Do all R.E.M. members sign off on political statements?
Those guys edit me from time to time and I need it. We are equal partners. We all decide what we will say. It’s a “push me pull you” tug of war thing and we try lots of different ways of doing tings before we agree. It’s the same with songs. Some songs are more Michael. Some are more Mike or Peter.
When you came out about your sexuality in Time Magazine in 2001 was there a similar sense of “ I must stand up and be counted”?
I didn’t come out in 2001. That’s something that the British press love harping on about. They always have me emerging from a closet that I was never actually in. I simply refused to speak about my personal life to people that didn’t know me. People that know me know who I am and who I sleep with, and that it was across the board.
I was on the cover of Out magazine in 1995. I publicly came out in 1992 or 1993. That’s when I started talking about my sexuality beyond my family and friends. In Time magazine I was quoted saying I was being made to feel like a coward for not coming out. But they left out the date because I was referring back to how I felt in 1992. I’ve been outed by the British press more times than Sinatra sang My Way. The only real “new” news in 2001 was that I was in a solid relationship with a guy.
The new track Leaving New York sounds like a love song by someone who’s had their heart broken. Have you?
Fuck off.
Oh…
Look, I wanted to write a love song to that city and that’s what it is. But I didn’t want to reference in any way what that city has been through in the last three years. Even Final Straw, if you listen closely to the lyrics, isn’t strictly an anti-war song. It’s something else, but I wanted the listeners to discover that for themselves.
You get home and Morrissey, Courtney Love and Thom Yorke have all left messages on your answering machine. Who do you call back first?
I would call the editor of Q magazine and ask how the fuck they tapped into my phone answering machine. Why don’t you fucking ask me how I would handle US foreign policy in 10 minutes? I know it sounds very sexy because every single person you have mentioned is gifted and when one of those fuckers comes out with something amazing I get that narrow-eyed feeling of, Right, now I’ve to write a great, great song. Sometimes [moving in those circles] is sexy, fun and raw, but sometimes it’s just life. And just for the record, Morrissey doesn’t leave messages.
Last year you said Courtney was “just fine”. Since then she has single-handedly redefined “not fine”…
I’d love someone to go back through Q and see when this question wasn’t one of those questions. I don’t really want to answer that question. Sorry.
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OK, closer to home. Peter Buck. Is he OK?
What do you mean?
We met him in Chicago last year. He seemed very down.
He probably had a bad day. The kids kept him up, maybe. He was stressed over the set-list or something. We all have bad days. That’s the downside to this job. Sometimes being a public figure, someone comes up to you and they’re a fan and they’re really excited and they approach you at a table and you have had a shitty day and you can’t be that guy right then. I always feel shitty when I let someone down but it happens. But no, Peter is fine.
It’s R.E.M.’s silver jubilee soon. The Queen had street parties. How about you?
Well, on 5 April 2005 I hope people have street parties on our behalf. That would be nice. That will be the 25th anniversary of our first show, though we actually formed in ’79 when I was 19. Peter and I had just been to New York for the first time. We slept on the street and it was amazing. But 25 years is a long time and I’m pretty proud of our output. It’s been good and sometimes great and there’s lots more to come.
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