Michael Stipe Reveals R.E.M. Has Had "Tough Ten Years"

On Friday, Michael Stipe appeared on Jane Pratt's SIRIUS show Jane Radio and discussed R.E.M.'s well-hidden decade-year struggle to communicate with each other. (Don't fear, R.E.M. die-hards: Stipe also chatted about how the band's March album is bringing them closer than ever). "It's been a really tough ten years for us," Stipe revealed. "We were trying to keep a real brave face publicly, and kind of hold through it. But I have to say I think we finally found a place of communication. We're talking to each other, we've written a bunch of great songs ... I've got another four songs to present to the guys next week when we go back in the studio and one of those is really going to surprise them. I can't wait to see them.

Stipe added that he's using a high-tech songwriting trick he picked up from Bono. "I use the memo on my cell phone to [record lyrics and melodies]. ... I love technology." Not that the twenty-first century is all it was cracked up to be. "I thought we would all have jet packs, and clean energy, and the world would be a great place, and there would be no wars. That's not really quite how it turned out," he lamented. The singer also proclaimed himself an eternal optimist, praised Sean Penn's film Into the Wild (for which Eddie Vedder provides the soundtrack), and said he was heading off to catch Interpol's Madison Square Garden debut Friday night: "I love those guys so much."

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Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

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