R.E.M. released its first single—"Radio Free Europe"—in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.
By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to enter the mainstream, R.E.M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana and Pavement as a pioneer of the genre. The band released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound and catapulted it to international fame. R.E.M.'s 1994 release, Monster, was a return to a more rock-oriented sound, but still continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three of the band members.
In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. Its 1996 release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, though critically acclaimed, fared worse commercially than its predecessors. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Stipe, Buck, and Mills continued the group as a trio. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success, despite having sold more than 85 million records worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music artists. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. R.E.M. disbanded amicably in September 2011, announcing the split on its website.
In January 1980, Michael Stipe met Peter Buck in Wuxtry Records, the Athens record store where Buck worked. The pair discovered that they shared similar tastes in music, particularly in punk rock and protopunk artists like Patti Smith, Television, and the Velvet Underground. Stipe said, "It turns out that I was buying all the records that [Buck] was saving for himself." Through mutual friend Kathleen O'Brien, Stipe and Buck then met fellow University of Georgia students Mike Mills and Bill Berry, who had played music together since high school and lived together in Georgia. The quartet agreed to collaborate on several songs; Stipe later commented that "there was never any grand plan behind any of it". Their still-unnamed band spent a few months rehearsing in a deconsecrated Episcopal church in Athens, and played its first show on April 5, 1980, supporting the Side Effects at O'Brien's birthday party held in the same church, performing a mix of originals and 1960s and 1970s covers. After considering Twisted Kites, Cans of Piss, and Negro Eyes, the band settled on "R.E.M." (which is an initialism for rapid eye movement, the dream stage of sleep), which Stipe selected at random from a dictionary.
The band members eventually dropped out of school to focus on their developing group. They found a manager in Jefferson Holt, a record store clerk who was so impressed by an R.E.M. performance in his hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that he moved to Athens. R.E.M.'s success was almost immediate in Athens and surrounding areas; the band drew progressively larger crowds for shows, which caused some resentment in the Athens music scene. Over the next year and a half, R.E.M. toured throughout the Southern United States. Touring was arduous because a touring circuit for alternative rock bands did not then exist. The group toured in an old blue van driven by Holt, and lived on a food allowance of $2 each per day.
R.E.M. was pivotal in the creation and development of the alternative rock genre. AllMusic stated, "R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock." In the early 1980s, the musical style of R.E.M. stood in contrast to the post-punk and new wave genres that had preceded it. Music journalist Simon Reynolds noted that the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s "had taken whole swaths of music off the menu", particularly that of the 1960s, and that "After postpunk's demystification and New Pop's schematics, it felt liberating to listen to music rooted in mystical awe and blissed-out surrender." Reynolds declared R.E.M., a band that recalled the music of the 1960s with its "plangent guitar chimes and folk-styled vocals" and who "wistfully and abstractly conjured visions and new frontiers for America", one of "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day." With the release of Murmur, R.E.M. had the most impact musically and commercially of the developing alternative genre's early groups, leaving in its wake a number of jangle pop followers.
R.E.M.'s early breakthrough success served as an inspiration for other alternative bands. Spin referred to the "R.E.M. model"—career decisions that R.E.M. made which set guidelines for other underground artists to follow in their own careers. Spin's Charles Aaron wrote that by 1985, "They'd shown how far an underground, punk-inspired rock band could go within the industry without whoring out its artistic integrity in any obvious way. They'd figured out how to buy in, not sellout-in other words, they'd achieved the American Bohemian Dream." Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate said, "They invented a whole new ballgame for all of the other bands to follow whether it was Sonic Youth or the Replacements or Nirvana or Butthole Surfers. R.E.M. staked the claim. Musically, the bands did different things, but R.E.M. was first to show us you can be big and still be cool." Biographer David Buckley stated that between 1991 and 1994, a period that saw the band sell an estimated 30 million albums, R.E.M. "asserted themselves as rivals to U2 for the title of biggest rock band in the world." Over the course of its career, the band has sold over 85 million records worldwide.
Alternative bands such as Nirvana, Pavement, Radiohead, Coldplay, Pearl Jam (the band's vocalist Eddie Vedder inducted R.E.M. into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), and Live, have drawn inspiration from R.E.M.'s music. "When I was 15 years old in Richmond, Virginia, they were a very important part of my life," Pavement's Bob Nastanovich said, "as they were for all the members of our band." Pavement's contribution to the No Alternative compilation (1993) was "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence", a song about R.E.M.'s early days. Local H, according to the band's Twitter account, created their name by combining two R.E.M. songs: "Oddfellows Local 151" and "Swan Swan H". Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was a fan of R.E.M., and had unfulfilled plans to collaborate on a musical project with Stipe. Cobain told Rolling Stone in an interview earlier that year, "I don’t know how that band does what they do. God, they’re the greatest. They've dealt with their success like saints, and they keep delivering great music."
During his show at the 40 Watt Club in October 2018, Johnny Marr said: "As a British musician coming out of the indie scene in the early '80s, which I definitely am and am proud to have been, I can't miss this opportunity to acknowledge and pay my respects and honor the guys who put this town on the map for us in England. I'm talking about my comrades in guitar music, R.E.M. The Smiths really respected R.E.M. We had to keep an eye on what those guys were up to. It's an interesting thing for me, as a British musician, and all those guys as British musicians, to come to this place and play for you guys, knowing that it's the roots of Mike Mills and Bill Berry and Michael Stipe and my good friend Peter Buck."
Make It All Okay
R.E.M. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You made your ultimatum too big to ignore
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So you worked out your excuses,
Turned away and shut the door.
The world's too vast for us now,
It's a long, long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your hand again I'd have to walk away.
When I saw you at the street fair, you called out my name
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You said we could start over, try and make it all okay.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
So our past has been rewritten
And you threw away the pen.
You'd said that I was useless,
But now you'll take me in again
Well Jesus loves me fine.
And your words fall flat this time.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
"We don't have a prayer between us."
Didn't you believe that I have finally turned away?
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Anything to hold onto to help me through my day.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
Jesus loves me fine.
But his words fall flat this time.
It's a long, long long road
And I don't know which way to go
If you offered me your world, did you think I'd really stay?
If you offered me the heavens, I would have to turn away.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
"We don't have a prayer between us."
Didn't you, now? Didn't you, now?
Didn't you?
The song "Make It All Okay" by R.E.M. is a melancholic tale about a relationship going through challenging times. The first verse deals with how the partner, portrayed as having been the driving force in the relationship's stability, has thrown "away the ballast" and is exploring. The ultimatum they've presented is too big for the singer to ignore, and they've turned away from the world they once shared. The second verse describes their reunion, a chance at starting over but with the past completely rewritten. The renewed relationship is still haunted by doubts and unanswered questions. The singer wonders if their offers of love are genuine or just an imagination.
The chorus is filled with uncertainty and indecision. The long road is a metaphor for the future ahead, and the singer doesn't know which path to take. Even if the partner offers their hand again, the singer says they'd have to turn away. The final verse echoes these sentiments, with the partner offering the world or heavens, which the singer can't accept. The closing lines "Didn't you?" repeatedly question whether the singer's suspicions and insecurities were justified.
Overall, "Make It All Okay" portrays a poignant and complex relationship, with both parties struggling to find their way forward. The song is about how, at times, loving someone isn't enough to keep the relationship afloat.
Line by Line Meaning
You threw away the ballast and you rowed your boat ashore
You abandoned your burdens and ventured towards a new beginning.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you?
You did, didn't you? You took that step.
You made your ultimatum too big to ignore
Your demands were so great that they couldn't be overlooked.
So you worked out your excuses,
You came up with reasons to justify your actions.
Turned away and shut the door.
You closed the door on what was behind you.
The world's too vast for us now,
The world is too big to be confined.
And you wanted to explore
You desired to discover new things.
It's a long, long long road
The journey ahead is arduous and never ending.
And I don't know which way to go
I am indecisive in which direction to take.
If you offered me your hand again I'd have to walk away.
Even if you extend your hand, I won't accept your help.
When I saw you at the street fair, you called out my name
You recognized me at the street fair and called out to me.
You said we could start over, try and make it all okay.
You proposed that we reinvent the past and make it right.
So our past has been rewritten
The past events are no longer the same.
And you threw away the pen.
You gave up the ability to change what had happened.
You'd said that I was useless,
You had previously deemed me worthless.
But now you'll take me in again
However, now you accept me once more.
Well Jesus loves me fine.
I am content with the love Jesus shows me.
And your words fall flat this time.
Your words no longer hold power over me.
Was it my imagination, or did I hear you say,
I'm unsure if I actually heard you say,
"We don't have a prayer between us."
"Our chances of reconciliation are low."
Didn't you believe that I have finally turned away?
You thought I had permanently left you, didn't you?
Anything to hold onto to help me through my day.
I need something to cling on to in order to get through each day.
If you offered me your world, did you think I'd really stay?
Would you have actually expected me to accept everything you had to offer?
If you offered me the heavens, I would have to turn away.
Even if you offered me everything, I wouldn't stay.
Didn't you, now? Didn't you, now?
You did, didn't you?
Didn't you?
You took that step.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PETER BUCK, MIKE MILLS, MICHAEL STIPE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind