10 Perfect Band Members That Everyone Forgets About
2. Mike Mills - R.E.M.
Not many bands have benefited from the same slow burn mentality that R.E.M. had. Even when they had one of the biggest breakout albums of the '80s with Murmur, they were still an indie rock band who spent years honing their skills until they became one of the biggest rock bands in the world. These guys were always a bit off the wall though, and you could tell from the fact that they basically had two lead singers.
While Michael Stipe was always known as the main voice behind the band, the backing vocals from Mike Mills have so much more character than to be labelled as just a harmony vocalist, making hooks that stand on the same level as Michael's melodies. If you go back and listen to a song like It's the End of the World, you can still hear Mills filling the track out in the back, almost mirroring Stipe's voice with the same amount of power.
His title is a bass player though, and Mike is also more than capable of holding his own behind his instrument, always serving the song and never playing too flashy to distract from the song. When looking back on his lines, most people might complain that he's not actually playing that many notes a lot of the time. Then again, you don't really to play a thousand notes if you pick the perfect ones for the song.