REM announced their end in 2011, and this was one of three previously unheard tracks that featured on a compilation that tied in with their split. Michael Stipe says, “We had fulfilled our contract and it had become evident to us that it was time to either let it devolve into silliness, which none of us wanted, or make the difficult decision of walking away from it on our own terms and let that be that. And then spend the rest of our lives saying, ‘No, we are not going to reform, no, there’s not going to be a return concert or a tour.’ Some guy said to me last night at a cocktail party: ‘I book things for private parties. How much money would it take to put the band together for three songs? No one would ever know about it.’ I said: ‘There’s not enough money in the world.’ And he said: ‘Thank you – I’m a huge fan, and I wanted to know you couldn’t be bought.’ And I thought, that’s cool, and that’s manipulative, and fuck you. As much as we love each other and love what we did, it just shouldn’t happen.”
