‘They taught me how to dress’: Michael Stipe on Limbo District, the greatest band you’ve never heard of
The wild art-rockers influenced REM and the B-52s, but burned out without making it big. As old recordings resurface, ex-members and fans recall their unorthodox brilliance
April 2024
Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Stevie Wonder and more musicians demand protection against AI
Letter signed by more than 200 artists makes broad ask that tech firms pledge to not develop AI tools to replace human creatives
December 2021
Down the rabbit hole
What connects C’mon C’mon director Mike Mills to Kevin Keegan and Suzi Quatro?
Take a trip down the rabbit hole, visiting C’mon C’mon, REM, Happy Days and the 1982 World Cup along the way
June 2021
Teenage kicks
Liz Phair’s teenage obsessions: ‘I wanted to be a 6,000-year-old vampire with style’
The singer-songwriter on watching The Hunger 60 times, how EE Cummings inspired her lyrics and discovering magic mushrooms at a Grateful Dead show
April 2021
Michael Stipe: ‘The male idea of power is so dumb’
He was in the one of the most influential indie bands ever, but the songwriter prefers life as a visual artist. He talks presidents, parties and photographing his heroes
February 2021
The fandom that made me
REM: how the arty pop gods taught a shy south Wales girl to be herself
For a teenager steeped in Welsh choir music, Michael Stipe’s kaleidoscope of artistic influences – and mega-success – were too irresistible not to follow
June 2020
Lockdown listening
Fran Healy's lockdown listening: 'Travis are the opposite of Travis Scott'
The Travis frontman on the power of Public Enemy and falling in love with REM
March 2020
You'll Never Walk Alone and Locked Up top chart of popular quarantine music
Listeners are flocking to hear tracks such as Don’t Stand So Close to Me and Everybody Hurts as the coronavirus crisis deepens
January 2020
The Q&A
Michael Stipe: ‘Who would I say sorry to? Everyone I slept with before the age of 27’
The REM frontman on smoking, Susan Sontag and how it feels to be in love
October 2019
Rain Phoenix on her new album River: 'My brother has been my guiding light'
It’s the end of the world as we know it... and Michael Stipe feels fine
April 2019
REM's Michael Stipe on his 37,000 photos – of stars, lovers and Kurt Cobain's hands
Photography has been a lifelong passion for the singer. He talks us through his finest shots, from a sleeping River Phoenix to ‘his queer grandfather’ William Burroughs
March 2019
From the Observer archive
From the archive: REM release Green, 1989
LoudQUIETloud: can the Pixies break into the podcasting world?
January 2019
Ranked
The greatest pop music dance crazes – ranked!
It’s 40 years since we first spelled out YMCA to the Village People’s disco hit – here are 15 of the best finger-pointing, hip-wiggling hits
November 2018
REM photographed over three decades – in pictures
Tom Sheehan’s portraits, candid shots and images of the band performing, taken between 1984 and 2005, have been collected in one book, R.E.M. Athens GA, published by Flood Gallery Publishing
February 2018
I'm with the band: meet the pitiful proteges of pop music patrons
From Kurt Cobain espousing the middling Melvins to Kanye West signing a singer from the library circuit, an artist’s ability to make great music doesn’t always mean they can identify it
Readers recommend
Readers recommend playlist: songs that made you fall in love with music
Saint Etienne, Buddy Holly, the Pogues and Motörhead are among artists sparking stories of a lifelong passion formed
Greatest splits: Wild Beasts and the art of breaking up
As the Kendal four-piece play their final shows – apparently departing on an amicable note – we assess the best and worst ways for a band to call it a day
January 2018
My songbook
'I'm a pretty good pop star': Michael Stipe on his favourite REM songs
In our series where musicians tell the stories behind what they regard as their greatest songs, the REM frontman reveals how glam rock, grunge and INXS inspired the band – and how internal divisions tore them apart
