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
thinking desire laurels
But I think the one thing that I can say about us is that we're very consistent about certain things and part of that is our desire to do the very best work that we can and not rest on our laurels, or not allow formula to come into what we do.
gay thinking people
There are people that very strongly identify themselves as gay and then lesbian, and then I think there are a lot of people who are kind of some percentage or some version of that.
thinking age labels
I've always felt that sexuality is a really slippery thing. In this day and age, it tends to get categorized and labeled, and I think labels are for food. Canned food.
writing thinking joy
When I write, I tend toward melancholy, and the few times that I've tried pure joy in music, it doesn't really work that well. The joy can be through catharsis. I think that's what I do well, and observation.
thinking play want
I distinctly remember a conversation with my band in the van where I was having a complete meltdown. It was 1984, I think, and I was huddled in the back corner of our van and saying, "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this." I didn't want to play any more shows. I just wanted to stop.
integrity thinking two
When we signed with Warner Bros., they knew what they were getting. They knew they weren't going to get some easily manipulated prepackaged pop group. That was not going to happen. What they wanted, I think, was the integrity that we had to offer. What they wanted was the kind of street cred or cache that R.E.M. could bring to them and the chance that we would give them a hit or two. What happened was we gave them a bunch of hits. And we became huge.
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.
confused thinking confusion
Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious...
change critics early pistols sex
I think there were early critics who wanted us to change the world because the Sex Pistols failed.
absolutely huge people popular respond
We're absolutely American and distinctly so, I think. That's part of what people respond to outside of this country, part of the reason that we're such a huge band outside of the U.S., where we're not so popular now as we were 10 or 12 years ago.
crucial essential felt help katrina life literally matter promoting safe service victims
It is crucial that the victims of Katrina get safe housing...and that's why www.hurricanehousing.org is available...to help those in need. As a band, we felt that promoting the service is essential - literally a matter of life and death,
crucial katrina safe victims
It is crucial that the victims of Katrina get safe housing,
affected believe cycle fine forget katrina moved news public
The news cycle has moved on and I don't want the public to forget about those who were affected by Katrina or to believe that everything is fine now.
work
There's a lot of work to be done. It's up to you.