We don't get groupies.We get teenagers who want to read us their poetry. — Michael Stipe Groupie Copy Share Image
The whole point of the punk-rock thing was that "We're not special. We just have a voice." — Michael Stipe Punk Copy Share Image
Our generation was supposed to be about trying to deal with nuclear concerns and environmental disasters. — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I'm just not that fascinating a person to have had all those lives that I've written about. — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
To be called an elder statesman is so unbelievably insulting. Brad Pitt is exactly three years younger than me. — Michael Stipe Aging Copy Share Image
Sometimes before we make a record I go back and listen to a few. It's equally humbling and uplifting. — Michael Stipe Humbling Copy Share Image
When you meet a stranger, look at his shoes. Keep your money in your shoes. — Michael Stipe Fashion Copy Share Image
They spoke truth and a lot of people listened… that voice, Kurt we miss you. — Michael Stipe Fame Copy Share Image
You don't need to be talented. You don't even have to play the guitar to be a guitar player in a punk-rock… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I remember traffic jams Motor boys and girls with tans Nearly was and almost rans I remember this, this ... At the… — Michael Stipe Boy and girl Copy Share Image
When I write, I tend toward melancholy, and the few times that I've tried pure joy in music, it doesn't really work… — Michael Stipe Catharsis Copy Share Image
I think my apocalyptic feelings went deeper than [heavily influenced by Reagan and AIDS]. I'm really at peace with how afraid I… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
“Death is pretty final./I'm collecting vinyl./I'm gonna DJ at the end of the world/'cause if heaven does exists/with a kickin' playlist/I don't… — Michael Stipe Death 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
Anything you do as a group is fraught with compromise... But everyone 's got to do that, right? It's part of being… — Michael Stipe Compromise Copy Share Image
I'm kind of quoting Thurston [Moore] and Kim [Gordon] in saying that about not being great with addicts, because they are the… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
We made part of the record in Miami, and I would go down to the beach, and not 20 feet from the… — Michael Stipe Beach Copy Share Image
“If the storm doesn't kill me, the government will./Gotta get that outta my head./It's a new day today and the coffee is… — Michael Stipe New day Copy Share Image
It was '86. We were a big enough name and we had enough cache that MTV wanted to play us, so, along… — Michael Stipe Art 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
I came to New York for the first time with Peter Buck at age 19. We spent a week living out of… — Michael Stipe Age Copy Share Image
Once I reached my 40s, I thought to myself that if I'm going to play live now, I need to really mean… — Michael Stipe Choices Copy Share Image
But we're very much an American band and that's that. I think that's part of the appeal outside of this country and… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
There tend to be two different drives that lead young people toward music. One is that music provides an escape; it takes… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
“I'm not homosexual, I'm not heterosexual, I'm just sexual.” — Michael Stipe Heterosexual Copy Share Image
I'm not homosexual, I'm not hetrosexual, I'm just sexual. — Michael Stipe Homosexual 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
The punk-rock ethos was "Do it yourself. Anyone can do this. We're not sent from the heavens." — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
There are people that very strongly identify themselves as gay and then lesbian, and then I think there are a lot of… — Michael Stipe Gay 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
Super casual music listeners. That's most of the people in the world. And you have to understand, that's why Top 40 radio… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
In fact, a lot of critics seemed to consider R.E.M. the first American music since the '60s to break out on its… — Michael Stipe American music 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
So, we went from being an Athens band to being a Georgia band to being a Southern band to being an American… — Michael Stipe Athens Copy Share Image
Because the casual music listeners are the ones who turn on the radio and they don't really care what's playing, they just… — Michael Stipe Care Copy Share Image
Frankly I'm not great with heroin addicts. I tried heroin, but it was by accident. I'm not great with that level of… — Michael Stipe Abuse 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
On planes I always cry. Something about altitude, the lack of oxygen and the bad movies. I cried over a St. Bernard… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
We toured that record for a year, which turned out to be the culmination of ten years of being constantly on the… — Michael Stipe Culmination 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
![“I think my apocalyptic feelings went deeper than [heavily influenced by Reagan and AIDS]. I'm really at peace with how afraid I am.” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/4bb/michael-stipe-6714_aids_i-think-my-apocalyptic-feelings-went-dee_1343071.png)
![“I'm kind of quoting Thurston [Moore] and Kim [Gordon] in saying that about not being great with addicts, because they are the ones who said it to me.” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/1bb/michael-stipe-6714_addict_i-m-kind-of-quoting-thurston-moore-and-k_3113368.png)
![“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 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)
