R.E.M.’s Mike Mills on the Electronics, Mystery, & Difficult Circumstances of 1998’s Up

R.E.M.’s Mike Mills catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about the 25th-anniversary edition of Up, their first post-Bill Berry album that found the Athens band trying out a new electronic-based sound. The bassist/songwriter discusses the difficult circumstances in which the LP was created, how they found the sound, and the stories behind songs “Airportman,” “Sad Professor,” “Daysleeper,” and “Hope”. Mills goes on to talk about why they decided not to include the demos on this deluxe package, while also confirming that there are “plenty of unheard songs in the vault.” The two also chat about the band’s recent resurgence in the popular zeitgeist, from covers from The Monkees Mickey Dolenz and Soccer Mommy to the use of their music on TV series The Bear. We also get a little-known story about remixing their debut album Murmur after I.R.S. tried to give it the 80s sound that was in vogue at the time.

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Listen to R.E.M.’s Mike Mills sit and chat about all this and more in the new episode or watch it on Youtube. Please take the time to like, review, and subscribe to KMW wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.

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