R.E. Gonna Miss M.

I remember the treble-tinged guitars from R.E.M.'s "Out of Time" churning from the crackly speakers in my parents' weathered, blue box-styled Toyota Camry en route to the outskirts of Myrtle Beach, SC throughout the 1990's. Keep it steady; play one side straight to the other, then tighten up that cassette ribbon by jamming your pinkie finger in those two little geared, plastic spinners before flipping the cassette over. By the time we got back around to the half-spoken, half-belting "Belong," (my personal favorite) we just let it keep on going...

"Shiny, Happy People," the intro to that album, if I remember correctly, is one of those semi-lame songs that you're afraid to admit you love. Even at 10 years-old. My father and I's eyes would dart back and forth between one another, as if asking: "I'll keep listening to it - I mean - only if YOU want to."

I heard the "Gas Holes" cover that song at the Corner Pocket in downtown Greenville a few weekends back, and it jerked me right back to 1995. Good memories with family en route to Grandma and Grandpa's in Horry County.

But after 31 years, R.E.M's calling it quits.

"A wise man once said, 'The skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave,'" lead singer Michael Stipe wrote from his website. "We built something extraordinary together. . . . Now we're going to walk away from it."

Like Jerry Seinfeld circa 1998, seems R.E.M. knows the importance of leaving while on top. They returned to their roots in Athens, GA this summer summer to record three new songs for a two-CD greatest-hits compilation: R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982- 2011, due out Nov. 15. Inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, R.E.M.'s 15 studio albums have sold more than 85 million copies worldwide.

Never saw them live. Damn shame. We can only hope for a reunion tour.