The ‘unlistenable’ R.E.M. album which had ‘bored’ band fed up of their own material

A record from rock group R.E.M. has been dubbed “unlistenable” by guitarist Peter Buck.

Though the band are responsible for hits like Everybody Hurts, Shiny Happy People, and Losing My Religion, an album which released towards the end of the band’s active period was dismissed by Buck. The guitarist was a main member of R.E.M. from 1980 to 2011, and also appeared in two brief reunions from the Michael Stipe-fronted group in 2024 and 2025. One of their final albums as a group left even the band members feeling indifferent about its quality, as Buck described it as a piece which “wasn’t really listenable”. The quote from Buck is attributed by some to an interview the guitarist gave to an “Atlanta newspaper“.

Buck, like members of the public, has been dismissive of Around the Sun in the years following its release. R.E.M.’s 2004 offering is considered by many to be the weakest of their discography. The Q-Tip featuring album would also feature the song Final Straw, a track written in response to the U.S. government’s involvement in the Iraq War. Despite the politically relevant potential of the band’s music at the time, it appears it did not come together in the studio.

Guitarist Buck wrote off Around the Sun in an interview given after the release of follow-up album, Accelerate. He said the album “just wasn’t really listenable, because it sounds like what it is: a bunch of people that are so bored with the material that they can’t stand it anymore.”

Frontman Stipe agreed, suggesting it was not the songs which were the problem but the efforts in the studio. He said: “The songs on Around the Sun are great. But, in the process of recording, we lost our focus as a band.”

Mike Mills agreed with Buck and Stipe, adding: “It’s an unfocused record. But the songs are good, because there’s a live record from Dublin that came out not long after that, and we did a lot of those songs, and they sound fantastic. It’s not on Pat McCarthy, it’s on us; we just lost our groove.”

Around the Sun remains the band’s lowest-rated album on music tracking website, Rate Your Music. Excluding a rare remixes release, Around the Sun sits at an average rating of 2.58 from 3,292 listeners at the time of writing. Their second-lowest release remains Reveal, the album preceding Around the Sun. It currently holds a 3.13 rating from 4,228 listeners.

Stipe and the band have sworn off reuniting, and as recently as 2024 said there would be nothing which could get them back together for an official reunion. They have played together in their original line-up with Bill Berry since that interview, though only as one-off shows.

The group performed at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, playing Losing My Religion for the first time since 2016, and the first time they had played it with Berry since 2007. The song had featured on their 2008 performances but was never played by the band on the tours between 2008 and 2011.