Bassist Stunned to Learn R.E.M. is Disbanding

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe announced yesterday that after much thought, the band has decided to break up.

“Wait, he said what?” asked confused bassist Michael Mills after learning of Stipe’s comments. “That motherf#cker never ran this by me!”

Music historian Nadia Devine told OMGG.com this isn’t the first time the band has kept Mills in the dark.

When the Japan leg of R.E.M.’s End of the World Tour was abruptly canceled due to Stipes’ health issues in 1999, the band never informed their longtime bassist.

“I waited backstage for over an hour before I called (drummer) Bill (Berry) to see where they all were,” Mills recalls. “He never answered because those jerks were already on a private jet back to the States.”