Outside the Beltway

OTB Latenight — r.e.m. (Breakup Edition)

Dodd Harris · Thursday, September 22, 2011 · 1 comment

r.e.m., my longtime favourite band, announced Wednesday that they’re breaking up after 31 years and 15 albums.

“A wise man once said — ‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it,” frontman Michael Stipe said in a statement on the website.

“I hope our fans realize this wasn’t an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.”

I admit I’m surprised. Their new album was their best in years. Here’s to the memories:

FILED UNDER: Uncategorized, Late Night OTB

About Dodd Harris

Dodd, who used to run a blog named ipse dixit, is an attorney, a veteran of the United States Navy, and a fairly good poker player. He contributed over 650 pieces to OTB between May 2007 and September 2013. Follow him on Twitter @Amuk3.

Comments

Brett says:

Thursday, 22 September 2011 at 21:44

I guess Michael Stipe is now free to fight zombies.

More seriously, this is sad news. I was too young to really get into R.E.M. when they started becoming popular, but I enjoyed a great deal of their music.