After more than 30 years of making music, the revolutionary alternative band has announced their break-up through a post in their website.

The band who sang eternal hits as "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts" has announced that they will part ways after a 31-year run. Composed of singer/songwriter Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry, R.E.M. was formed in 1980 in Athens, Georgia. Since then, the band has been producing hits etched through the test of time, giving them a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On Wednesday, the band released a statements saying they will part ways, a confirmation to the sad ending of their legacy in the history of rock and roll.

"A wise man once said - 'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave'. We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we're going to walk away from it.

I hope our fans realise this wasn't an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way" wrote front man Stipe in their official site. Their last album, Collapse Into Now, was released last March and didn't gain the kind of reaction the band had expected.

Because of this, Mills has a different point of view why the band decided to break up. Mills is claiming that the band is running out of ideas and has contributed enough to decent alternative music.

"During our last tour, and while making Collapse Into Now and putting together this greatest hits retrospective, we started asking ourselves, 'What next'? Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realised that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together." said Mills in a report by AU Launch.

Watch the video of R.E.M.'s hit "Everybody Hurts"

 Watch a video of R.E.M.'s "Its the End of the World" below:

RELATED STORIES
Religion