REM: The sidewinder sleeps tonight

Rather like the policies from the 2010 Liberal Democrat manifesto, the big surprise about the REM split is that they were still officially supposed to exist.

Although they sometimes nudged a little too close to U2 for comfort, and the odd 'behaving like twonks on airplanes' incidents not withstanding, they did just about pull off being massive without being massive asshats.

Although imagine if they'd used Dead Letter Office as the end point of their career. Blimey, how much would we have loved them then?

Still, that's it for REM, although God has confirmed plans for a massive natural disaster in 2016 which will necessitate a reunion to headline a benefit gig. "The plans are at an early stage" explained God, "but I am developing a fire-breathing locust."