The end of the band as we know it.

So REM have announced that they have split up, I see. We were rather surprised in the Gin Palace; we thought they’d split up years ago, but it appears not. In fact they released an album as recently as March this year. I don’t know what it’s called, or what it’s like. The only album of theirs we have as far as I am aware (unless Furtle had one to add to our joint collection) is The Very Best of… or whatever it was called.

That probably says it all, really, doesn’t it?

I guess the only remarkable thing about the split – apart from the fact it didn’t happen ten years ago and that it made the news as a major item (why?), is simply that it all appears to be quite amicable. Not very rock’n’roll, is it? Where are the acrimonious lawsuits, the slanderous interviews, libellous memoirs, or drunken brawls?

I guess they were always a bit more Starbucks than Gin Joint.