R.E.M. via The Spirit of the Radio Album Cover


R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe squashed any hope of an R.E.M. reunion this week, as he answered fan questions on WNYC’s radio program All Of It.

The interview arrived 10 years after R.E.M.’s dissolution, and while the host Alison Stewart noted a slightly optimistic 2019 Rolling Stone article exploring the band’s potential for a reunion, Stipe was quick to shut down the notion.

As Stipe explained “That’s wishful thinking. We will never reunite. We decided when we split up that that would just be really tacky and probably money-grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together. We don’t really need that. And I’m really happy we just have the legacy of 32 years of work that we have.”

Listen to his comments around the 24:25 mark below: