In fact, a lot of critics seemed to consider R.E.M. the first American music since the '60s to break out on its own and develop a stand-alone sound.

Links have become the suburbs of the real world.

Never eat broccoli when there are cameras around.

By nature I will find hope in everything. Even if it's the most incredibly hopeless situation or circumstance. That's just me... I'll never be able to see things any other way.

The whole point of the punk-rock thing was that "We're not special. We just have a voice."

The whole punk ethic was do-it-yourself, and I've always been very literal, especially as a kid. When they said that anybody can do this, I was like, 'OK, that's me.'

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