First published 2024
Peter Ames Carlin traces the complete arc of R.E.M., from their debut at a college party in Athens, Georgia in spring 1980 to their eventual breakup. The New York Times bestselling author examines how four musical outsiders, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry, transformed from local eccentrics into global superstars with albums like Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and Green. Carlin explores their raw, expressive sound and how they became voices for their generation during the shift from the open 1980s to the anxious early 1990s. The biography reveals how the band challenged corporate and social structures while maintaining their friendship and artistic vision. Carlin moves past surface-level rock mythology to examine the personal relationships and creative processes that sustained the group. The book captures both R.E.M.'s commercial peak and the broader cultural moment when rock music reached its apex, offering an intimate portrait of four friends who changed American music.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, american, non-fiction, music, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: friendship, rise-to-fame
Setting: Athens, Georgia
Period: 1980s, 1990s
464 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday