R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe was born on this date in 1960. While the band broke up in 2011, R.E.M.’s influence can be heard in the music of countless acts that followed in their footsteps.
Stipe, who today turns 61, frequently moved as the child of a U.S. Army serviceman. Michael attended the University of Georgia in Athens, where he formed R.E.M. with guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry in 1980. The quartet slowly and steadily built a following in the early-1980s due in part to a relentless touring schedule and constant string of studio releases.
R.E.M. went from darlings of college radio to one of the top-selling bands in the world over the decade that followed with 1988’s Green, 1991’s Out Of Time and 1992’s Automatic For The People each a massive commercial and critical success. The quartet promoted Out Of Time by filming an episode of MTV Unplugged on April 10, 1991. Ten years later, R.E.M. became the first act to headline Unplugged twice when they returned for an installment of the famed program that can be viewed below.
Bill Berry departed R.E.M. in 1997. The trio of Stipe, Mills and Buck was augmented by drummer Joey Waronker and multi-instrumentalists Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow at MTV’s TRL Studio in New York City on May 21, 2001 to film their second episode of Unplugged.
A total of 10 songs from R.E.M.’s 2001 session appeared on an hour-long episode of Unplugged. Six additional tunes were filmed but not broadcast. The band released audio of both full sets in 2014 as Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions.
The 2001 episode of Unplugged featuring R.E.M. includes stripped down versions of “All The Way To Reno” and “Imitation Of Life” from their new album at the time, Reveal. The group also went back to their 80s output for “So. Central Rain” off 1984’s Reckoning and “Cuyahoga” from 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant. Additionally, 1991’s Out Of Time was represented by “Losing My Religion” and “Country Feedback,” while the setlist was rounded out by Automatic For The People’s “Find The River,” “Electrolite” off 1996’s New Adventures In Hi-Fi, and Up tracks “At My Most Beautiful” and “Daysleeper.”
Celebrate Michael Stipe’s birthday by watching R.E.M.’s 2001 appearance on Unplugged below via the JamBase Live Video Archive (JBLVA):
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