Former First Lady Barbara Bush's comments about Katrina evacuees set off a firestorm, but also planted the seeds of a song R.E.M. would release three years later.
After more than 30 years together, during which time they rose from critical alternative-rock favorites to international pop superstars and eventually Rock and Roll Hall of Fame status, R.E.M. announced Wednesday they have “called it a day as a band.”
Over the last 15 years or so, R.E.M. fans have grown accustomed to three-to-four-year waits between new albums -- but it looks like the band is speeding things up for its next release.
With its most recent album, 'Collapse Into Now,' a mere four months old, R.E.M. is already in an Athens, Georgia studio working on the follow-up -- and fans can follow their progress via a series of snapshots that s