The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.: A Biography

R.E.M. changed my life. I was a college junior when I bought their first album, Murmur, and had my mind blown by its opener “Radio Free Europe.” Of course, as a nonconformist, I lost interest once they signed to a major label and became popular. But I'll never forget sitting alone in a preppy New England college dorm room, convinced that Michael Stipe and his bandmates were reaching out to me all the way from their weird kudzu-draped world of Athens, Georgia.

So, unsurprisingly, I devoured this book and had a grand old nostalgic time listening to my favorite R.E.M. songs as I read. The members of the band declined to be interviewed for the project, although they helped Carlin connect with dozens of friends, fellow musicians and professional associates. The result is a respectful, at times worshipful, account of the band's fortuitous formation, gradual ascent, and amicable dissolution. Michael, Peter, Mike, and Bill come across as nice, hardworking guys who just loved to make music together. The fact that they went from playing in college town bars to headlining world tours wasn't quite accidental, but fame was never their raison d'etre.

Carlin's attempts to link R.E.M.'s inscrutable lyrics to the deepest recesses of vocalist Michael Stipe's mind are at best educated guesses in the absence of Stipe's own confirmation or denial. Though Carlin presents very little new information about the band, at least there are no shocking revelations that would have tarnished my memories. He briefly addresses the “did R.E.M. sell out” question, only to conclude that selling millions of albums and maintaining artistic control was just the band using capitalism to “project their weird vision in such a powerful way that they couldn't be ignored.”YMMV if you're looking for deep insights or fresh perspectives, but I enjoyed this straightforward, comprehensive history of the band that meant so much to me. R.E.M. notably turned down a $3 million offer from Microsoft to license “It's the End Of the World As We Know It” to advertise the launch of Windows 95. The Rolling Stones were happy to sell out, supplying MS with “Start Me Up” at the bargain price of approximately $8 million.