Tom Dunne: The prospect of a Michael Stipe solo album has got me rather excited
Michael Stipe performed new music on Stephen Colbert's talk show on US television. Picture: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
And in the year of our lord, two thousand and twenty-six, as the seas parted and the angels proclaimed the end of days, and man kneweth the game was up, the great one came forth and said: “Behold, there will be a new Michael Stipe album by the end of the year.” So 2026, not all bad news then.
The Michael Stipe interview on was everything I have ever loved about the man. It’s the way I like my rock stars: Enigmatic, daft as a brush, one minute singing a sea shanty, the next minute talking to trees. A man who is comfortable singing and uncomfortable at all other times.
I wouldn’t like to be on a plane being piloted by him. I wouldn’t like his to be the last face I see in an operating theatre. I’d get out if he was driving the car. I wouldn’t trust him to mind a pet or water my potted plants. But when it comes to music, where can I pre-book his every release?
The break-up of REM has been easy for us fans. We grew up with them. REM splitting was like your parents getting a divorce. You just wanted them back together, even if that meant their own continued unhappiness. I guess now that he’s met Andrew Watt, that door is closed forever.
Ah Andrew Watt, the producer to the stars. A man, who although still only 35, has worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Iggy Pop and most notably, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones. Grammy wins, Oscar nominations, he is the white-haired boy.
His gift is that of being able to write new material in the style of that artist when they were at their peak. He makes it easy for them. They bring their trademark talent — a vocal, a riff, an attitude — he brings everything else. It’s how he reinvented the Rolling Stones in 2023 with .
If he is indeed now that man tasked with completing an album with Michael — it remains unclear — I’d be very confident a humdinger is imminent. Many of the best tracks on later REM albums had precious little REM and lots of Michael:
That is not to discard REM as a band. Stipe’s vocals and lyrics set in the midst of that Buck, Mills, Berry combo was a joy to behold. But sometimes, the less they played, the better he sounded. A producer like Watt will seize on that.
Even more exciting is the fact Micheal has had essentially, 15 years to write this, almost half as long again as REM were together for. They’d survived 31 years before they split, during which time they produced 15 studio albums. There must be stored ideas.
So far, we have two tracks to go on. The debut single, the theme tune to the HBO show and the song he debuted on the Stephen Colbert show. They are both stunning, moody, soulful vehicles for what is surely one of the greatest voices in rock.
So let the debate begin. Will Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy continue their REM inspired tours? Will Stipe tour the new album, and if he does will be play some REM songs? If so, which ones?
He may take a solo McCartney approach. He may feel he has to establish the new direction first before he can throw in the old hits. That would make sense, painful sense for the fans, but sense none the less. A Micheal Stipe set with in it would split any gig in two, pre and post that erstwhile
But still aren’t these fantastic debates to be having. An end of year Michael Stipe solo album would set him up perfectly for the 2027 festival season. There is no festival bill that wouldn’t be enlivened by the addition of his name to it. And next year, Glastonbury returns!
When U2 and REM performed together at an awards ceremony a few years back Bono joked that at last the song had “found a decent vocalist”. That is criminally unfair to his own vocal, but I can see what he meant. Stipe is one of the voices of his generation.
A new Michael Stipe album by year’s end. 2026 has at last thrown us a bone. We deserve it!
