After more than three decades together, it's the end of the world as R.E.M. knows it - and the band sounds fine.
The alternative rock group - featuring singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, 54, and bassist Mike Mills -- announced today that they have split up after 31 years of cranking out hits.
"As lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band," the band said in a statement on its official website. "We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality and of astonishment at all we have accomplished."
R.E.M. released 15 albums over the years, most recently "Collapse Into Now" this March.