R.E.M. joke that it would take 'a comet' to get the band back together: 'It'd never be as good'

"I think we quit at the right time," guitarist Peter Buck says.

The members of R.E.M. feel fine about ruling out a musical reunion — and joke that it'd take the end of the world as we know it to get them back together on stage.

In their first group interview in 30 years, Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe reflected on R.E.M.'s legacy while talking to Anthony Mason of CBS Mornings. When the interviewer asked what it would take for the quartet to get back together, Mills said, "A comet," while Berry joked, "Super Glue."

Mason asked why they're so committed to remaining retired, and Buck responded, "It'd never be as good."

When asked why the group disbanded in 2011, Buck explained, "At that point, there wasn't anything we could agree on, really, musically. What kind of music, how to record it, are we gonna go on tour — we could barely agree on where to go to dinner! And now we can just agree on where to go to dinner."

Since they called it quits, however, the four ex-bandmates have remained on good terms. "We're sitting at the same table together with deep admiration from lifelong friendship," Stipe said. "A lot of people that do this can't claim that."

The four musicians all agreed that R.E.M. ended their run at a good moment, and none expressed any regret about retiring. "I think we quit at the right time," Buck opined. "This is a really good place to finish, y'know. Great tour, great album, go home."

However, Berry, who left the group in 1997 after experiencing a brain aneurysm on stage two years prior, said he had second thoughts about his departure. "That was a weird time for me," he recalled. "[The] brain aneurysm, and successful surgery, it may have lowered my energy level, and I just didn't have the drive I once did. And I didn't regret it at the time, and I sort of regretted it a little later."

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The indie rockers also discussed their collaborative songwriting process. "It felt like kismet to me. When it happened, it felt right," Stipe said.

"We'd all show up at 1 o'clock, and bring in any ideas that we had and see if it inspired anybody else to do something with it," Mills added.

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The band is being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on Thursday. "We lived or died on the strengths of our songs, so this is a huge honor," Buck said.

Mills noted, "It is the hardest thing that we do, and it is the thing that we worked on the most from the very beginning."

Watch the full CBS Mornings interview with R.E.M. above.

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