Despite churning out hits since the 1980s, many fans remain clueless about the meaning behind R.E.M’s iconic band name.
The group was formed by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, making R.E.M one of the pioneering alternative rock bands.
Berry exited the band in 1997 due to serious health problems, and after 14 years, the remaining members also decided to disband, having sold more than 90 million albums globally. Their chart-topping tracks include “Losing My Religion”, “Everybody Hurts”, “The One I Love”, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”, “Blue”, “Oh My Heart”, “Shiny Happy People”, “Nightswimming” and “Drive”.
Yet, despite their fame, some Reddit users have been left pondering: “What does R.E.M. (the band) stand for? ” According to American Songwriter, Buck and Stipe first crossed paths in an Athens record store, Wuxtry Records, in the early 1980s, bonding over their shared music tastes. Reflecting on those times, Stipe revealed: “It turns out that I was buying all the records that [Buck] was saving for himself.”
Later, through mutual friends, they met Berry and Mills, who had been jamming together since their high school days. The quartet began to play together, with Stipe revealing: “There was never any grand plan behind any of it.” A statement says: “At this time, the band was still unnamed. They would rehearse in the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on Oconee Street in Athens. Their debut performance took place on April 5, 1980, where they played a blend of original songs and covers from the 1960s and 1970s.
“The band toyed with several potential names, including Cans of P***, N**** Eyes, and Twisted Kites, before finally settling on R.E.M.” Stipe had randomly picked the name from a dictionary. To many, R.E.M. is recognised as an abbreviation for ‘rapid eye movement’, the phase of sleep associated with dreaming and characterised by rapid eye movements beneath closed eyelids. Speculating on the meaning of the band’s name, one Reddit user suggested it stood for: “Read. Everything. Memory.”
Another user chimed in: “A third user said: “It said rapid eye movement, I didn’t believe it. After a while, found out that he said that he picked it randomly from the dictionary. ” A Quora user offered: “It’s an acronym for rapid eye movement. Although music journalist David Buckley claimed lead singer Michael Stipe selected the term randomly from a dictionary, R. E. M. always invested heavily in the visual aesthetic of the band, so I’m sceptical of Stipe’s story. As someone once said, ‘self-reported data is the least reliable’. “.
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