The song "Sing for the Submarine" presents my dream world, which is way different from my waking world. It's set in the… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I think there were early critics who wanted us to change the world because the Sex Pistols failed. — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
When we first started, we were a band from Athens and that was so off the map. — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I don't find R.E.M. to be nihilistic. There is a constant undertone of joyous optimism. I'm not going to kill myself to… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
My iPod that was programmed by Peter Buck. It has 7,000 songs hand-picked for me by him. — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
There is always something of the writer in the work but I don't think Melville had to be swallowed by a whale… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I've never written a song that's hopeless. I'm not a hopeless person. I'm crazily optimistic. I crazily see the good in people.… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
By the time I was 18, I had absorbed punk rock from America, Britain, and the West Coast. All of it was… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
So, when you divide the world into music lovers, music fans and then those people who are just very casual about their… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
For me, as a music fan, visuals kind of steal away the purity of the song. My instinct is not to provide… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I knew [Kurt Cobain] and his daughter. And Courtney [Love] came and stayed at my house. R.E.M. worked on two records in… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
Peter was sick of being a pop star, the guitar god, and so he decided to teach himself other instruments. Among the… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
The whole punk ethic was do-it-yourself, and I've always been very literal, especially as a kid. When they said that anybody can… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I had to get a driver's license and drive to St. Louis to find the punk-rock scene that was happening there. And… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
When we signed with Warner Bros., they knew what they were getting. They knew they weren't going to get some easily manipulated… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I simply constructed a project to try to snap Kurt [Cobain] out of a frame of mind. I sent him a plane… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I was doing that [a collaboration with Kurt Cobain] to try to save his life. The collaboration was me calling up as… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
Punk-rock records came out and you bought whatever you could find. But Devo didn't happen for another three years. Sex Pistols didn't… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
For every great thing we did, there is a very public moment of falling on our faces. But everything that came through… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
At the [teenage] time, I did have an inkling of my sexuality. And I had an inkling that I was different from other people… — Michael Stipe Copy Share
I don't find R.E.M. to be nihilistic. There is a constant undertone of joyous optimism. I'm not going to kill myself to Patti Smith… — Michael Stipe Copy Share
I simply constructed a project to try to snap Kurt [Cobain] out of a frame of mind. I sent him a plane ticket and… — Michael Stipe Copy Share
I was vulnerable every day. Every night that I stepped on stage I was laying myself open. — Michael Stipe Copy Share
We're absolutely American and distinctly so, I think. That's part of what people respond to outside of this country, part of the reason that… — Michael Stipe Copy Share
[Columbia House] magazines were how I found out about the punk world going on in New York. Because of what I read, at the… — Michael Stipe Copy Share
I'm tired of being this solemn poet of the masses, the enigma shrouded in a mystery. — Michael Stipe Copy Share
Frankly I'm not great with heroin addicts. I tried heroin, but it was by accident. I'm not great with that level of substance abuse. — Michael Stipe Copy Share
The whole punk ethic was do-it-yourself, and I've always been very literal, especially as a kid. When they said that anybody can do this,… — Michael Stipe Copy Share
They spoke truth and a lot of people listened… that voice, Kurt we miss you. — Michael Stipe Copy Share
A wise man once said-'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave,' — Michael Stipe Copy Share
Anything you do as a group is fraught with compromise... But everyone 's got to do that, right? It's part of being a good… — Michael Stipe Copy Share
To be called an elder statesman is so unbelievably insulting. Brad Pitt is exactly three years younger than me. — Michael Stipe Copy Share
![“I knew [Kurt Cobain] and his daughter. And Courtney [Love] came and stayed at my house. R.E.M. worked on two records in Seattle and Peter Buck lived next door to Kurt and Courtney. So we all knew each other. I reached out to him with that project as an attempt to prevent what was going to happen.” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/3e2/michael-stipe-6714_bucks_i-knew-kurt-cobain-and-his-daughter-and_1843291.jpg)
![“I simply constructed a project to try to snap Kurt [Cobain] out of a frame of mind. I sent him a plane ticket and a driver, and he tacked the plane ticket to the wall in the bedroom and the driver sat outside the house for 10 hours. Kurt wouldn't come out and wouldn't answer the phone.” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/208/michael-stipe-6714_answers_i-simply-constructed-a-project-to-try-to_117192.jpg)
![“I was doing that [a collaboration with Kurt Cobain] to try to save his life. The collaboration was me calling up as an excuse to reach out to this guy. He was in a really bad place.” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/e28/michael-stipe-6714_calling_i-was-doing-that-a-collaboration-with-ku_3098936.png)
