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R.E.M. have persistently proven themselves to be one of the most vulnerable and emotive rock bands of the past 40 or so years. The footage of Michael Stipe during R.E.M.’s performance of ‘Everybody Hurts’ when they headlined Glastonbury in 2003 is just about the most tender footage ever recorded on the legendary Pyramid Stage.
Stipe has frequently opened up on his depression that resulted from the fact that R.E.M. were going from an underground college radio act to chart-topping rock stars in their own right. Stipe would occasionally act erratically, including shaving his head into a monk’s tonsure. He once revealed that he wrote some great songs during these difficult times.
Stipe told Pitchfork, “We were five years into R.E.M., and I was going through profound depression and a nervous breakdown that took a year and a half to work through. We were still touring and making records and marching forward at this insane velocity, which didn’t help my situation at all.”
He added, “We played a festival in Belgium where Lou Reed was also performing, and I met him that day. He wasn’t terribly friendly to me, but we had covered a couple of his songs, so he said hello. That same day I lacerated my eyes really badly with these really dirty contact lenses – I had neglected them for three or four months at that point – and accidentally blinded myself.”
For such a keen observer of the world, politically, emotionally, and socially, to lose the sense of vision must have been terrifying for Stipe. The visual aspects of Stipe’s life were therefore relegated to the realm of dreams, though these in themselves can be the source of great inspiration for writing music.
Stipe continued, “I had to wear bandages over my eyes for 10 days. I’m an extremely visual person, and during that time I had these crazy dreams. ‘I Believe’ and ‘These Days’ were basically written as a way for me to remember what those dreams were. Meanwhile, the band picked up from Belgium and travelled through Heathrow to New York and onto Seattle, where I was finally able to take the bandages off and see again.”
He added, “I’ll never forget looking out the window onto the street in Seattle and feeling this elation. Something had happened. I had this turning point that was deeply profound and important. I took those bandages off my eyes and came out of the depression. I felt emboldened and strong enough to carry on. I was a different person from that day forward.”
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