UPDATE 1 -- R.E.M. rock band 'calls it a day', thanks fans

News_Editor · September 21, 2011

UPDATE 1 -- R.E.M. rock band 'calls it a day', thanks fans

2011-09-22 00:51:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

LOS ANGELES (BNO NEWS) -- The popular American rock band R.E.M. on Wednesday announced it is splitting up after more than 30 years, the group said in a statement.

R.E.M. was formed in Georgia in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. After dropping out of school and finding a manager, the group recorded its first single 'Radio Free Europe' in the summer of 1981.

Over the following years, R.E.M. became hugely popular with songs such as "The One I Love", "It's the End of the World as We Know It", "Orange Crush", "Stand," and "Losing My Religion." The group sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and won three Grammy Awards in 1992.

But Berry left the group in 1997 and R.E.M.'s success slowly faded away, although the remaining three band members continued to make songs. This year, R.E.M. released four new singles on the album "Collapse into Now", but none of them made it to the charts.

On Wednesday, R.E.M. said the group would break up but did not say whether they would continue alone. "To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band," the group said in a statement.

It added: "We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening."

Thaddeus · September 21, 2011

I like the dog.

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes,

an aeroplane - Lenny Bruce is not afraid.

Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn,

world serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs.

Feed it off an aux speak,, grunt, no, strength,

The ladder starts to clatter with fear fight down height.

Wire in a fire, representing seven games, a government for hire and a combat site.

Left of west and coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.

Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped.

Look at that low playing!

Fine, then.

Uh oh, overflow, population, common food, but it'll do.

Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture and the revered and the right - right.

You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.

It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign towers.

Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn.

Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood letting.

Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate.

Light a candle, light a votive. Step down, step down.

Watch your heel crush, crushed. Uh-oh, this means no fear cavalier.

Renegade steer clear! A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies.

Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.

It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)