Michael Stipe
Michael Stipe
John Michael Stipeis an American singer, songwriter, musician, film producer, music video director, and visual artist. He was the lyricist and lead singer of the alternative rock band R.E.M. from their formation in 1980 until their dissolution in 2011...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth4 January 1960
CityDecatur, GA
CountryUnited States of America
ethos rocks heaven
The punk-rock ethos was "Do it yourself. Anyone can do this. We're not sent from the heavens."
voice rocks special
The whole point of the punk-rock thing was that "We're not special. We just have a voice."
break-out firsts facts
In fact, a lot of critics seemed to consider R.E.M. the first American music since the '60s to break out on its own and develop a stand-alone sound.
sex rocks talking
Punk-rock records came out and you bought whatever you could find. But Devo didn't happen for another three years. Sex Pistols didn't tour the States until '78. At that time, for me, it was really about CBGB, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, the Ramones, and Television.
fall vision faces
For every great thing we did, there is a very public moment of falling on our faces. But everything that came through us as a band was a distinct vision of R.E.M.
thinking feelings aids
I think my apocalyptic feelings went deeper than [heavily influenced by Reagan and AIDS]. I'm really at peace with how afraid I am.
our-generation environmental trying
Our generation was supposed to be about trying to deal with nuclear concerns and environmental disasters.
sex real teenager
I was a teenager, we were pretty much fully indoctrinated, thanks to sexual scare tactics. I remember so many public-health commercials with a B-actor in a fake alley background warning us to use protection or telling us the only real safe choice was abstinence. We were highly frightened of sex from day one. There was no free-swinging '90s.
song writing character
There is always something of the writer in the work but I don't think Melville had to be swallowed by a whale to write a great novel. If I had lived the lives of all the characters of the songs I've written, that would truly be an extraordinary story.
america fine great-things
If you disagree with me, fine! Because that's the great thing about America, we can disagree!
girl crazy boys
I remember traffic jams Motor boys and girls with tans Nearly was and almost rans I remember this, this ... At the edge of the continent
girl sweet real
I had to get a driver's license and drive to St. Louis to find the punk-rock scene that was happening there. And there was a punk-rock scene. It was sweet. It was real. It was like everywhere else in the county. It was a handful of people who were feeling the same pull, and, of course, it was like the Island of Misfit Toys in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer [1964]. Just the freaks, the fags, the fat girls, the unbelievable eccentrics .
hope able way
By nature I will find hope in everything. Even if it's the most incredibly hopeless situation or circumstance. That's just me... I'll never be able to see things any other way.
care radio easy
Because the casual music listeners are the ones who turn on the radio and they don't really care what's playing, they just know that they kinda like it or it's easy to drive to or it's easy to sing along to or whatever.