I n an excellent article from the Guardian (UK) about REMis musical roots in Athens, Georgia, we caught a note that we think you may find interesting. According to Michael Stipe, REMis singer, and Mike Mills, the bandis bassist, their guitar-playing band mate, Peter Buck, has been busily giving the gift of music. As a thank you to everyone who has helped the band with its newest album, Around the Sun, Mr. Buck has undergone the "herculean task" of filling up 40 GB iPods with music he thinks each of them should be listening to. From the Guardian:
While Stipe and Mills have developed other interests in their adult life beyond the band and music, Buck hasnit. He recently filled up the iPods of everyone who worked on REMis new album with songs that he thought they might like - and considering iPods can take up to 10,000 songs, this was a Herculean feat of downloading. "Heis become obsessed with it," says Stipe. "He has done this for everyone who worked on our new record, including the engineers, who he had only known for a couple of weeks. Whatis interesting is to discover what he thinks we should be listening to. Mike got entire albums by Miles Davis, for example, while I only got the greatest hits. It must have taken him weeks, but he really isnit interested in anything apart from his family and music," adds Mills. "He reads books, and plays music, and hangs out with his family. Thatis it. So he loves the iPod because it gives him a chance to go through thousands of records that he hasnit played for the last 20 years."
Presumably, the downloads came from the iTunes Music Store, particularly considering that Mr. Buck specifically downloaded entire albums at a time.
There is much more about REM, how being in Athens, Georgia, influenced them, and other tidbits like the fact that the band considers Britainis Gang of Four to be one of its biggest influences, in the full story.