Michael Stipe: "I Love My Country... But I Don't Love Where It Is Right Now"
During the last election, REM joined the pro-Kerry Vote for Change tour of swing states, playing freshly minted protest songs Final Straw and I Wanted to Be Wrong. Many musicians these days take relish in decrying the Bush administration, but the subject dismays Stipe so much that he buries his head in his hands. "I'm like a cynical optimist and the angriest pacifist in the world," says the head. "I feel like we will rise above this but sometimes it seems very bleak. I love my country so much and I love what it represents. But I don't love where it is right now."
Can he at least savour the schadenfreude of Bush's rapidly evaporating authority? He gives a wan grin. "It's a day late and a dollar short if you ask me - or several billion dollars short."
Read the rest of the interview with Michael Stipe herehttp://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2203203,00.html
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Guardian | Dorian Lynskey | November 2, 2007 02:46 PM