved by the money brought in from the commercials.

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By Michael Fleming
09.23.99
Variety

With its "Being John Malkovich" ready to open after an upbeat reception at the Venice Film Fest, Single Cell Pictures - the film company hatched by R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe - is ready to move forward with "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing," a project Stipe hopes will take root at USA Films. That's where Stipe and partner Sandy Stern's three-year-old Single Cell has a first-look deal.

"Conversations" is an ensemble piece with five intersecting stories, all on the subject of karma. Jill and Karen Sprecher wrote the script, and the former will direct. The sisters last did the film "Clockwatchers." Gina Resnick, who produced that pic, will join Stipe and Stern on the project.

Stipe and Stern hope "Malkovich" will give their shingle momentum, though Stipe's next screen move may be to combine his two companies: He also partners with "Girlstown" director Jim McCay in C-00, which they set up long ago to make arthouse films.

Single Cell was set up to do larger films: It exec produced "Velvet Goldmine" and produced the Showtime pic "Freak City."

Stipe and Stern hope to get "Conversations" in production this fall. They also are talking to writer-directors on a project they optioned at USA based on a newspaper article about a New Jersey priest who skimmed the collection plate to finance a secret life as an Atlantic City casino high-roller, complete with condo, Jaguar and girlfriend.

Single Cell is also shopping a TV series about the inner workings of the music business with actor-turned-director Robby Benson. Stipe, Stern, Benson and Benson's wife Carla DeVito are meeting with networks and will create and write the series together.

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By Scott McLennan
09.13.99
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

And in the end, brains won.

It was the last night of the R.E.M tour; the last night of the summer concert series at the Tweeter Center; and an event billed as the millennium-ending show at the venue originally called Great Woods.

The band's two-and-a-half-hour concert Saturday was a triumph not only for R.E.M. but for a rock audience abused much of the summer by angry chump rock.

R.E.M. -- opening its show with 'Lotus' and 'What's the Frequency, Kenneth?' -- showed itself as capable as any rock band when it came to offering raw power.

But as the concert progressed, the band dug deeper into its collective psyche to pull out a rainbow of emotions. R.E.M. sang about fear, hope, love and faith in a sprawling show that went heavy on cuts off the latest album, 'Up' and touched back all the way to the band's beginnings with the rarely played 'Radio Free Europe.'

And to hear a band cover the range of human emotions without once using the word 'nookie' was itself worth the price of admission.

R.E.M. tied together its lengthy catalog of material in an interesting way, choosing to play rich album cuts as often, if not more frequently, than the better-known 'hits.'

Thus, off 'Automatic for the People,' for example, we got 'Find The River' and 'Sweetness Follows,' both sounding as brilliant as that disc's signature tune, 'Man on the Moon.'

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By Sarah Rodman
09.13.99
Boston Herald

R.E.M. closed out its summer tour Saturday night with a bang. And a crash. And a clatter. And some feedback.

Early in the two-hour show, wiggly lead singer Michael Stipe warned that the group might feel a little melancholy on this last night. But by the time they reached the jubilant, chaotic, cymbal toppling, keyboard attacking, breathless collapse of "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'' the utter joy etched on the faces of Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and their three able support musicians had spread like wildfire to the near capacity crowd at the Tweeter Center.

It was an epiphanic ending to a night that encompassed breathtaking musical highs and watch-checking moments of ennui as the Georgia group finished its first tour without original drummer Bill Berry, in support of their likewise Berry-less 1998 album "Up.''

More than three dozen neon signs littered the airspace over the stage - an airplane, an ad for www.remhq.com, a figure flipping the bird - blinking on and off at patternless intervals as the band took the stage and ripped into the snarling, angular "Lotus.'' Seeing Buck kick up his legs, Stipe in his many layers and Mills covered in glitter and spangles meant all was right in the world.

For fans of any band with 20 years behind them, a show is often only as good as each individual's personal song list-wish fulfillment. Saturday's set, heavily weighted toward the last two records, the excellent "Up'' and the spottier "New Adventures in Hi-Fi,'' might have been disappointing to some hard-core college rock fans. Following a jittery "What's the Frequency Kenneth?'' and an urgent "So Fast, So Numb,'' the band reached back to 1982 EP "Chronic Town'' for the jangle fiesta of "Wolves, Lower.''

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By Carrie Borzillo
09.13.99
Allstar

In an effort to spend more time on record producing, Joey Waronker, who's been doing double duty for Beck and R.E.M., has decided to narrow down his drumming work to R.E.M.

"Joey has decided to dedicate the next year to becoming a full-time record producer and in order to be able to do that he had to pick the band that was touring the least," says Waronker's manager Jeff Antebi of Waxploitation. "And that band is R.E.M."

Waronker, however, will appear on Beck's new album, which will most likely be titled Midnite Vultures (Nov. 16, Interscope), and will appear with him at the Coachella Valley Music and Artist Festival on Oct. 9 in Indio, Calif., says Antebi. He'll likely be on the next recordings from R.E.M. as well.

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