The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.
A Biography
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • An electrifying cultural biography of the greatest and last American rock band of the millennium, whose music ignited a generation—and reasserted the power of rock and roll
"[Carlin's] unique gift for capturing the sweep and tenor of a cultural moment...is here on brilliant display." —Michael Chabon
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 rock’n’roll 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Possibly more than any other major band of the ’80s and ’90s, R.E.M. built their reputation on both the quality of their music and their quirky mystique. The lyrics were often hard to understand—or even hear—and the band members often didn’t even appear in their own videos. And because they’ve always been press shy, journalist Peter Ames Carlin had to put this detailed biography together without the band's direct involvement. But because of that, he dug even deeper into research and interviews that provide fascinating details, especially from the band’s early days. (Who’d have guessed that seemingly nerdy bassist Mike Mills was the hardest partier in the group?) As a result, this isn’t just an enlightening rediscovery of a great band, it’s an indispensable document of how the post-punk college radio indie scene went mainstream without losing its DIY values.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Carlin (Sonic Boom) brilliantly captures how a "spunky alternative band whose singer spoke in riddles" became a powerhouse that brought alt rock into the mainstream. After meeting in the college town of Athens, Ga., Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe made their debut as R.E.M. at a house party in 1980. Shaping their sound in an Athens alt rock scene built by such bands as the B-52s—and embracing an "outsider" label amid what they viewed as the era's social and political conformity—the band amassed enough of a following to play arena shows, despite relatively modest sales for their 1982 debut EP Chronic Town. Thanks to hit song "Losing My Religion," their breakout album, 1991's Out of Time, sold more than three million copies in the U.S. in its first year, propelling the band to mainstream success with "catchy," energetic songs paired with "melancholic" lyrics and paving the way for groups like Nirvana. Vividly bringing to life the political and cultural ferment of the 1990s—the waning optimism of the Clinton era, Kurt Cobain's suicide—Carlin examines how R.E.M. balanced their "countercultural" ethos with the commercial appeal it brought them, touching on what it means for rock when the "rebels" become the "dominant culture." Kinetic prose elevates this perceptive portrait of one of America's most vital bands.
