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R.E.M. feeling 'strong as ever'
(CNN) -- More than 20 years after they first played together in Athens, Georgia, the members of R.E.M. are taking stock of their accomplishments. On Tuesday "In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003" will be released, featuring many of the band's biggest hits from the 15 years they've been on the Warner Bros. label. (Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.) Since the retirement of drummer Bill Berry in 1997, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills have worked to find their footing as a trio. Stipe says it took a while to adjust to the change, but he thinks they're in great shape. "I feel that our powers as songwriters and co-partners in this venture that we call R.E.M. are as strong as they ever have been," Stipe told TMR. R.E.M. just finished an American tour and sat down with TMR to talk about "In Time." TMR: What was the inspiration for putting out a greatest hits? MILLS: Why did we put out a greatest hits? Because it seemed like if there were ever going to be a time for us to release one -- we're very excited about where we are as a band right now, we're really excited about playing with Bill Rieflin as our drummer, and we have a little time to kill between the next record that we're doing. So we thought we'd gather up the little rolling stones, as they were, and put a close to the last chapter of R.E.M., which was us as a four piece and the last 15 years on Warner Brothers. So it just seemed like an appropriate time to reintroduce ourselves to America. STIPE: We kind of had a rule from the early days. It was all about what bands do to make them suck or to make them break up. And Peter was really smart about this and Michael also was really encyclopedic about music and the people who make it, the biographies, and it seemed like bands break up over ego or money. It's really simple; it boils down to these two things. And it seems when bands run out of ideas, they either release a live album or a greatest hits record. So the idea of a greatest hits record was really never something we wanted to do. I think it's pretty clear to anyone who has seen us perform on this tour ... that we haven't run out of ideas, we're playing new songs and doing new stuff that indicate that we're not one of those nostalgic acts, resting on the laurels of our past. And as a band that has always looked forward, and has never really looked back, it felt like a really good time to reflect back. TMR: What keeps a band like you guys together for so many years? STIPE: The things that provide longevity, because in our case, and I can speak on behalf of the other bands you've mentioned, U2, Depeche Mode, the same thing that brought us together as teenagers -- a love of music -- is what's kept us doing what we want to do. MILLS: We're still excited about the music that we're making. I know I'm really psyched to get in the studio next year and finish working on our next CD. And the fact that you know how to write a song is still very thrilling and exciting. And to have Peter come and bring me his new stuff and see how good that is, that sort of thing makes you want to get up the next day and go in and work on it. And as long as you have that, you have a reason to keep going. TMR: Is it hard to go back through the past 15 years and your time with Warner Brothers and say this one's going to make the cut, this one's not? MILLS: It was actually really easy to decide what went on the "best of." We all made a list and they were all virtually the same. All the songs we chose are all pretty much songs we're proud of and we like and we all released as singles. So they all went out somewhere as perhaps a minor hit if not a major one. So it wasn't really hard, we had a little bit of shuffling and compromising with the record label and all that but it wasn't difficult at all. TMR: You did record two new songs, "A Bad Day" and "Animal." Tell me about "Bad Day" the video's ... MILLS: ... Well the video, as Michael wisely decided, there's nothing more prime for satire than 24-hour news channels. They feed you tons and tons of useless factoids and worthless information and you're supposed to figure out what of that is worth retaining and what of that is going to form your opinion of the world. And you know, it's kind of impossible, so we decided to make a lighthearted video to go with a fairly heavy lyric song. So it's a good juxtaposition.
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