Wednesday marked the end of an era, the end of a band and possibly the end of the world as we know it. After more than 30 years, the popular Athens, Georgia-based alternative group R.E.M. has officially disbanded.
While their steadily fantastic careers had to end sometime, the members of the band have absolutely no animosity toward each other — that just wouldn't be their style.
This four-man group stuck together for three decades, never changing members. If they could stand each other for that long, then it's not a fight that could have changed their minds. They were just out of things to say through their music and ready to retire.
R.E.M.'s music isn't the most popular, catchy thing on the planet. But it's fun and beautiful and sometimes quite moving. The band definitely has its own sound, but none of the songs ever sound quite the same.
Between the orchestrated sound and the almost unintelligible lyrics, R.E.M. has always been more about the making of the music than putting a message into the songs.
That isn't to say that there is no message. The more recent the album, the more pointed the lyrics are.
After all, with 30 years worth of time to make a point, you need to have said something worth knowing at the end of it all.
At the end of the day, R.E.M. was just a group of slightly off-beat Southern guys who wanted to make music together. Their success has created the inspiration for a booming music scene in their hometown of Athens, and their music has inspired countless other musicians to follow their dreams as well.
They might not be together anymore, but there are plenty of bands out there that are only making music because a band like R.E.M. paved the way for them many years ago.
