R.E.M. Splits, The World Goes, "Huh?"

The only surprising thing about R.E.M.'s split is that I thought they did it about 10 years ago.

I loved R.E.M.'s early stuff: Reckoning, Murmer and Document. I even liked Green, the CD that gained them a modest level of mainstream popularity. But in my humble and musically-uninformed opinion, fame must have been too much to handle for Michael Stipe and company, because to me, they immediately got weird(er). They sort of lost me at Automatic for the People. And, like two star-crossed lovers, we grew apart. I grew away from the hygienically challenged Athens music scene, and R.E.M. just grew, well, just stranger.

Back to the split. R.E.M. hasn't exactly been on the radar in recent years. Does their break-up deserve the publicity it's received? Really. I've got the attention span of a crack-addled squirrel when it comes to pop culture, but when I haven't heard a new release in the last few years, you're dead to me. Same thing happened with the Sopranos. Two years between season premiers and I've lost the thread and I've lost interest.

But the real question is: When is R.E.M. going to pull an Eagles stunt, a la Hell Freezes Over tour? Because the only reason groups seem to break up (especially those who haven't even been producing anything as a group) is to reunite. After they said they wouldn't. Because after your talent and prolificacy wane, a little drama and intrigue go a long way toward bolstering flagging sales.