The punk-rock ethos was "Do it yourself. Anyone can do this. We're not sent from the heavens."

Peter was sick of being a pop star, the guitar god, and so he decided to teach himself other instruments. Among the instruments that he picked up was the mandolin.

For every great thing we did, there is a very public moment of falling on our faces. But everything that came through us as a band was a distinct vision of R.E.M.

Never eat broccoli when there are cameras around.

We're kind of an international phenomenon.

I went through this difficult time [in the 1984] when we were making our third record where I kind of lost my mind. That's when the bulimia kicked in. And that's when I got really freaky.

Our generation was supposed to be about trying to deal with nuclear concerns and environmental disasters.