R.E.M. is one of the most influential groups of the past two decades, inspiring an entire generation of American "alternative" rock bands. Since forming in the early '80s in Athens, Georgia, the group has sold tens of millions of albums, evolving from small clubs and college radio to packed arenas and MTV, all without substantially compromising their artistic direction.
In May 1982 R.E.M. signed to the indie label I.R.S. Records, who released their already-completed EP "Chronic Town," later that year; like "Radio Free Europe," the EP generated an underground buzz. The group began touring more often and recorded their first full-length in December of that year, "Murmur". With mumbled, enigmatic lyrics, soft acoustic guitar and sparse production, "Murmur" defied the mainstream, winning critical praise and college airplay but little commercial success.
After spending some more time on the road, R.E.M. returned in April 1984 with "Reckoning", but once again escaped the mainstream. With the release of 1985's "Fables of the Reconstruction," R.E.M. was clearly on the upswing and "Fables" itself sold several hundred thousand copies with little radio play.
In 1986 the quartet, tighter than ever, produced "Life's Rich Pageant," which contained their most accessible song to date, "Fall On Me." Despite anticipation that the hooky single would finally "break" R.E.M. to the masses, the group remained in college rock territory, though the album went gold.
Instead, their big breakthrough came with their next album, 1987's politically inclined "Document," which reached the Top 10 and went platinum thanks to the hit single "The One I Love" which enjoyed significant radio play and heavy rotation on MTV.
In 1988 R.E.M. released their next album, "Green," in 1988. With hit singles "Stand" and "Pop Song 89", R.E.M. was finally a household name and "Green" went multi-platinum. R.E.M.'s famous 1989 world tour saw the group playing to huge audiences in North America and packing clubs in Australia, Japan and Europe.
R.E.M.'s stature only grew with the release of 1991's "Out of Time," which went to No. 1 in both the U.S. and Britain on the strength of the Top 10 singles "Losing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People." The album sold nearly five million copies and won several Grammy awards.
Almost as a reaction to the mass-market success of "Out of Time," R.E.M.'s next album, 1992's "Automatic For the People", was decidedly less commercial, although it still produced the radio/MTV singles "Everybody Hurts," "Drive" and "Man on the Moon."
R.E.M. changed directions yet again with 1994's "Monster," which debuted at No. 1 and maintained R.E.M.'s status as one of the most popular alt-rock bands of the '90s. The accompanying tour playing at sold-out stadiums worldwide.
In the fall of 1997, after 17 years with R.E.M., drummer Bill Berry announced that he was retiring from the band to spend more time with his family on his farm in Georgia. The announcement came just as the band was entering the studio to start recording their 11th studio album.
"Up," a collection of old-school R.E.M. rock ballads, was produced by Pat McCarthy and released in late October 1998. Two years later, the band spent a month in a Vancouver recording studio working on the new material which would appear on their twelfth album, "Reveal," released in May 2001.

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