R.E.M. STORIES

~ Type About Your Passion ~

MISSION STATEMENT

This began as an “oral history style book project” — working title, “R.E.M. Stories: Talk About The Passion” — assembled entirely via email. Lo and behold, R.E.M.: Talk About The Passion already exists as an oral history, published in 1994. Whether we publish or not, while not immaterial, is firmly on the back burner. The priority is soliciting and curating personal stories of R.E.M.’s impact over the last several decades. This may turn into a Patreon project. It may be a tiered-access project via our website. Again: We are letting the Stories show us the way forward.

This project got underway and has been inspired by Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy & Friends touring once again, this time to promote the 40th anniversary tribute of Lifes Rich Pageant. Jason has been interviewed about his obsession with Document, and his own personal R.E.M. story. Touring guitarist Dag Juhlin spoke on a podcast about Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe and their endorsement of the Shannon/Narducy project. Moreover, Shannon/Narducy have the full support of R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs and the R.E.M. office. It was mentioned that the R.E.M. guys are humbled by all the interest, and are well aware of the impact their band has had on countless lives the world over. It is the goal of this project to explore and probe and analyze and dig deeper into that impact.

We have begun to solicit and curate R.E.M. stories. An ongoing theme and through-line is, e.g., “I was born in 1969. Why couldn’t I have been born in 1962, so I would have been a 20-year-old college student when R.E.M. came to (Your City) for the first time?” A major goal is for contributors to articulate just what R.E.M. meant to them at first blush, be that in 1981 or 1991. (Or, believe it or not, in 2021.) Especially 40+ years ago, young R.E.M. fans were voting with their feet, but what was it exactly they were signing onto? R.E.M. in its early years would become synonymous with terms like “college rock” — what did the band and this burgeoning movement mean, and why & how did they change and inspire so many young lives?

We are starting here and seeing where contributors’ unique R.E.M. Stories take us. It is fully expected that some heretofore unknown fans will contribute. There is great interest in collecting stories from fellow musicians, including (but hardly limited to) those from the same time period who met up with R.E.M. at some juncture and whose careers careened off in different directions. It is also expected that certain individuals will have not-so-nice things to say, even as they acknowledge R.E.M.’s impact. We are interested in quality and quantity and the fullest picture possible.