1994 12 24 R.E.M. NME
GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLE REM • Ho, ho, ho! It’s the end of the world as he nose it! Well, would you care to ask MICHAEL STIPE to dress up as one of Santa’s reindeer and stick on a foam rubber Rudolph nose? Would you ask him about the size of his penis? How his teeth are? No, neither would we, so we sent JOHNNY DEE to Atlanta to ask him for us. Nose pics: STEVE DOUBLE Three months ago a feature in The Sunday Times carried the strapline: “The camera-shy leader of America’s hippest rock band gives a rare interview.” That camera-shy leader was Michael Stipe. Before he got into wearing foam antlers... foam antlers, a comedy red nose and a Santa suit! Hang on, hang on. What’s going on? This is Michael Stipe, right? The coolest man in the coolest rock band in the world. The biggest rock band in the world. The best rock band in the world. And he’s wearing foam antlers. The NME photographer is rifling through rolls of film, slamming another cartridge into the back of his camera, quick, qui...