No Rock And Roll Fun

STIPE ACCEPTS HE'S LOST TO THE GAMEBOY: Mulling on the falling levels of REM album sales, Michael Stipe shrugs and asks 'what can you do if people prefer X-Box DVD?":

"In the States the mediums through which music are available have become much more tunnel-visioned than before," he said. "So what you get is music that's made specifically to be on the radio. Alongside that, with the advent of computers and the Internet, people have a lot of other things to occupy their time with, other than music. So music in general has taken a little bit of a dip because people are creating DVD libraries - I am, I know that - rather than buying music, and playing Sega games and doing other things. You know there are 500 channels to watch on television instead of 25, so music has taken a little bit of a back seat to other forms of media that have taken over. I don't take it personally."