Peter Buck is the guitarist for
R.E.M., arguably the most important and influential American rock band of the post-punk era. Born December 6, 1956, in Berkeley, California, he was managing the Athens, Georgia-based Wuxtry record shop when he met University of Georgia student
Michael Stipe, and with bassist
Mike Mills and drummer
Bill Berry, they formed
R.E.M. in the spring of 1980. Distinguished by
Buck's chiming guitar riffs, the group honed an atmospheric, jangly pop sound often reminiscent of
the Byrds, touring relentlessly prior to issuing their debut single, "Radio Free Europe," on the tiny Hib-Tone label in mid-1981; after the record's success on college radio attracted the attention of IRS Records, they released the
Chronic Town EP a year later.
R.E.M.'s first full-length album, 1983's
Murmur, cemented their reputation as critics' darlings; despite little mainstream airplay, 1984's
Reckoning reached the Top 30 and with the darkly beautiful follow-up
Fables of the Reconstruction, the band earned increasing MTV visibility for the videos "Can't Get There from Here" and "Driver 8."
While 1986's
Lifes Rich Pageant revealed a growing awareness with sociopolitical concerns (among them environmental issues and American foreign policy), the following year's
Document was
R.E.M.'s commercial breakthrough, buoyed by the Top Ten hit "The One I Love." Released on Election Day 1988, the Warner Bros. label debut
Green was
R.E.M.'s most pointedly polemic effort to date, although the hits "Stand" and "Pop Song 89" also reflected the band's wry sense of humor. Following the
Green tour,
R.E.M. took an extended break, during which time
Buck,
Mills, and
Berry teamed with singer/songwriter
Warren Zevon to record an LP as the
Hindu Love Gods.
Buck, who earlier produced
the Feelies' 1986 comeback LP
The Good Earth, also helmed sessions for
Kevn Kinney (
MacDougal Blues),
Run Westy Run (
Green Cat Island), and
Uncle Tupelo (
March 16-20, 1992); a comic book written and drawn by then-unknown singer/songwriter
Jack Logan even depicted the guitarist as a superhero.
R.E.M. returned in 1991 with the chart-topping
Out of Time, which generated the Top Ten hits "Losing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People"; the elegiac masterpiece
Automatic for the People followed in 1992 and as alternative rock took over the pop charts, the band was widely acknowledged among the chief inspirations behind a generation of new artists. In the wake of 1995's
Monster,
Buck formed the side project
Tuatara, an experimental, free jazz-inspired collective also featuring
the Screaming Trees'
Barrett Martin and
Luna's
Justin Harwood; the group's debut album,
Breaking the Ethers, appeared a year later, followed in 1998 by
Trading with the Enemy. In 1997, he also teamed with ex-
American Music Club frontman
Mark Eitzel for the collaborative LP
West. He returned to
R.E.M. -- by then a trio following
Berry's retirement -- for 1998's
Up, the album that established that the group could continue without
Berry. Over the next decade,
Buck would pursue side-projects between
R.E.M. albums, frequently playing with such old friends as Robyn Hitchcock and Scott McCaughey; he played bass in McCaughey's band the Baseball Project.
R.E.M. announced their disbandment in the fall of 2011. In the spring of 2012,
Buck announced he was recording his first solo album. The result was released in October in an extremely limited edition of 2000 vinyl copies.
–
Jason Ankeny, Rovi