David Buckley

David Buckley examines popular music through biography, interviews, and close attention to a band's public story. R.E.M. Fiction: An Alternative Biography charts R.E.M. across the American post-punk circuit and toward international success. Buckley based the account on interviews with bassist Mike Mills, guitarist Peter Buck, and people around the group, using those perspectives to test the carefully managed image that accompanied its career. Virgin Books issued the paperback edition in 2011. Buckley's related music writing includes Strange Fascination, a biography of David Bowie that likewise uses interviews and cultural analysis. Across these books, his method treats songs, performance, press coverage, and the recollections of collaborators as parts of the same historical record.