Michael Stipe from R.E.M. is done..

"This is my last day of work," Michael Stipe says cheerfully. He is promoting the two-CD compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011, a thorough primer on the band's wild ride from the small post-punk scene in Athens, Georgia, to worldwide celebrity. But that ended on September 21st, when Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills announced they were disbanding – drummer Bill Berry quit in 1997. "Who says I have to be a songwriter?" he says, smiling. "I'm in a place right now where I don't know what the future holds for me."