The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.: A Biography

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE - An electrifying cultural biography of the greatest and last American rock band of the millennium, whose music ignited a generation--and reasserted the power of rock and roll

"[Carlin's] unique gift for capturing the sweep and tenor of a cultural moment...is here on brilliant display." --Michael Chabon

In the spring of 1980, an unexpected group of musical eccentrics came together to play their very first performance at a college party in Athens, Georgia. Within a few short years, they had taken over the world - with smash records like Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster and Green. Raw, outrageous, and expressive, R.E.M.'s distinctive musical flair was unmatched, and a string of mega-successes solidified them as generational spokesmen. In the tumultuous transition between the wide-open 80s and the anxiety of the early 90s, R.E.M. challenged the corporate and social order, chasing a vision and cultivating a magnetic, transgressive sound.

In this rich, intimate biography, critically acclaimed author Peter Ames Carlin looks beyond the sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll to open a window into the fascinating lives of four college friends - Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry - who stuck together at any cost, until the end. Deeply descriptive and remarkably poetic, steeped in 80s and 90s nostalgia, The Name of This Band is R.E.M. paints a cultural history of the commercial peak and near-total collapse of a great music era, and the story of the generation that came of age at the apotheosis of rock.

Author: Peter Ames Carlin
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 11/04/2025
Pages: 480
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 1.20d
ISBN13: 9780593312537
ISBN10: 0593312538
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Music
- Biography & Autobiography | Entertainment & Performing Arts
- Music | Genres & Styles | Rock

About the Author
Peter Ames Carlin is the author of several books, including Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, published in 2021, and Bruce, the biography of Bruce Springsteen published in 2012. Carlin has also been a freelance journalist, a senior writer at People in New York City, and a television columnist and feature writer at The Oregonian in Portland. A regular speaker on music, writing, and popular culture, Carlin lives in Seattle.