You can’t go wrong making cracks about how MTV doesn’t play music videos anymore. (And that’s been material you could use for nearly the past 15 years.) But the network may be on its way to re-establishing that part of its history with a feature-length documentary on R.E.M.
R.E.M. by MTV essentially tells the band’s story through all the material devoted to them on the channel, including news reports, appearances, videos, and concert footage that essentially covers its 30-year lifespan from 1981 to 2011. The documentary will play on MTV, as well as VH1 Classic and Palladia simultaneously, in November. Here is a trailer for the film.
The film will be part of a six-DVD set, titled REMTV, which will be released on Nov. 24. In addition to the documentary, the set will include both of R.E.M.’s appearances on MTV Unplugged (from 1991 and 2001) — including outtakes — a VH1 Storytellers special from 1998 and 99 different performances from awards shows and concerts.
