RIP R.E.M.

R.E.M. is calling it quits after 31 years:

To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.

I have no doubt that the end is long overdue, since i've been unimpressed with what i've heard over the last decade, but this event is cause to remember that in their prime Bill Berry years, R.E.M. was one of the best bands of the 80s and early 90s. The power pop of Life's Rich Pageant and Green played nonstop in the cassette player of the cars I borrowed off of my parents, and I still listen to and enjoy Murmur, Automatic for the People, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. They took basic folk-influenced rock n' roll and made it sound fresh again. My musical landscape would be poorer if they had not existed. And i'll be listening to "Sweetness Follows" tonight.