Michael Stipe on Death, Trump—and R.E.M.’s Masterpiece

Michael Stipe is offering me anchovies.

“This is not what I expected,” the retired rock star says, poking at the plate of thin fish he’s just ordered at a seafood bar in New York City’s East Village. “Do you eat anchovies?”

This is not what I expected either: being served seafood by the ex-frontman of R.E.M. I politely decline, citing vegetarianism.

“I’m vegan-default,” Stipe says, laughing. “I like these little fishies.” So...a pescetarian? “No, I eat anything. But most of the time, I’m vegan.” He swore off meat as a teenager but “started eating everything again when I was 40.”

Aging plays strange tricks. And aging is on both of our minds: Stipe is a 57-year-old man looking back at the reluctant 32-year-old superstar who made Automatic for the People, the 1992 release that’s commonly cited as R.E.M.’s melancholy masterpiece. He’s looking back, in part, because that album is being reissued in deluxe format this month to mark its 25th anniversary. “I’m kind of in awe of what we did as relatively young men,” he says. “I mean, we started very young. It's intense."

It’s fitting, then, that  is overwhelmingly preoccupied with mortality. Among its most enduring tracks are the end-of-life meditation “Try Not to Breathe,” the grief narrative “Sweetness Follows”