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

(Hardback, Large Print Edition)

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In the spring of 1980, an unexpected group of musical eccentrics came together to play their very first performance at a college party in Athens, Georgia. Within a few short years, they had taken over the world with smash records like Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster and Green. Raw, outrageous, and expressive, R.E.M.s distinctive musical flair was unmatched, and a string of mega-successes solidified them as generational spokesmen. In the tumultuous transition between the wide-open 80s and the anxiety of the early 90s, R.E.M. challenged the corporate and social order, chasing a vision and cultivating a magnetic, transgressive sound.

In this rich, intimate biography, critically acclaimed author Peter Ames Carlin looks beyond the sex, drugs, and rocknroll to open a window into the fascinating lives of four college friends Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry who stuck together at any cost, until the end. Deeply descriptive and remarkably poetic, steeped in 80s and 90s nostalgia, The Name of This Band is R.E.M. paints a cultural history of the commercial peak and near-total collapse of a great music era, and the story of the generation that came of age at the apotheosis of rock.

Reviews

A book for fans with the voices of fans. The pleasure is much deeper than simply nostalgia. The story of R.E.M. is a reminder of who we were, and perhaps who we still hope to be.

Chicago Tribune

Carlin writes vividly and in close detail about the group's formation and early days. . . [Carlin] is a pro at gathering and unspooling the facts. . . [He] clearly loves the songs and is smart about not just the most popular of them. . . [The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.] gets across all the fundamentals, with both affection and discernment.

Washington Post

Vivid....Peter Ames Carlin's book isnt just a cultural biography of the band going back to its formation in the-then sleepy college town of Athens, Georgia. Its also a poetic meditation on what made so many of the bands songs stand out, and continue to shine.... A fascinating history of a different era in music.

Associated Press

Author Bio

Peter Ames Carlin is the author of several books, including Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, published in 2021, and Bruce, the biography of Bruce Springsteen published in 2012. Carlin has also been a freelance journalist, a senior writer at People in New York City, and a television columnist and feature writer at The Oregonian in Portland. A regular speaker on music, writing, and popular culture, Carlin lives in Seattle.