R.E.M. has released 12 studio albums since their debut in 1983. Their debut album, Murmur won the best album of the year award from Rolling Stone, beating Michael Jackson's Thriller.

R.E.M. consists of Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry. The guys met in college and started playing at parties at their friends' houses. R.E.M.'s first release was a single containing the songs Radio Free Europe and Sitting Still, which was released on Hib-Tone. Later they were singed to IRS and released Chronic Town, a pre-album EP, and Murmurs, their first full-length album containing the songs from their first single.

They then continued to release the albums Reckoning, Fables of Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant, which give them a growing fan base. Then they released their fifth album, Document, which would soon become platinum. To cope with the almost instant fame they were signed onto music giant, Warner Brothers, and released Green.

In 1991 R.E.M. recorded Out Of Time, their biggest selling album, and the album that contained Losing My Religion, R.E.M.'s biggest single. Monster and New Adventures in Hi-FI are released and continue to be hits.

In 1997, drummer Bill Berry, announced that he would leave the band due to personal reasons. R.E.M. decides to get a replacement and releases Up and Reveal. In Time, a greatest hits compilation was released in 2003.