R.E.M. on this Day

On this day in 1997, three weeks after Bill Berry broke the news of his decision to retire from music to his closest friends, MTV were informed and duly dispatched a camera crew to R.E.M. HQ, where the rest of the band join the drummer for their last television interview as an active foursome.

Released on this day in 2003.

YouTube video by johnnyreb REM BBC Later with Jools Holland 1998

Recorded on this day in 1998. An hour-long set at the Beeb.

On this day in 1997, R.E.M. informed Warner Bros. that Bill was leaving the band. The label’s president, Steve Baker, flew to Athens from Los Angeles.

On this day in 1987, 'Pop Song 89' was given a live debut at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Natalie Merchant guested on ‘Swan Swan H’.

YouTube video by remhq R.E.M. - The Great Beyond (Official Music Video)

Released on this day in 1999.

On this day in 1998, R.E.M. released their eleventh studio album, Up. It was co-produced by Pat McCarthy.

On this day in 1992, Automatic for the People debuted at its #2 peak in the United States.

YouTube video by steelygray R.E.M. - Daysleeper - 22-10-1998 [high quality]

On this day in 1998, the band made its first live television appearance in three years.

Rolling Stone's front cover on this day in 1994.

YouTube video by longvermontroads Let's Active (Mitch Easter) on I.R.S. Records Presents The Cutting Edge

And a visit by The Cutting Edge.

Randomness, but Let's Active playing at the Drive-In in 1984. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prrn...

On this day in 1996, the band appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.

A photo taken on this day in 1983 at Drumlins in Syracuse, New York. The venue was the basement hall of a country club with, according to Daniel Murray, around 100 people in attendance.

YouTube video by REMVEVO R.E.M. - Nightswimming (Later… with Jools Holland on BBC1, 14 October 2003)

One of the four songs recorded for the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland on this day in 2003.

A photo of the band taken backstage at Eldorado in Paris on this day in 1985.

YouTube video by remhq R.E.M. - The Great Beyond (Official Music Video)

Recorded on this day in 1999, directed by Liz Friedlander.

YouTube video by johnnyreb REM BBC Later with Jools Holland 1998

On this day in 1998, ‘Daysleeper’ was released in as the first single off Up, with ‘Emphysema’ as the B-side on the 7” and CD releases.

The Rolling Stones made slightly more at the end of their American tour this year: $35 million.

On this day in 1981, R.E.M. played Von Henmon’s in Columbia, South Carolina. “We came back from one tour and found that we’d only made $37,” remembered Peter. “So three of us got evicted. We said, ‘What are we going to do?’ So we got back in the van and went back on tour.”

On this day in 1981, mixing for Chronic Town was in progress. “I think we only worked two or three days,” Peter recalled. “It was a really fast thing. It was the first time we went into the studio where we could hear the end result kind of sounding like the way we wanted it to sound.”

On this day in 1983, R.E.M., supported by The Community Trolls, performed at Stitch Craft, Inc., an old sewing factory on Oconee Street in Athens, opposite the church.

Remembering Bill Rieflin on what would have been his 65th birthday.

On this day in 1984, R.E.M. played the Auditorium at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. The concert is featured on the bootleg Philadelphia 1984, naturally.

On this day in 1990, Tourfilm, which documents the final five nights of the Green World Tour, was released in the U.S. It features 17 songs, recorded in Roanoke and Hampton, Virginia; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Macon and Atlanta, Georgia.

On this day 30 years ago, Patti Smith joined the band onstage for the first time, at the New World Music Theater in Tinsley Park, Illinois, for a version of ‘Dancing Barefoot’ during the encores.

Re: Near Wild Heaven. @millsish.bsky.social

On this day 14 years ago, R.E.M. announced, via their website, that after 31 years, five months and seventeen days together, they were “calling it a day” as a creative unit. They had released fifteen studio albums and 63 singles during their career.