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
There was a point in the '80s when I looked out at my audience and I saw people that - were I… — Michael Stipe Audience 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
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 started lip-synching with "Losing My Religion." There were a few horrendous mistakes we made, but I own those mistakes. I'm embarrassed… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
But I think the one thing that I can say about us is that we're very consistent about certain things and part… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
I distinctly remember a conversation with my band in the van where I was having a complete meltdown. It was 1984, I… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
The artwork for the record is kind of an homage to that. It's a collage, which rhymes with homage, I just realized.… — Michael Stipe Artwork Copy Share Image
We're absolutely American and distinctly so, I think. That's part of what people respond to outside of this country, part of the… — 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
I stopped taking drugs [in 1983]. There were a lot of things that led up to it. One thing was that a… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
So, we just kind of created our own thing and that's part of the beauty of Athens: is that it's so off… — Michael Stipe Athens 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
AIDS had landed and I was terrified. I was very scared, just as everyone was in the '80s. It was really hard… — Michael Stipe Copy Share Image
By the time [of modern] generation was coming of age sexually, there was already this idea of safe sex. But that didn't… — Michael Stipe Age 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 an excuse to reach out to this guy. He was in a really bad place.” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/michael-stipe-6714_calling_i-was-doing-that-a-collaboration-with-ku_3098936.png)
![“I stopped taking drugs [in 1983]. There were a lot of things that led up to it. One thing was that a lover died. An ex of mine died in a car wreck and I was really trashed when I found out about it and I couldn't cry. I woke up the next morning and I said, "That's it," so I quit then. It was…” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af8/michael-stipe-6714_car_i-stopped-taking-drugs-in-1983-there-wer_859238.png)
![“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/quotes/i/208/michael-stipe-6714_answers_i-simply-constructed-a-project-to-try-to_117192.jpg)
![“By the time [of modern] generation was coming of age sexually, there was already this idea of safe sex. But that didn't exist for me. I came out of the free-swinging '60s and '70s. It was free love, baby. That was it. We had very liberal sex-ed classes in 1973, a yearlong environmental science…” quote by Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d65/michael-stipe-6714_age_by-the-time-of-modern-generation-was-com_2424111.jpg)