From cowering, introverted founders of the alternative rock movement to
one of the twenty best-selling American bands of all time, the story of
R.E.M. covers three decades, two generations and the passions of
millions. First, they lifted a humble, Southern college town into myth,
re-calibrating rock music at the moment that it threatened to reach the
point of terminal excess, and then, unsatisfied, they carried their
progressive ideology right into the heart of mainstream popular culture,
selling over 85 million records and winning universal acclaim along the
way, totally without compromise.
R.E.M. Album by Album tells that story, tracing the band from its
formation in 1980 when four young men sought respite from the
difficulties of real life by starting a covers band, right up until
their eventual split in 2011, shedding new light on the lyrical and
musical development of the band as artists, from their esoteric early
masterpieces to the moment that they signed the world's largest ever
recording contract. For the very first time, too, we examine the first
decade after the band's demise, scrutinizing the shifting sands of their
legacy as the dust settles on one of pop music's most extraordinary
careers.
