When R.E.M. disbanded in December 2011, we figured there would eventually be a huge box set or greatest hits package in the works. This year, the group dropped REMTV, a 6-DVD set that focused on Michael Stipe and co.'s music videos and television appearances. In order to promote this package, Stipe popped up in a CBS This Morning feature Saturday to talk about it.
"There are humiliating moments," he said during the interview. "There are terrible dips in taste. And then there are triumphant moments. It's the arc of an entire career."
Formed in Athens, Georgia, when Stipe was only 19, the group went on to become one of the greatest American rock bands ever.
'We grew up in public," Stipe said. 'You watched us learn how to right songs. You watched us be public figures.
"It took me the better part of the '80s for me to learn how to look somebody in the eye and speak. It was hard. I was a shy person. It wasn't easy for me to suddenly find myself, having realized what was very much a teenage fantasy, dream. And here I am actually doing that."
The 54-year-old also provided some news: he plans on singing again.
"When I go to see bands live, that's when it's hard for me," he said. "I look up on the stage and I say, 'I wish I was there' sometimes. But I did that for 31 years. I gave everything I had to it. I gave myself completely. And I just needed to step away for a while. I think I will sing again. That's maybe an exclusive, but I think I will sing again."
When?
"Not soon. Maybe. I don't know."
R.E.M. fans can rip up those plans for a reunion tour.
"That'll never happen," Stipe said. "There's no point. I love those guys very much and I respect them hugely as musicians and as songwriters and everything, but I just don't want to do that thing that people do. I don't want to do that. Full respect for those who do it. Total respect."
Watch the CBS This Morning segment below (via Stereogum):
