Why R.E.M. Called It Quits

“Do we still want to be out there flogging it?”

On September 21st, Michael Stipe and R.E.M. issued a brief statement on their Web site:

“A wise man once said, ‘The skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together… now we’re going to walk away from it.”

But why?

Now Rolling Stone reveals that “R.E.M. actually made their decision a few months ago, before they met in Athens, Georgia, this summer to record three new songs for a two-CD greatest hits package, ‘R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011‘, out November 15th.”

‘We’d say things like, ‘We have X number of records in the contract,’ Mike Mills says. ‘By the time we finish, we’ll be X number of years old. Do we still want to be out there flogging it? We needed to prove, not only to our fans and critics, but to ourselves, that we could still make great records, and we made two. We thought, ‘We’ve done it. Now let’s do something no other band has done: Shake hands and walk away as friends.”

On September 24th, Coldplay and Chris Martin performed a tribute to R.E.M. at Music Midtown, singing ‘Everybody Hurts.’