I sang using my voice as an instrument. That's something I picked up from Vanessa Briscoe from Pylon. The narrative is within the emotion and the feeling of the voice. It wasn't until Bill Berry left the group in 1996 that I started including all lyrics. When I'm good, I'm a really good lyricist now. And I included all the lyrics on Harborcoat because I was like okay, when I'm bad I'm not mediocre. So better or worse? We'll have to see.
Michael Stipe joins to talk about his remarkable life, photography practice, and career as the lead singer and lyricist for the band R.E.M.