R.E.M., ‘Around the Sun’ – Albums That Almost Killed a Band’s Career

R.E.M.'s unlucky 13th album missed the U.S. Top 10 and failed to yield a hit single. For the first time since the mid-'80s, the Athens alt-rock heroes found themselves outside of the mainstream, only this time, it wasn't because they were a cutting-edge cult act awaiting a commercial break. As guitarist Peter Buck admitted, they were tired old superstars who'd lost the plot.

“['Around the Sun'] just wasn't really listenable, because it sounds like what it is, a bunch of people that are so bored with the material that they can't stand it anymore," Buck said in 2008, the same year the band dropped 'Accelerate,' the first of two back-to-basics albums that reaffirmed R.E.M.'s relevance and ended their career on a relative high note. History was always going to look kindly on the group, but 'Around the Sun' would have been a dim end to the story.