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There’s an article at Slate about R.E.M. and their descent into irrelevance during the 90s…
During R.E.M.’s commercial peak, its members openly fretted about aging gracelessly, and the ’90s were their decadelong struggle with approaching middle age. “Hopefully, we’re not going to put out Chicago XIV,” Michael Stipe told Rolling Stone in 1992. “That would be my worst fear, that we would turn into one of those dumb bands who go into their second decade and don’t know how bad they are and don’t know when to give it up.”
Now admittedly, Chicago XIV was one of their worst albums, but it also marked the beginning of Chicago’s second run at the top which saw as much commercial success as their first, and introduced their music to a whole new generation. In retrospect, considering that R.E.M. has done absolutely nothing of note in the past decade, I’ll bet Michael Stipe *wishes* he had a Chicago XIV to put out.