Michael Stipe

The Six Best Namedrops In Song

Musicians frequently reference each other, consciously or otherwise. Usually the reference is something subtle, like a chord progression or a melodic phrase. For those less subtle moments, here are the six best name-drops in song. Let us know your favorites in the comments, but make sure that your p ... More >>

Johnny Depp to Collaborate With Nick Cave, Tom Waits on Album of Sea Shanty Songs?

Has anyone noticed that Johnny Depp is a musician now? Wait, has everyone but me noticed that Johnny Depp has been a musician...always? I mean, aside from his singing in movies that I slept through because I thought it'd be funny to get drunk beforehand. Maybe this is just news to me. See Also: - ... More >>

The Six Best Songs With Ridiculously Long Titles

Last week, Kieran Hebden from Four Tet announced a new single entitled "The Track I've Been Playing That People Keep Asking About and That Joy Used in His RA Mix and Daphni Played on Boiler Room." It's an okay track with an awful title, but you have to give Hebden props for taking the plunge. Here a ... More >>

Lip-Syncing: Immoral Practice or Necessary Evil?

Art and life co-habitate, informing, imitating, and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship. Let's ignore the question of whether or not Beyonce lip-synced the National Anthem at Monday's Inaugur ... More >>

The 14 Best Music-Related GIFs We Discovered in 2012

Editor's Note: The end of 2012 is upon us (also the end of the world, if you believe in that sort of thing), so we thought we'd put a cap on things by sharing some of our personal favorite shows, albums, events and general shenanigans. Join us as we indulge in some navel-gazing! Once upon a time, I ... More >>

A Tribute to R.E.M. and 88.1 KDHX Benefit: Review, Setlist and Photo

Back to Rockville: A Tribute to R.E.M. And 88.1 KDHX Benefit Off Broadway April 27, 2012 When R.E.M. announced its breakup last September, the music world was shocked but not really surprised. After all, the three remaining original members had been together for 31 years by that point, most of them ... More >>

Out Every Night: The Best Shows From April 23 to 29

Did everyone survive Record Store Day weekend? Between the deluge of live music and the generous amounts of free beer -- not to mention the throngs of people -- we can understand how one might be tempted to take it easy this week. Please remember, though, that taking it easy is for square nerd loser ... More >>

Win Tickets to RFT's "Best of St. Louis" Party This Thursday

Come party like it's the end of the world this Thursday.​The rapture didn't happen as predicted (twice) this year. But that doesn't mean you can't party like -- as Michael Stipe might say -- "it's the end of the world as we know it..."What's that you add? You say you "feel fine?" Well, try telling ... More >>

CBGB's Final Show With Patti Smith (A.K.A. The Day I Got Covered in Brian Eno's Sweat)

​Legendary punk club CBGB closed five years ago tomorrow. In its final week, the venue hosted a string of shows paying tribute its storied thirty year run, and it all culminated with a headlining set from Patti Smith. There were only a couple hundred people lucky enough to get tickets to that ... More >>

Matthew Sweet Is Coming To The Duck Room To Perform Girlfriend [Update: Sold Out!]

Update, 9/28:This show is now sold out. You've got a little over two weeks to dig through craigslist or buddy up with a ticket-having friend. Original post follows... Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend is twenty years old, and to celebrate, he's playing the album in its entirety at Blueberry Hill's Duck ... More >>

The Six Best R.E.M. Non-Singles

​When I was in seventh grade, before I knew anything about indie rock or Athens, Georgia, or Reagan-era politics, R.E.M. was my favorite band. I'm certainly not alone; the band was a landmark in many lives for both the music it created and the doors it opened up for young listeners. And like m ... More >>

R.E.M Says Goodbye: The Great Beyond

Courtesy of R.E.M. ​One of the most important bands in rock music has broken up. After 31 years together, R.E.M. has announced its retirement on its website with a humble, thankful note. The declaration shocked fans, who immediately bombarded social networks and entertainment news stories with ... More >>

Fashion Week Music: The Highlights, The Appearances And The Odd Soundtracks

Richard GuatyAnna Wintour eyeballing Nicki's tights. Oh, to peek inside the mind of the Vogue editrix in chief in this moment.​Thank science Fashion Week is over. Isn't it just torture? If there's something worse than not being in New York City for the circus that is Mercedes Benz Fashion Week ... More >>

Matthew Sweet Is Coming To The Duck Room To Perform Girlfriend In Its Entirety

Henry Diltz ​Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend is twenty years old, and to celebrate, he's playing the album in its entirety at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room on October 15th. He'll also play some songs from Modern Art, his latest. Tickets are $20 and go on sale August 19th at 5 p.m.

Michael Stipe Talks St. Louis Punk and Playing Shows Here in Interview Magazine

wikimedia commons​The current issue of Interview Magazine has Christopher Bollen interviewing R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, and their conversation leads them to a couple interesting tidbits about St. Louis. Stipe, as you may be aware, graduated from high school in Collinsville. He tells Boll ... More >>

The city's long-running slop-pop experts celebrate turning eighteen this weekend

New Album Releases: Lupe Fiasco, R.E.M., Kurt Vile, Bruce Cockburn and more

(New albums are typically released on Tuesdays, i.e., today. What can you spend your hard-earned pennies on this week? Find out below.) Bruce Cockburn's Small Source of Comfort​*Bruce Cockburn, Small Source Of Comfort American Noise reviewed Cockburn's latest, saying: "Personally, Bruce Cockb ... More >>

An Under Cover Weekend Night Three: Theodore The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra, Fractured Army, Makeshift Gentlemen, The Dive Poets, Via Dove

This year's Under Cover Weekend ended with a strong turnout at the Firebird last night. The crowd awaiting the opening super-group featuring Theodore and The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra already surpassed the somewhat-skimpy attendance for last Saturday's event. It's a good thing so ma ... More >>

Michael Stipe in Waffle Country: Here's The Real Scoop, According to Sylvain Sylvain and Others

They didn't airbrush his face here.​This week, R.E.M. reissued its 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction as a two-CD set, which includes a disc of demos. The band also announced that it had finished recording its new studio album, which is set for release sometime next year. Perhaps in tribu ... More >>

Interview Outtakes Free Music: Early St. Louis Punk Band The Welders Talks Reuniting, Raymilland and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe

The Welders, back in the day​In the current issue of the dead-tree RFT, writer Mike Appelstein constructed an oral history of early St. Louis punk band the Welders. The quartet briefly got back together in December to play the reunion show of post-punks Raymilland (who we featured back in Dece ... More >>

Review Setlist: Frightened Rabbit Enchants the Old Rock House, May 7, 2010

It was the end of the week of the end of the world (to paraphrase Jon Stewart) and (to paraphrase Michael Stipe) everyone felt fine. More than fine, judging by the smiles, clapping hands and dancing (mostly, sometimes not quite) bodies squeezed (but not jammed) onto the dance floor at th ... More >>

St. Louis Video: R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe as a Rocky Horror Fan

H/T to RFT writer Bob McMahon for pointing out this new YouTube video. Here's vintage St. Louis news footage of the Rocky Horror Picture Show phenomenon, featuring none other than R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe, who lived in southern Illinois in the late '70s. Scroll to 1:25 or so to see Stipe in ful ... More >>

Buy: Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy, featuring The National, Thom Yorke, Ben Kweller, Michael Stipe, Dinosaur Jr, more!

myspace.com/markmulcahy​Mark Mulcahy isn't a household name, but he should be. In the '80s, the singer-songwriter fronted Miracle Legion, a Connecticut jangle-pop act that managed to transcend early comparisons to R.E.M. and evolve into a pretty solid original rock band. In the '90s, Miracle Legio ... More >>

The Top 10 Reissues of 2008

It's time to rank the best of what went around and came around again. BILLY JOEL The Stranger (Columbia/Legacy) As punk and disco exploded, the Piano Man's deeply unhip 1978 breakthrough proved that top-shelf Broadway/Brill Building songwriting could still sell - and, occasionally, rock. "Scene ... More >>

Ear Burns: Our critics spew some haterade about 2008's bummer songs, albums and events

Album Review: R.E.M.'s Murmur at 25

[R.E.M. released a deluxe, 25th anniversary edition of its debut album, Murmur, today. The two-disc set contains the original album remastered from original tapes and a live concert bootleg from Larry's Hideaway in Toronto from that era. Co-producer Don Dixon will be on my KDHX radio show on Mo ... More >>

Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power

9 p.m. Saturday, November 22. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

Show Review Setlist: "Weird Al" Yankovic at Family Arena, Friday, August 8

Show Review: R.E.M. at the United Center, Chicago, June 6, 2008

Feeling Gravity's Pull: R.E.M. hurtles toward the future on Accelerate

SXSW From a First-Timer's Perspective: R.E.M., Undertow, Dead Confederate, Thurston Moore, J Mascis, more

R.E.M. at Stubb's, SXSW, Wednesday, March 12: Review

R.E.M. Accelerate: An Advance Review and Song-by-Song Analysis of the Band's New Album

Vic Chesnutt

8 p.m. Tuesday, March 11. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue

New R.E.M. song, "Supernatural Serious"

Face the Nation

We find out what rocked across the country in 2007.

Johnette Napolitano

9 p.m. Thursday, May 31. Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, (6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City)

Stipe Hunting

R.E.M.

And I Feel Fine The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 (EMI)

Placebo

Meds (Astralwerks)

Bringing Up Baby

B-Sides gets the real story behind Living Things, chats with the Hail Marys' punk-rock mom and talks to Michael Stipe about his new charity single

Critical Fatwa

Week of February 16, 2006

Network (1976)

The finest satire ever committed to celluloid

Finest Workshows

A Michael Stipe speech actually tugs some heartstrings

Finding Your Religion

Pick your personal Jesus, plus three questions for a pop princess and the poetry of heavy metal

Now It's Overhead

Fall Back Open (Saddle Creek)

Liberty for None

Mandy Moore's likable enough; wish we could say the same about her movie

Television

Marquee Moon / Adventure (Rhino)

Vic Chesnutt with Andrew Bird

Saturday, May 10; Blueberry Hill's Duck Room

Sound Checks