R.E.M. Release Five-Track ‘Radio Free Europe’ Benefit EP Celebrating 75th Anniversary of Service Imperiled By Proposed Trump Cuts
"We love journalism" singer Michael Stipe said of the inspiration behind the EP with a never-before-released 2025 remix by producer Jacknife Lee.
R.E.M. have released a five-track benefit EP featuring three remixes of their landmark 1981 debut single, “Radio Free Europe,” ahead of Saturday’s (May 3) World Press Freedom Day. The collection also features the song’s original b-side, “Sitting Still” and instrumental “Wh. Tornado,” a cassette-only song that is being issued on digital and vinyl for the first time. The Radio Free Europe 2025 EP is a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty services (RFE/RL), the broadcasting groups that have delivered uncensored news, analysis and cultural programming in a variety of languages in places lacking a free press since 1949.
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The special package includes a never-before-released 2025 remix of “Radio Free Europe” by the band’s longtime collaborator, producer Jacknife Lee, as well as a 1981 remix of the song by the band’s original producer, Mitch Easter. RFE/RL currently broadcast in 27 languages to 23 countries to an audience of nearly 50 million people in places where a free press is either illegal or under threat, often serving as the only line to the outside word for people living under onerous government censorship.
“Whether it’s music or a free press – censorship anywhere is a threat to the truth everywhere. On World Press Freedom Day, I’m sending a shout-out to the brave journalists at Radio Free Europe,” said singer Michael Stipe in a statement. The band’s effort comes one day after a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that, for now, the Trump administration can continue to withhold money from the RFE/RL — as well as Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks — temporarily reversing two earlier lower-court rulings that stopped the White House from cutting off funds from the outlets as part of its wide-ranging DOGE cost-cutting measures.
DOGE boss and Tesla/Space X CEO Elon Musk has been unequivocal in his disdain for the services, writing in February on X, “shut them down… Europe is free now… nobody listens to them anymore… it’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves.”
“Radio Free Europe’s journalists have been pissing off dictators for 75 years. You know you’re doing your job when you make the right enemies. Happy World Press Freedom Day to the ‘OG’ Radio Free Europe,” added bassist Mike Mills in a statement. While the band’s members did not directly reference the Trump administration’s efforts to defund the organizations, RFE/RL president and CEO Stephen Capus was more direct in his praise for the song and the group’s efforts to help shine a light on the services’ vital work.
“To me, R.E.M.’s music has always embodied a celebration of freedom: freedom of expression, lyrics that make us think, and melodies that inspire action,” said Capus. “Those are the very aims of our journalists at Radio Free Europe — to inform, inspire, and uphold freedoms often elusive to our audiences. We hold dictators accountable. They go to great lengths to silence us — blocking our websites, jamming our signals, and even imprisoning our colleagues.”
In an interview with CBS Mornings on Friday, Stipe said the band decided to honor the services because “we love journalism, we love freedom of speech… and we love the world.”
Stipe told CBS that when he got the call from the imperiled service asking for some help he said there was no hesitation at all. “It’s important to democracy and a fight against authoritarianism that they remain.” All of the proceeds from vinyl sales of the new remix will go to Radio Free Europe, which is still waiting for its frozen April and May funding as it soldiers on with is rapidly dwindling reserves.
The new EP is being released through Craft Recordings and was overseen by Easter, who first recorded the band at his Drive-In Studio during their first-ever road trip to a professional studio in April 1981; that original session produced “Radio Free Europe,” “Sitting Still” and the instrumental “Wh. Tornado.” In 2009, “Radio Free Europe” was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.
Fans can stream and download the EP today and pre-order a limited-edition 10-inch orange vinyl pressing due to ship on Sept. 12 here. You can also click here to make a tax-deductible donation to RFE/RL here.
Listen to the jaunty Jacknife Lee remix and the full EP below.
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