Peter Buck reaffirms that R.E.M. will never reunite
After forming in 1980, R.E.M. became an important figure in the alternative rock landscape, inspiring bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead, Pearl Jam and Pavement. The group found considerable success before splitting in September 2011.
Announcing their breakup on Instagram, R.E.M. wrote: “As lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band, adding that they feel “a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished.”
In a recent interview with Classic Rock Magazine, guitarist Peter Buck stated that there would be no chance of a reunion. “It’s just the stuff where you kind of wake up and go, ‘God, I don’t really want to have my picture taken today. And I don’t really want to pretend to be an actor in some video where I can’t act.”
“When the non-musical stuff became so intense, it took away some of the pleasure for me.” He continued. “I loved playing Glastonbury and playing in front of lots of people and selling multiple copies of records, but it was never the reason I did it. And when we got to the point where we decided that it was the end, it felt like a great shared experience. I wouldn’t change it, but I’m not going to go back to it.”
Buck believes that the band ended at the right time. “The last two records were really strong. But I just felt like no matter how good our last record was, it wasn’t really our time anymore. And that’s fair, and I understand that.”
He added: “And we were lucky. The last tour we did, we were still playing to huge amounts of people. We went to South America, which was like being The Beatles. So everyone felt like, ‘Yeah, this is a really good stopping point.'”
Last year, Michael Stipe also reaffirmed that the band would never reunite, saying: “We will never reunite. We decided when we split up that that would just be really tacky and probably money-grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together. We don’t really need that, and I’m really happy that we just have the legacy of the 32 years of work that we have.”
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