Los Angeles ( CNN ) -- It 's the end of the R.E.M . as we know them and they feel fine , according to a statement from the group posted online Wednesday . `` To our Fans and Friends : As R.E.M. , and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators , we have decided to call it a day as a band , '' the message said . `` We walk away with a great sense of gratitude , of finality , and of astonishment at all we have accomplished . To anyone who ever felt touched by our music , our deepest thanks for listening . '' Michael Stipe , Peter Buck , Mike Mills and Bill Berry started playing alternative rock together in Athens , Georgia , in 1980 , but their first hit single came with `` The One I Love '' in 1987 . `` It 's the End of the World as We Know It ( And I Feel Fine ) '' followed from the same `` Document '' album , securing their mainstream radio appeal . Front man Michael Stipe declined to be interviewed by CNN Wednesday about the decision to disband , which comes six months after the release of `` Collapse into Now , '' their final album . Stipe , in a CNN interview in June , said the members `` surprised ourselves with this record . We 're all really thrilled with it . '' He and his fellow band members did offer comments on their website . `` During our last tour , and while making 'Collapse Into Now ' and putting together this greatest hits retrospective , we started asking ourselves , 'what next ' ? '' Stipe said . `` Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey . We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together . '' Michael Mills said it was not an easy decision . `` A wise man once said 'The skill in attending a party is knowing when it 's time to leave , ' Mills said . `` We built something extraordinary together . We did this thing . And now we 're going to walk away from it . '' Peter Buck said the band members `` walk away as great friends '' `` I know I will be seeing them in the future , just as I know I will be seeing everyone who has followed us and supported us through the years , '' Buck said . `` Even if it 's only in the vinyl aisle of your local record store , or standing at the back of the club : watching a group of 19 year olds trying to change the world . ''
NEW : Three decades of work `` was a hell of a journey . '' Michael Stipe says on website . NEW : Band members `` walk away as great friends , '' says Peter Buck . NEW : ` ` We built something extraordinary together , '' Mike Mills says . TL;DR