Retirement for musicians is a funny thing, especially when it comes to calling it quits from the concert stage.
Pete Townshend famously wrote the line “I hope I die before I get old,” on The Who’s debut album, and even though the spirit of that sentiment is understandable coming from a twentysomething art student, as time goes on life becomes a bit more complicated.
For example, how does one just pull the plug on something they have been doing for most of their lives? And in some cases, doing something that miraculously became incredibly rich and famous due to it.
How does one step away from something that magical, where all sorts of goodness flowed from, and stay away forever?
In 1980 Michael Stipe met guitarist Peter Buck at the nearby record store, Wuxtry Records. Buck knew bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry, who had grown up together down the road in Macon, Georgia. The quartet began jamming together and quickly formed R.E.M. He was 20.
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