Founding members of R.E.M. Michael Stipe and Mike Mills came together last week (November 6) for a private screening of R.E.M. By MTV at the Director’s Guild Theatre in New York City. The new feature-length documentary, directed by Alexander Young, draws exclusively on archival footage, tracing the history of R.E.M. and MTV together in real time, making it feel as exciting and immediate as it did when it was happening.
R.E.M. By MTV is featured in the upcoming six-DVD collection REMTV, which includes over 14 hours of material including many live shows from throughout the band’s storied career and will be available on November 24 at retail outlets for a suggested list price of $99.98.
Prior to release, fans in select cities can get a sneak peek at R.E.M. By MTV with special “one night only” theatrical screenings on November 18. Markets include New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Washington, DC, and Atlanta.
R.E.M. By MTV will also premiere simultaneously on VH1 Classic and Palladia later in November, marking its first television run in the United States. Additional information about air dates will be announced.
R.E.M. and MTV came of age together. From the start, their fates were intertwined, with the band releasing its first single in July 1981, just weeks before the network premiered its first music video. From that point on, MTV documented everything about R.E.M, their music, their stories, and ultimately, their decision to disband in 2011.
It occurred to us that there’s all this footage of some of the band’s absolute career highlights sitting in some MTV vaults in London and New York– and thanks to a lot of effort and digging and arranging, this is our chance to share that music with various generations of R.E.M. fans in a pretty unique release, said longtime manager Bertis Downs. And Alexander Young’s documentary is a fine way to tell the story of R.E.M. through its various twists and turns, as captured in real time by MTV’s cameras– it has some great funny bits too!
This is the first DVD project to unite material from all across Viacom’s networks, said Bill Flanagan, EVP of the Viacom Music Group. Not only are we drawing from the vaults of MTV – domestic and international – but from VH1, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. I don’t think anyone realized just how much terrific R.E.M. footage we were sitting on. To gather the best of it in one collection is pretty overwhelming. R.E.M. started great, stayed great and ended great – here’s the evidence.
