It's the end of the world as we know it

1979: Athens, GA. Michael Stipe, an Arts student newly-arrived to the town, and Peter Buck, a record store clerk, meet each other and become roommates. They meet Mike Mills and Bill Berry in a party, and the four guys resolve to create a band

1980: on April 5, the group performs its first show in a friend's birthday party at the abandoned church where Stipe and Buck live. They begin to play in bars, snack bars and college parties in American Southeast

1981: R.E.M. releases its first phonographic record, a single with the songs "Radio Free Europe" and "Sitting Still", by independent seal Hibtone

1982: they sign contract with the seal I.R.S. and release the EP "Chronic Town", that receives an excellent acceptance among the college radios

1983: the band releases its first album, "Murmur", that wins the 1983 Album of the Year award by Rolling Stone magazine, beating the albums "War", from U2, and "Thriller", from Michael Jackson, the most sold record in history. For the first time, R.E.M. plays outside US

1984: in eleven days, they record "Reckoning" and go out again in tour

1985: release the album "Fables Of The Reconstruction", the biggest R.E.M. success so far. The group, however, almost ends, due to internal divergences about the kind of sound of that album

1986: R.E.M. releases its fourth album, "Lifes Rich Pageant", the first golden disc of the band. The song "Fall On Me" is the first to reach the American Top 10

1987: "Document" is released, with its noisy and politically correct songs. "The One I Love" figures among the Top 5 and it's the song that lead the band to the stardom and "Document" to the Top 10 and to the platinum disc. I.R.S. releases a collection of B-sides, named "Dead Letter Office"

1988: Rolling Stone magazine elects R.E.M. The Best America's Rock'n Roll Band. They sign contract with the giant Warner Bros. and release their sixth album, "Green". The quartet begins its biggest and most successful tour, the Green World Tour, that lasts eleven months and conducts them to exhaustion

1991: after three years with no releases, the band record "Out Of Time", its most sold album of all time. The hits "Losing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People" help the album to wins three Grammy Awards and six MTV Video Music Awards

1992: the critique doubts R.E.M. get hold the high pattern in its songs after the success of "Out Of Time". But the group releases "Automatic For The People", consider by the fans and the critique its best album

1994: the band decides to record back an album with hard and guitar-stuffed songs, what didn't happen since "Green". "Monster" is released and they begin the Monster World Tour, the first in more than five years, which Stipe suffers a hernia, Mills undergoes surgery for stomach problems and Berry almost dies due to a cerebral aneurysm!

1996: R.E.M. renews with Warner Bros. for US$ 80 million, the biggest contract in all history of phonographic industry. They release their first non-entirely studio recorded album. "New Adventures In Hi-Fi" contains, mostly, unpublished songs recorded live or during the soundchecks for the Monster World Tour

1997: on October 30, the drummer Bill Berry announces he leaves the band with no sorrows. He says he just wants to live in his farm near Athens and spends more time with his family. The other three members of R.E.M. decide to continue with the band without replace Berry. Stipe says that, "a three-legged dog still is a dog"

1998: release the album "Up", the first one without Berry and considered the most depressive album of the group. At first, R.E.M. decides not go out in tour, but, after a few shows, they changes their minds and go in tour for Europe and US