R.E.M. Breaks Up: It's the End of the Band as We Know It

The path-breaking rock act headed by Michael Stipe has called it quits, 31 years after forming. The Athens, Georgia band--who gave us "Losing My Religion," "Shiny Happy People," "Man on the Moon," "It's the End of the World as We Know It ," "Everybody Hurts," and many, many others--announced their dissolution on their website, which is down at the moment.

From RollingStone.com:

In just over three decades as a band, R.E.M. released 15 albums including landmark works such as Murmur, Reckoning, Document, Out of Time and Automatic For the People . The band's final album, Collapse Into Now , was released in March of this year. There were reports over the summer that the band had spent some time in an Athens studio, but it is unclear whether anything will come of that session.

Got a favorite R.E.M. song? I'm not too cool to admit that the not-so-well-respected "Radio Song," in the back seat on family car trips, became one of my first musical obsessions.