REM's Mike Mills Interview + Rockville solo acoustic

[shelleyinthecity]

He looks a lot more Bill Gates looking here than a great rocker. Got the nerd thing going pretty good here.

[Stube437]

You'd think he'd so NWh or Texarcana at that time.

[ondra159]

He looks like Bill Gates' twin!

[Skimsoco76]

@ondra159

Nah, this is what you'd get if  John Denver and Harry Potty were to procreate

[karenjeankeller]

i love this song. i love this clip.



[sugaratl]

I understand he's a great guy, and definitely one of the most underrated vocalists in music today. That said, MAN he screwed up this version of "Rockville". Awkward to see him get this rattled...

[thesillyone42]

my idol.....

[mjmjmh6]

He really is the sweetest guy.

[annikaluke99]

A sweetheart and brilliant bass guitarist and vocalist. There would be no R.E.M. without him. (They are having a hard enough of a time without their drummer nowadays.)

[grzesieksz]

He looks like Bill Gates or Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth

[Davidmh1971]

Brilliant..........Mike Mills is a class act and a gentleman.........refreshing change

[justinfun]

what a sweetie! He's singing the harmony part to the song even though he's solo!

[nyerndc]

Mike Mills sings better than Michael Stipe.

[Lifevirus4]

@nyerndc no way! Stipe has more emotion is his voice than almost anyone, ever! Mike does great harmony parts, but without Michael's mumbles and emotion, R.E.M. just wouldnt be the same . . . and i'd go as far to say that had Mills been the lead singer, i wouldnt like R.E.M. . . . at least no where near as much as i do- Stipe is what REALLY makes it for me

[cbarrett34]

he has a great voice

[manuel1124]

What alt. rock fan DOESN'T have Out Of Time? :-)

BTW, I thought CD's came in long boxes back then so they could fit in the record bins? CD's just started becoming more popular and there weren't racks for them yet.

[Rheems1]

Mike MIlls has always been under rated as a singer but he has quite a nice voice... his backing on Shiny Happy People was great and he would have been super on Near Wild Heaven if Michael Stipe wouldn't have had to add his 2 cents...like the song be Mike's!! Either way, thank you for sharing...amazing the measures we took in the 90's to protect our cd's from shoplifting!!

[Anden14]

He is great! One of my favourite-bassists of all time.. ;-)

[themooddisorders]

Mike Mills has a huge career ahead if REM breaks down

[LunaSeaSane]

I'm mad at mills. Next month I'll be mad at Bowie.

[MartyVanBuren]

Wow, Regis is a brain surgeon. "How do you meet in Athens, GA?"

[mistresselyria]

amo a Mills

[kraftwerk456]

he looks and sounds like John Denver.

R.E.M rules!!!

[Hannahorse715]

I think Mike is the best looking of the four rem members I think though he would look better without the glasses

[greeniem]

i bet you'd do him with glasses

[blechtman]

greatest asset to rem, seriously

[GikeMoldberg]

@blechtman stipe is

[mszowie1]

Awesome, thanx for posting this! Mike's always been my fave member of R.E.M., such a cool guy. This video proves what a gem of a performer Mike is, he just went there all alone in front of the millions of viewers and delivered. Gotta love him.

[chuckschilling]

Mike Mills is by far my favorite member of R.E.M. I had the rather illuminating occasion of meeting Peter Buck once and he proved himself to be quite the arrogant prick.

[mistresselyria]

uhmm I met them in Chile and Peter was very cool with us.. Mike only signed our cds.. but I love him with all my heart ♥

[ricflairfan5]

well he 52 right now so hes 35 on this interview

[Sabry816]

PARA LA GENTE BOBA es imposible no fijar la atención en los dientes pero a Mike no le importa como debe ser!!!!!

ES UN GENIO; NUNCA ME CANSARE DE DECIRLO!

[dataslul]

yeah, sabry816, his teeth look like boston baked beans. brialliant songs, though. perhaps my favorite rem song, however.

[mistresselyria]

amo sus dientes ♥

[mntlPurple]

my favorite person in the world

[bernlin2000]

@mntlPurple Him, and the rest of the band, but he's the best at speaking :-)

[StinkiwinkiPoo]

lol how old is he there? 20?

[truebootsyes]

"....as soon as I was able to quit my my job and make my living off music....." are you guys paying attention...."He's right John!"

[mithrilmgg]

it's funny but thats some kind of secrets that not a lot of people know about - probably it's hard to get it on a cd just vhs

[ricflairfan5]

mike mills actually wrote alot of the song

[rodhamkatis]

My god, thanks for posting.

[frenchwv]

Mangled teeth and all.  Thanks for posting.

[ripspacer]

I am glad you posted this, I never saw it, I never knew...great on-the-spot delivery from Mike! Great long lost clip.

[ricflairfan5]

but he is the best of the three from R.E.M.

[joeyjokester]

@ricflairfan5 best of the three? what about bill berry? he may not be with the band anymore, but he was with them a really long time.

[ricflairfan5]

@joeyjokester yes i know all about bill (great drummer the best) but im used to seeing only the 3 of them like (perfect square-REM live) etc. i wasnt trying to insult him

[ricflairfan5]

he looks or sounds nothing like he did at the 2003 concert in wiesden germany.

[petesn]

Love him to death ...but it looks and sounds like he was in a hurry to get out of there.

[collingsmando]

I always thought that Mike Mills was the heart and soul of REM. I think especially that most of their great arrangements come from him.

[Issicra]

Wow... I never knew this ever existed, or even took place. Mike Mills is a class act, and Rockville is a great song.

Don't recall the actual story about the song, but I'm pretty sure it was about Mike's college girlfriend that was moving to Maryland.

[boybandmassacre]

love mike but this version is cringeworthy!!

[spd13062]

Mike had to kiss Kathie Lee!

[mclovin1972]

You know he did this because his mom wanted to meet Regis and Kathy Lee. Now THAT is a good son! Thanks for posting

[radioelvis]

There is something disarmingly charming about this whole thing. I forgot Regis had that other co-host once. He does a nice job really...I never knew he wrote this song. Which I guess expains why you can hear lyrics which Stipe never did very well...

[hardwarestore123]

haha! check out our cover here on YT to hear the *correct* lyrics!

[kenjames64]

to clarify: when I first heard this, I was horrified by the thinness of Mills' voice, which is brought to the fore by the solo voice/guitar thing...listen to the work of art that appears on RECKONING.

[kenjames64]

ya gotta admit, horrid version. I know Mills wrote this song. I saw this segment live, and it was embarrassing. One of my favorite R.E.M. songs.

[jamfongohno]

This song really takes me back. I was sort of hoping that he would discuss the story (or inspiration) behind the writing this song.

[AldaREM]

Always so polite, so nice, so sweet, so professional... Great Mills and great version too, yeah!

[TheFrowningClown]

A strange early version he´s playing, but good anyway. Rockville is one of my faves...one of my many faves! And it´s the only song I prefer when Mills sings it...he is a really good singer, too. And a brilliant guitarist, of course.

[KerreyTheBitterSugar]

he is beautiful! and has a really mellow voice...and is of course a brilliant musician ^^

[abernste]

REM works so successfully for a number of important reasons but, agreeing with Eddie Vedder, Mike Mills is the secret weapon, and a real mensch.

[SemanticCentrifuge]

Wow, I think I like Mills' voice on this song better than Stipe's.

[ConvalescentBliss]

I think R.E.M. is one of the few bands in history who's members have gotten better looking as their career has progressed.

[shelleyinthecity]

@ConvalescentBliss Not Michael Stipe. The guy looks like a cancer patient with his shaved head and anorexic skinny body.

[bernlin2000]

@ConvalescentBliss Oh, they've always been in vogue, no matter what :-P

[queeniefox]

Oh bless him, he seemed nervous doing that! Had the pleasure of meeting Mike briefly last month and he's a top bloke, still a nice guy. :)

[RobotWillie]

This is old..... Yet cool to see.

[HumGuitar]

REM sad to say went downhill after Life's Rich Pageant. Document and Green were pretty good but not great. I hated Out of Time. Just my opinion folks, don't everyone jump all over me at once.

[HumGuitar]

This is cool, but what really makes Mike shine is the way his and Michael Stipes voices blend in harmony.

[HumGuitar]

This was before Mike started to wear the bedazzled Elvis suits.

[HumGuitar]

He was nervous, yeh, but for good reason. He's not the lead singer. This would be like Larry Mullen of U2 going on Oprah and singing Pride(In The Name Of Love). This is such an odd video, but it's priceless. I didn't know he did this. I wonder why Regis and the Annoying Cougar invited him on the show without any of the other guys?

[HumGuitar]

Correction Adam Clayton, not Larry the drummer. Sorry, dudes.

[walruswasrob]

Larry would also work for your metaphor. :o)

[Psykel]

Hehe... First thing I thought when I watched this video was "Man, he looked like a dork back then". And then I remembered I looked kinda the same (a bit younger tho - I was seven) back in '92. :P

[ClaudioMattiaEko]

coolest bassist of all rock n' roll history! (mojo81)

[songmakegohaha]

he seems like the nicest guy!

[guppie1976]

Thanks for posting this-I love it! He's so adorable! What a great voice. I'm glad he shows up so much on the new album.

[toterola451]

I guess we saw the reason Springsteen calls Mike "R.E.M.'s secret weapon".

I got my ticket, I'll see them in Berkeley Sunday night. Good times!

[crissycri]

It wasn't Springsteen, it was Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame speech

[laursenmartin]

This is the best version of Rockville ever. Mike Mills is good with acustics. Gotta love R.E.M. - Accelerate is a good rocking album.

[MartzMz]

No manchen.....Si o no se parece a Bill Gates??? Jajaja esa cancion me encanta...Te amo Mike Mills???

[musicenthusiast86]

he told Regis!

[northernxstar]

For some odd reason..I love his teeth.

[naberrieskywalker]

What is that version of Out of Time that he's holding? It's huge!

[REMchout]

it's a cd longbox, a remnant of the early 90's. cds used to come in these, presumably to prevent theft.

[ellism100]

@REMchout Yes, it was for security but it was mainly because stores still had the old bins that used to hold records. The long side of the box that he is holding is that same dimension as an album cover. That way they could stand them in the bins that used to hold the records and people could see them.

[shaunone]

yeah this was an american fad at the time. a friend got me out of time in the states and the packaging was ridiculous. Half an lp!

[diffdrum1]

@naberrieskywalker That is how CDs were packaged, back in the day.

[always6or7]

who cares about his teeth??...hes a musician,not a model.

[musicenthusiast86]

was north saying he was a model?

take a chill pill yo.

[musicman999999999]

Very good! He's singing the harmony though...

[FlubbaSketchy]

yeah, but only on the chorus though!

[gnarsky]

mike mills is the most shaggable one, hands down.

[SmileOnADog]

Mike Mills needs to do a solo album.

[lopergrad]

MIke is awesome, but with his money he could see a dentist.

[psfirst]

OMG!! I saw this when it originally aired! And I had the same reaction as I did finding it here.... "OMG!! Mikey's on Regis & frickin' Kathy Lee!!!" God, I miss Kathy Lee. Kelly is such a phoney Ripacrite.

[psfirst]

ETA: "Gelman's kid brother" - LOL! Actually, he used to look a bit like Clay Aiken. ;-)

[duckbrew]

hey Mike the next verse is "At night i drink myself to sleep I'm waitin'I don't care if your not here with me" C'mon man you didn't seem nervous DOH!!

[hardwarestore123]

Actually, it's "At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me," but yes, he was sooo nervous.

[thatamericangirl]

This is cool; thanks for putting it up! I love Mike Mills.

[autoforthepeople]

Excellent!!! Hope he's singing more on the next album- he's the best!

[alystyn]

wow, too cool, thanks for posting this! He missed my favorite line there, but a great job soloing!

[herrokiiitty]

I like this version more than the actual.

[GWBsux]

This is great! Thanks for posting this.

[quiens0y]

parece que no ah conocido el cepillo dental :s

its seems that he dont know the teeth brush ..

[REMchout]

that's his only rockstar trait here

[aquacrush]

And it seems that you need a good English teacher. Oh, sorry. Translation: parece que no has conocido a un buen maestro de inglés.

Apuesto que vas a la misma escuela que Pepillo Origel, donde basan sus juicios en el viboreo y aprenden todo menos a pensar.

[musicenthusiast86]

who cares about good grammar on the internet. it's called short hand and lingo. we aren't turning in graded assignments here. this is you tube not sophmore english.

[pwat99]

I love mike mills - he wrote that song about Rockville, Maryland....however, I will say, the guy should have been able to afford some braces by 92. I mean, my individual contributions to the band alone could have bought him some invisalign.

[NigelDoes]

You're an idiot pwat99. Thanks for proving it.

[FablesJonny]

he f*cked up!!

[BeginXtheXBegin]

It's his song, he can sing it however he wants.

[cloudm89]

w mike mills e il suo fichissimo basso giallo crema. claudio & alberto

[naberrieskywalker]

Thank you so much for this. I just love his version of Rockville.

[kiyogwil]

Some info: Regis and Kathie Lee TV Show, Syndicated, USA

[slpindigo]

This was great. I think it's the first time I really understood the lyrics (LOL)Glad to see Mike got his day in the sun there

[badseed86]

thank you for posting that...If there s god you ll go to heaven

[fr0zenmind]

great, definitly great. Stipe got the greatest voice as a vocalist, but it's tragic that the sweet voice of Mike Mills is ignored.

REM, the greatest band ever :D

[LordYaoi]

Well all true fans listen well for the backing vocals which can be pretty big parts of the songs. Two of my favorite songs are "Near Wild Heaven" and "Texarkana". Mike Mills is my hero, believe me, I (at least for one) don't ignore any of his work or contributions.

[mojo81]

coolest bassist of all rock n' roll history!

[makgamer]

Wow, what a rarity. Thanks a lot!

[EclipseNT]

Being a fan for 15 years I thought I'd seen everything of quality. Thanks so much for posting this