Thirteen years after REM disbanded, the original members of the iconic rock group reunited ahead of their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame Thursday night to reflect on the highs and lows of their career.
“You know, we live or die on the strength of our songs. So this is a great honor,” guitarist Peter Buck said on “CBS Mornings,” speaking before the induction ceremony in New York and during the group's first interview together in 30 years.
“It's the hardest thing we do. And it's what we've worked on the most from the beginning,” bassist Mike Mills told CBS' Anthony Mason.
“Because we had to,” said drummer Bill Berry. “I mean, really, from the beginning, just to put food on the table, we had to write songs as fast as we could.”
The indie rock group formed as college students at the University of Georgia in Athens in the early 1980s before abandoning their studies to pursue music full time. They gained local recognition before releasing their critically acclaimed debut album, “Murmur,” in 1983, which The Times named the No. 2 album of the year.
The quartet met in the studio every day with a list of ideas and exchanged them to see if anyone would get inspired. Mills, Buck and Berry would write the music and then give it to vocalist Michael Stipe to write the lyrics.
“Michael, of course, is one of the greatest melodists in the world,” Mills said.
That much is clear, given the group's recognition by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which seeks to celebrate the legacies and careers of songwriters across all musical genres. This year's class of inductees also includes Hillary Lindsey, Timbaland, Dean Pitchford and Steely Dan.
Some of REM's biggest songs surprised rockers, particularly their signature hit, the Grammy-winning “Losing My Religion.”
“I love the song, but we never thought it was going to be a hit,” Stipe said of the 1991 song.
“It's like a bumblebee. They shouldn't be able to fly. “That song shouldn’t have been a hit,” Mills added.
It was the end of the world as the band knew it in 2013, when they broke up after more than three decades of what The Times characterized as “uncompromising artistic integrity.” Influenced to some extent by the brain aneurysm Berry suffered onstage in 1995 and his subsequent departure, the rockers decided it was time to take a final bow.
“We feel like pioneers in this: there is no discord, no fights, no confrontations between lawyers here,” Mills wrote at the time. “We have made this decision together, amicably and thinking about the best interest of each one. It seems like the time is right.”
The four have stayed busy since then. Berry traded international stages for a hay farm in Georgia after his departure, but has since rejoined the Athens music scene with Bad Ends, who released a debut album in 2022. Buck has released three solo albums in addition to music with former REM touring member Scott. McCaughey and collaborated with singer-songwriters Joseph Arthur and Luke Haines. Mills has remained on tour, playing for bands like his longtime favorite, Big Star. Stipe has largely stepped out of the spotlight, appearing occasionally for philanthropic causes or to honor other artists, including the Velvet Underground. He also published four books featuring his photography.
Buck shed more light on the band's breakup on Thursday.
“There was nothing we could agree on musically. What kind of music, how to record it. Are we going on tour? You know, it was like we could barely agree on where to go to dinner,” she said. “And now we can agree on where to go to dinner.”
Recalling the breakup, Stipe praised how the rockers “are also here to tell the story.”
“We are sitting together at the same table with deep admiration and a lifelong friendship. A lot of people who do this can’t claim that,” she said.
