Thom Yorke on R.E.M.: Michael Stipe Is a "Genius"
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke rarely calls anyone a genius. The one exception, according to a compilation by Far Out Magazine of his interviews over the years, is R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe. The piece traces Yorke's account of discovering R.E.M. in the mid-1980s as the turning point in his musical taste — before that, per Yorke's comments to VinylWriters cited in the report, he was mostly listening to bands like Japan, which he described as "music to pass the time."
From Japan to R.E.M.
Yorke has said discovering R.E.M. turned his life upside down. He pointed to Stipe singing about his own flaws and insecurities, delivering a message that it was okay to be strange — and Yorke counted himself as exactly that.
That influence fed directly into a real career decision. Yorke said Stipe's songs told him "you don't have to prove yourself to anyone," and not long after he enrolled in art school and started taking music seriously. He has also called R.E.M. "the bridge between the art student and the musician in me."
As for the word "genius" itself, Yorke described Stipe's lyrics as like a car ride packed with traffic signs and billboards — a neon-toned journey that formed a complete cinematic experience in his head.
The 1995 tour and a mentor during fame
Once Radiohead broke through, the two became friends. In 1995, R.E.M. invited Radiohead to join them as tour support, a period when Yorke was struggling to process sudden fame, and Stipe shifted from idol to mentor.
Yorke later picked R.E.M.'s "Talk About Passion" when he appeared on BBC's Desert Island Discs, saying Stipe "used to be my hero, and now he's my friend." He also recalled the period when, as he put it, people on the street talked to him "like I was Jesus," during which he would call Stipe and say "I genuinely can't take this."
Sales figures side by side
The report also sets the two bands' record sales against each other: R.E.M. has sold roughly 94 million records, Radiohead around 70.5 million. Far Out's point is that R.E.M.'s music, despite its cult streak and heavy dose of personal eccentricity, still did serious commercial business — and that Radiohead, however far their experiments have gone, has retained a similar accessibility.