has been the front-runner throughout this situation. >> give me two one-word answers to these questions. is mitt romney going to be the nominee do you think? and if he is, can he beat barack obama? >> i would say yes to both. of course, having said that, you want to offer all sorts of footnotes. >> no footnotes allowed. sir, pleasure to meet you. >> thank you, piers. >> thank you. hello. i'm don lemon. thank you for joining us this evening. after nearly a half century as the head football coach at penn state and 61 years with the team, joe pa tern foe has been reduced to hiding from the media in the back of an suv. >> stay back. >> paterno returning to his home tonight after the first game in

decades where he hasn't been head coach. and to top it off, his nittany lions lost to nebraska by three points on senior day, the last home game of the season. paterno's son jay is still an assistant coach. he broke down after fielding espn reporter post-game questions. it was the first game since the child sex allegations changed everything for the team, the school, and the country. before kickoff, both teams gathered together midfield and prayed. >> father god, we thank you so much. we thank you that you've chosen us to be here this day at this time. >> they took a knee and prayed for the eight alleged young victims. jerry sandusky, now 67 years old and out on $100,000 bond. some of the alleged victims as young as 10 years old. and if you watched today's game, you saw the school's brand new president's taped message on getting past all this. >> we remain committed to our core values and we will rebuild

the trust, honor and pride that have endured for generations. please join me in this effort. we are penn state. >> let's take a live look now at the penn state campus tonight. all appears to be normal and quiet, just one week after the scandal broke, a far cry from the violence that broke out wednesday night when news broke of paterno's firing. student mobs rioted, turning over a news van, smashing windows, newspaper boxes and clashing with police. it was a game day unlike any other in penn state's long history. tears in the stands as generations of nittany lions' fans realized an era is over and an uncertain future awaits their once referred program. let's take another live look at the campus where all of it appears to be quiet, again, one week after the scandal broke. our very own mary snow reports on the happenings on campus today. >> reporter: it was a moment not witnessed by penn state fans

before. instead of charging the field, players walked out arm in arm. then silence. the moment follows the darkest chapter of penn state's history with the arrest of former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky, accused of sexually abusing eight boyce over a decade and a half. fans joined players in remembering victims. >> it was different. it was very, very touching particularly the beginning of the game. both teams came together embraced like that. it was awesome for the fans and the entire community. >> reporter: the somber tone was in stark contrast to the turmoil earlier in the week when legendary coach joe pa tern foe was fired along with penn state's president. the ouster followed questions about what wasn't done after allegations involving sandusky surfaced in 2002. paterno had been at the helm for 46 years. his son jay is a member of the coaching staff. >> dad, i wish you were here. we love you. >> outside paterno's home, fans

gathered but paterno didn't talk. while he isn't charged with anything, paterno this week hired a criminal defense attorney. sandusky out on $100,000 bail maintains his innocence. as the investigation continues, the football game was a welcome diversion, say some fans, after a tumultious week. penn state lost the game. while some critics think the game should have been canceled, penn state's new interim president said it was worth playing. >> i personally felt that this was a time to play, but it was also a time when we could recognize and bring national focus to the problem of sexual abuse. >> mary snow joins us now live from the campus. mary, good evening. i can hear people behind you. i don't know if there are crowds out. i don't know what's going on. what's the mood on campus tonight? >> you know, don, it appears to be a typical saturday night in a college town.

particularly here at state college. it has been fairly quiet. you know, a lot of people said that they just really didn't know what to expect going into today's game. but really the tone was set last night when we saw that vigil for victims of child sex abuse. we saw thousands of students coming out, really wanting to send a very strong message and, of course, that continued on the football field today. and it's been very quiet. of course, saturday night, young college students are out. but really nothing out of the ordinary. >> is this on their minds tonight or are they trying to at least carry on and move on as best they can? >> reporter: yeah, you know, don, it's interesting, i talked to i an couple students earlier who said they really welcomed the game today because they said for the first time, this entire week, it brought back a bit of normalcy. and they said that that would last for perhaps a day and they were kind of embracing just this diversion, but of course, this

has been on their minds and some suggested like the first step towards healing. >> all right, mary snow, thank you very much for your reporting tonight. penn state was missing another coach on the sidelines today, receivers, receivers coach mike mcqueary. he was a graduate assistant in the 2002 when he reported seeing is sandusky raping a young boy in a penn state locker room shower. on one hand, he was one of the few people to speak up in the case telling coach paterno who then ran it up the school's chain of command. on the other hand, many questioned why he didn't do more like call the cops himself. he was placed on administrative leave indefinitely after the school said he received death threats. the alleged child sex abuse scandal unfolding at the school raising troubling questions about past suspicions surrounding former coach sandusky and how those were dealt with. the mom of one of the alleged victims spoke out on "good

morning america." >> at some point he came to you and said he wanted some information about how to look up sex weirdos. >> yes. >> what did you think of that. >> i asked him who he was looking up and he said he wanted to see if jerry was on there. and i said well, why would you look him up? and he said, i don't know. he's a weirdo. >> her son was not the first or only alleged victim. his case is key because he reported it and as a result, triggered this sex abuse investigation against sandusky. according to a grand jury, he allegedly victimized eight boyce. as least one as young as 7 or 8 years old. going as far as back as 1994. we'll have a lot more on this story including a panel discussion in just a few minutes here on cnn. in other news tonight, republican candidates for president debate again. we'll hear from them next. and a promising young baseball player rescued from kidnappers in the jungles of venezuela. you'll hear from him.

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. tonight. he's hosting an economic summit with leaders from across the asia-pacific region. now part of the agenda is looking at ways the united states can tap into asia's economic potential. the summit begins a nine-day trip for the president that also includes stops in indonesia and australia. foreign policy was front and center tonight at the gop presidential debate in spartanburg, south carolina. i want you to take a listen as the candidates address the prospect of a nuclear iran and other issues. >> one thing you can know, and that is if we re-elect barack obama, iran will have a nuclear weapon. >> to give money to the rebel forces there, to help the pro

democracy movement and put tough sanctions in place. >> iran uses all not oil not only as a means of current su but as a weapon. the only way to stop them is through economic means. >> maximum covert operations to block and disrupt the iranian program including taking out their scientists, including breaking up their systems, all of it covertly and all of it deniable. >> if i were president, i would be willing to use waterboarding. i think it was very effective. it gained information for our country. >> waterboarding is torture. we delude ourselves down like a whole lot of other countries and lose that ability to project values. >> i would return to that policy i don't see it as torture. i see it as an enhanced interrogation technique. >> torture is illegal and by our laws, waterboarding is torture. and. >> we have to have china understand that like everybody else in the world stage, they have to play by the rules.

>> i happen to think that the communist chinese government will end up on the ash heap of history if they do not change their virtues. >> well, if it feels like groundhog's day it kind of is. this was the tenth time the candidates have squared off as they compete for voters' attention and dollars. occupy denver protesters are looking for a new home tonight after police pushed them out of a downtown park. officers persuaded about half of the campers to leave, but the rest stayed until they were removed. police said public safety was their primary concern. several protesters vow to set up another camp overnight. the venezuelan government says a colombian man linked to paramilitaries may be the mastermind behind the kidnapping of washington nationals catcher wilson ramos. he was rescued friday night. they tracked the major league star to a house in a remote mountainous region.

officials say security forces came under fire. they responded and rescued ramos unharmed. ramos spoke to reporters today. >> translator: i am very happy for the rescue operation they carried out. very thankful to the government and the national army. i didn't expect them. where they were holding me captive was a very remote place, basically jungle. i was praying to god to bring me home safely. these guys risked their lives to save mine. i am very thankful. >> six venezuelans are in custody for the kidnapping and a warranty issued for the suspected mastermind. italians may not have a leader on the but many have a reason to celebrate. the resignation of prime minister silvio berlusconi set off parties in rome and other cities. billionaire's behavior embarrassed many people while his leadership left the country on the brink of economic disaster. matthew chance was in the middle of all that madness.

>> we've just been told that silvio berlusconi has already departed the presidential palace, presumably he's now resigned formally. the police are sort of vaguely trying to stop people coming to the square but it's not really working. you can see there are loads of people that have gathered here. thousands of people have come out. they wanted to see the end of silvio berlusconi. his political career. they've been shouting abuse, they've been jeering, they've been shouting mafioso, calling for him to be arrested and put in jail. they've been calling him a joker, a fool. the insults have been hurling. at one point it got quite aggressive. i think clearly the decision was made by the security around silvio berlusconi that it would have been wrong from his security point of view to take him through these crowds, some of them very angry indeed.

towards the man who has been so so influential in their politics. you can see now the anger that we witnessed earlier has turned to jubilation. how does it feel now that silvio berlusconi? >> today is the freedom day. today this is the freedom, the liberation for italy. now i'm very, very elated really. >> why is there so much celebrations in the streets tonight? >> 20 years. >> talk louder. i can't hear you. >> we have been -- 20 years. now it's time for a new politics. >> you feel you've been prisoners for so long. >> but we can change with monty, with political different politics. berlusconi was i think the key problem. >> i keep asking people how they feel and obviously the mood is

extremely positive. it's ecstatic, in fact. obviously, there are going to be celebrations in the streets tonight throughout the italian capital. people just feel this enormous sense of relief that after so many years of having silvio berlusconi in charge, they're now looking at a new political future. matthew chance, cnn in rome. >> up next, we will go back to penn state. we've got an expert panel to discuss the sex abuse scandal. don't go anywhere. [ ben harper's "amen omen" playing ]

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. emotional day at penn state as the football team hit the field for the first time since the child abuse scandal rocked the school. a moment of silence was held before the game in honor of the alleged victims. here to talk about the scandal, a panel of experts for you, jon wertheim is a senior investigative reporter with "sports illustrated" live at penn state. in san francisco, tony rogers an abuse victim and in atlanta julie medlin a psychologist. and the co-author of the book "avoiding sexual dangers." thanks to the panel for being here. tony, we have been talking a lot about the accused, about football, about the coaches and the staff involved. let's talk about being a survivor of childhood sex abuse. how old were you? if you can tell me a little bit about your abuse. how would were you when you were abused? >> the first time i was 9 and it

was by a stranger. the second time i was 11. i was sexually assaulted by one of my male cousins. >> so this story resonates with you because you're around the same age as some of the alleged victims. when you heard about penn state, what did you do? what did you think? >> i really felt for the boys who were victimized by the assaults and you know, especially also for the witness who the actually witnessed it and reported it and nothing was ever done. and it's unfortunate that the coaches' popularity preceded support for these people. >> does it bring anything up in you, does it remind you of anything? is there anything that you have to do, does it trigger anything i guess is a better way of putting it? >> these stories are always triggering the person who assaulted me and even my own aunt, she decided to support her son instead of really listening to me and getting me help that i needed. it's always triggering. i make sure i use the tools to help myself just to recover from listening to these type of

stories in the news. it is very triggering. >> from what you're saying apparently one of your abusers was a family member. julie. >> it was my cousin. >> so julie, some of the alleged victims are now in their 20s, almost 30 years old. might they be dealing with the same sort of issues that tony deals with when he said they are triggers and he has to use things in order to at least fight it or make it better. >> yes, definitely. i think when someone's been sexually abused, it can affect them for a very long time really their whole lives. and anything that comes up in their environment that reminds them of something, some aspect of the sexual abuse, it could be the smell of cologne or a certain car or it could be a certain place or a park, you know, wherever the abuse kuf occurred could then trigger that flood of negative emotions about the abuse. >> tony in the conversation we had before this, you said there are certain triggers for you. one of them is smell, right?

and then there are other things. >> yes. there are smells or sometimes it's cold drinks. i was infected with gonorrhea when i was 9 so i had to drink penicillin and i would vomit. sometimes when i drink cold beverages it makes me sick. >> when we come back, we'll go to the campus of penn state. jon wertheim is standing by and going to talk to us how the campus is dealing with this. we'll talk about the cover-up, as well. back with my panel moments away. the debate is over. ♪ lexus hybrid drive technology is designed to optimize any fuel source on the planet. even those we don't use yet. because when you pursue perfection, you don't just engineer a future-proof hybrid system. you engineer amazing. ♪

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joining us again our panel of experts. jon wertheim with "sports illustrated" is live at penn state. in san francisco, tony rogers, a sexual abuse victim and here in atlanta, julie medlin a psychologist and sex abuse expert. i want to warn the viewer we are about to air some graphic content. these are the words of the grand jury report. there are eight alleged victims starting with victim one. >> during the course of the multiyear investigation, the grand jury heard evidence that sandusky indecently fonnaled victim one on a number of occasions, pinched or sex and had victim one perform or sex on him on at least one occasion. >> jon wertheim, you look at -- that's just a small quote from this lengthy lengthy report. and it goes on, it gets even more graphic. it talks about sandusky having erections in the shower and those sorts of things.

and if it can be even worse than the graphic details of this, is the cover-up and you're on campus there tonight, what are students saying about this? do they understand the gravity of this now? >> yeah, i think they do. i mean apart from the sex crimes, you have this other prong which is classic who knew what, when did they know it, and i think the students realize this is not going away anytime soon. there are a lot of unanswered questions. if you can make it through that gruesome grotesque report, you'll see clearly people are lying. it's impossible everyone's telling the truth. stories contradict themselves. i think the next prong of this is investigations and perhaps civil litigation that are hopefully going to figure out who knew what and when they knew it, because there are a lot of unanswered questions still. >> there were some who wondered why even have this game today. it should have been either post phoned or canceled and they wonder if it's a little odd to have this. what's the sentiment there? i think they probably, it was

either -- i'm just sort of assuming here -- it was either have mcquery step aside, have paterno step aside and go on with the game, which brings in a lot of money, or have them stay and post phone it or either cancel it and then still have to deal with why they covered it up. >> reporter: yeah, i mean, this was debated here on campus. i think that was finally decided is look, for the seniors, it was their last home game. for the players on this team who had nothing to do with this, a week ago none of them knew anything about the allegations. it would have been unfair to them. the game was strange in terms of atmosphere. a lot of people thought there would be protests and really, it was sort of a somber move. penn state lost a close game but didn't feel heart breaking. in a way i think it brought this community together. but there was definitely discussion, is it appropriate to play football. i think the decision was look, it's not fair to the kids on the team. >> doctor, as someone who has worked with abuse victims, you

heard what jon said. somewhere somebody is lying. we always say innocent till proven guilty. when i talk to a psychologist and law enforcement, i have a friend who, would with the fbi, this is what he does, he said there's never been victims who are in collusion with an aaccuser in this manner. usually it's the other way around, people don't come forward. jon said clearly someone is lying. what do you think? >> i agree. i read the same document. i thought it was pretty obvious as well that it appears to be some type of cover-up that they basically didn't want to report it to the authorities because of how it would reflect on the school. and unfortunately, that's very common in cases of sexual abuse, and that there tends to be a lot of denial even within families, they don't want to admit to it and other organizations, as well. >> real quickly, if you look at jerry sandusky who is the accused here, he has this charity. he always had boys around him. is that sort of a classic person prone to this behavior or.

>> well, he certainly did a lot of things that are common among child molesters meaning that he got himself in a position of trust. and authority and he got access to disadvantaged youth who would be particularly vulnerable. >> tony, i want you to talk about this but i want you guys to listen to this. again, this is very graphic. here's what assistant coach mike mcquery says he witnessed in 2002. again, it was very graphic. he witnesses in 2002 when he was a graduate assistant. >> he saw a naked boy, victim 2, whose age he estimated to be 10 years old with his hands up against the wall being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked sandusky. the graduate assistant was shocked but noticed both victim 2 and sandusky saw him. the graduate assistant left immediately distraught. >> tony, you -- you were raped at you said 9 years oeld, right?

>> yes. >> if this is what he witnessed, this would be rape. >> yes. >> you would have wanted someone to come to your rescue? >> yeah, definitely if someone saw that, i would have wanted to believe what happened and believe what they saw and not to sort of defy or deny what they're actually seeing and i would want someone to advocate for me and get help. >> and as -- i wanted to show people what a 10-year-old boy, you just hear the words sometimes. a 10-year-old boy. a 10-year-old boy is a little boy. he's a kid. so when you think about, oh, it's a 10-year-old boy. but there's the example of what a child looks like. we all have nieces, nephews, children, brothers and sisters that age. so it's horrifying. i want you to stick around. we're going to talk about how you move on. tony, particularly i want to know from you how the victims of abuse move on, how the other people who have been victimized by this move on and jon

wertheim, how the campus and the football program and the school moves on. we're back in a moment. mayor... and i love it. and, i make everybody happy. i keep my business insurance with the hartford because... they came through for me once, and i know they've got my back. for whatever challenges come your way... the hartford is here to back you up. helping you move ahead... with confidence. meet some of our small business customers at: thehartford.com/business i don't think about the unknown... i just rock n' roll.

penn state's new president is speaking out about the child abuse sex can dal that's rocked the school and the country. joining us again our panel of experts, jon wertheim with "sports illustrated" live from the penn state campus, in san jose, tony rogers, a victim and here in atlanta, julie medlin a

psychologist and sex abuse expert. the new president spoke about moving past the scandal. here's what he had to say tonight. >> we remain committed to our core values and we will rebuild the trust, honor and pride that have endured for generations. please join me in this effort. we are penn state. >> jon wertheim, you've, you're an investigative reporter, you've been covering this team for years, the nittany lions. joe paterno his legacy, all of that. how do they move on from a situation like this and it's unprecedented. >> reporter: it's unprecedented i think what makes it difficult is that this is still going to unravel. i mean, there's still a lot of testimony. there are multiple investigations. one of them federal. again, there's going to be civil litigation. if this were just one horrible act, one bad act and we could sort of move forward and memorialize it, that would be one thing. but this is an evolving fluid situation.

i appreciate the president's sentiment. but there's a lot of discovery left in this can dal. >> doctor, how does a nation move on from this? what's the lesson here? is this a point where we can -- where people can learn about sex abuse, learn about silence learn about possibly covering up, how we deal with this why we don't like to talk about it? >> yes, absolutely. i think this is a perfect opportunity for us to learn more about sexual abuse. for parents to learn more about how they can try to take steps to protect their children from sexual abusers. you know, to educate our children about sexual abuse. so that you know, as soon as they start feeling their boundaries are being violated that they will tell and that parents and other people will respond appropriately and report it. >> it is estimated that one in six young men is a victim of sexual abuse. there's an organization called one in six.org which tony, that organization helps you as an

adult get through this. so for the victims here, how do they move on? what do you tell them, tony? >> say just knowing that it's not their fault and that they have to surround themselves with people who really love and support them and have to be willing to accept what has happened. you can't wish that it goes away but just know there's a place within you that's impenetrable and you have to go to that place and use whatever tools you have available to make sure you maintain your life and clean up the debris and residue from this situation whenever it pops up in your life. >> since you had this opportunity. >> have a good life. >> since you have this opportunity tonight, is there anything that you want to say to the country, to the people who are watching about the silence with this issue? >> i think it's important when a child speaks up and when people are witnesses to a child being hurt, an that they speak up and seek help and advocate for the child and sexual crimes are a violation of the human spirit. i equate it to murder.

so if you are watching this, you're watching a homicide. please help children get support and help and end it. >> tony rogers, julie medlin and jon wertheim, thank you very much. we'll be right back. [ chuckles ] you think that is some information i would have liked to know? i like tacos. you invited eric? i thought eric gave you the creeps. [ phone buzzes ] oh. [ chuckles ] yeah. hey. [ male announcer ] don't be left behind. get it faster with 4g. at&t. ♪

the art world is buzzing for the first time in more than a century, a renaissance painting has been authenticated as a genuine work of leonardo

davinci. jacqui jeras, are you serious? >> yeah. isn't it exciting? it's on display to the public for the first time. the public's actually -- we have pictures of it. take a look at it. it's called the salvador mundi, savior of the world, a figure of jesus christ. but there is a ton of mystery surrounding this painting for a number of reasons. there are skeptics out there that say could this really be a leonardo or isn't it? a couple things we do know about the painting. he originally painted this for the king of france in the early 1500s. since that time, we know at one point, it was cataloged to exist and belonged to king charles i, the son of the duke of buckingham. as recently as 1900, it was purchased by sir frederick cook. but what happened to it after that point? nobody knew so it was missing for all of this time. there are known there are 20 copies of this thing.

and all of a sudden, it pops up in 2005, a group of u.s. art dealers say hey, we think we've got an original da vinci. >> pretty cool. >> of course, they analyze it from a panel of people. here's why they say it's a da vinci is you look at the back of it. okay, obviously it's deterior e deteriorated over the years and they can see some of the original sketchings on the back. they didn't see that on the other 20 copies. in addition, they matched up some of the pigments from this painting and some of his other paintings and say that he match-up. so they authenticated it earlier this year. it's on display. >> they have their you know what together on this. they know what it is. >> it's worth about $200 million by the way. >> do you remember this? to the moon, alice. >> to the moon. i remember one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. >> look at that. >> we're talking about the moon here tonight. and so this goes all the way back 40 years to landing on the

moon. you know, 1969 in july. not only did man walk on the moon but they also took samps from the surface of the moon and brought them back to here in the u.s. they analyzed them and found out that the moon rocks had magnetic properties. they're like what? this has been baffling them all of this time because the moon doesn't have a magnetic field. the earth has a magnetic field. here's why. they i've got this avocado. it helps explain the structure of the earth. we have our solid inner core. the meat is the hot magma of the earth. wa we've got our outer crust. because the earth spins, that creates motions and creates a magnetic field. the moon is one big chunk, one big hunk of rock basically and it doesn't spin. it's too cold to have some of these properties so they're like, why is it then that there could be magnetic properties in these rocks. they've got a theory now as to why this happened. basically, they're saying a huge

on the the size of mars crashed into the earth and a big chunk of it came off and they think the moon used to be much closer to the earth than it is now. in fact, maybe twice as close as it used to be. it cooled over time. you can see how it could have the magma in it originally but it has to do with the tides. they think the pull between the earth and moon was enough to move the crust of the moon and make that magnetic field. >> do you ever think of being a science teacher? it's cool, isn't it. >> you could have been a science teacher. it took me back. >> there's a little science involved there, as well. >> it went over my head. i'll study for the tests like i did in high school. >> we'll talk about it later. >> thank you. i have a statistic for you that might surprise you. fewer than 1% of u.s. airline pilots are african-american. one man hopes to change that. julius alexander has been sharing his love of flying with minority teens for more than 30 years. it's today's what matters. >> where's my pilot.

are you ready? >> yes, sir. >> okay. >> julius alexander knows the power of flight and is using it to inspire young african-americans. >> most of the kids, especially minority kids, think of entertainers and athletes as their superstars. i wanted to get young black kids involved in an early age in aviation. >> alexander is a pilot and former teacher. he combined his passions in the 1980s and founded ace, aviation career enrichment. >> you wear that shirt and those khaki trousers, you're representing us. >> the atlanta-based organization uses flight training to sharpen kids' academic skills and expose them to careers in aviation. >> we use aviation as a capsule of learning. aviation was a very practical application and all of that will -- when we teach navigation, we're teaching geograp geography, meteorology, we're teaching earth sciences. >> students not only gain

technical skills but also self-confidence. >> when the student solos an airplane, that develops tremendous self-esteem in that individual. if you can fly an airplane, you can do anything. >> you walk away with more than aviation things. >> ray john knows this firsthand. he learned how to fly and is now an instructor. >> there's a wealth of knowledge you gain here ace focused on making you a better person. >> it gives him a sense of pride. >> my greatest reward is seeing that 16-year-old kid go out and make a solo flight, i have changed somebody's life. when these students succeed, i know none of this has been in vain. >> alexander says he has personally trained at least 15 students who have gone on to become professional pilots. coming up -- ♪ ♪ it's the end of the world as we know it ♪ >> after 31 years and 85 million

albums, r.e.m. is breaking up. why? hear answers from the musicians themselves. [ umpire ] strike 3. you're out! [ cheers and applause ] [ playing out of tune ] [ playing in tune ] [ male announcer ] at mcdonald's®, we support the community by giving to programs that bring out the best in our youth... ...because we believe when you feed the competitive spirit... ...it enriches the entire neighborhood. the simple joy of being deeply rooted. ♪

we are on countdown to a music milestone. in three days, r. several m. releases its last album ever. it's got a long name to reflect the 31 years r.e.m. that is thrived in an industry ta thrived on one-hit wonders. shannon, the cynic in me has to ask, do you think this is all a publicity stunt?

>> you old cynic you. i can understand why people might say that, but for a publicity stunt for r.e.m. seems so unlike them. only time will tell. here's part one of my interview with michael stipe and mike mills. ♪ when your day is long and the night, the night is yours alone ♪ >> this isn't really a dramatic breakup, is it? it's really just the end of the road for r.e.m.? >> it's the end of the road for r.e.m. >> as we know it. >> sorry. >> as a touring and recording entity. you know, r. several m. will continue to exist in our catalog and our music but as far as creating more stuff, no. >> between the three of us, we kind of arrived at it at the same time. you can go into the blogosphere and everyone has their opinion

of when r.e.m. should have or might should have broken up, but we didn't even call it breaking up. we disbanded. there's no andny mossity or no lawyers between us. we love each other and have huge respect for each other. we just reached a point where it didn't feel like it made sense to carry on any further. and we happened to do that at a very high point in a 31-year career of highs and lows. ♪ everybody hurts sometimes, ♪ >> why quit. why not just take a break and then just tour when you feel like it? >> because if you do that, then you've got constant questions about when's your next record, when's your next tour. and in a way, that would inhibit whatever it is we plan to do

going forward. >> i think it would turn everything else in our life into a sideshow. people would say, when are you going to do the next record or tour. and for ourselves, i think we needed and wanted that closure and that clarity. >> so how do you feel about this? do you feel sad? are you relieved? >> certainly there's sadness. it's bittersweet by all means, about you. >> the feelings go from here to here. we're feeling every one of them. >> not relief because relief implies like we're escaping something. it certainly isn't that. the word that popped into my head, there is an odd feeling of liberation ♪ that's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight losing my religion ♪ >> it's a liberation, it's a clean break and a chance to move forward. >> so what do you do now? >> i took a deep breath the day of the announcement of our disbanding and i just thought,

now what? what do i do now? i couldn't answer it for myself. so i decided to be very honest with everyone i spoke to about it and say i have no idea. i really don't know. but i'm going to take a sabbatical for a couple months or longer and whatever i do, you'll know about it i hope. >> so a massive comeback tour never say never? >> never say never, of course. we're not going to do it. >> that's kind of a never. >> if we ever did, we would tell you exactly why and it would be because one of us for one reason or another really needed money. i don't see that happening. at all. i mean, it is funny but we're being really honest by saying it's over. we love each other. we love what we did. it's done ♪ i thought that i heard you laughing, i thought that i heard you sing ♪ >> and you may have noticed that the third member of r.e.m. peter buck was missing from that interview. he's touring with singer john wesley harding at the moment and don, coming up in part two of

the interview, we get foot music of r.e.m. and the guys reveal which songs are on their mintds as they go through this pretty big transition. >> that's right after the break. all business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. when someone changes lanes without warning? or when you're distracted? when you're falling asleep at the wheel? do you know how you'll react? lexus can now precisely test the most unpredictable variable in a car -- the driver. when you pursue perfection, you don't just engineer

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u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve. i have to be a tree in the school play. good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. ( captain ) this is your captain speaking. annie gets to be the princess. oh... but she has to kiss a boy. and he's dressed up like a big green frog ! ewww. ( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. good, r.e.m. has given fans what you could call its swan song ♪ we all go back to where we belong ♪ >> we all go back to where we belong is one of three new

pieces of the final album that features r.e.m.'s hits from the 31 years of performing together. cnn's shanon cook sat down with the band to talk about the music that meant the most to them. ♪ >> what is r.e.m.'s legacy? that's not for us to decide. it's for people who love music hopefully to decide what our legacy is. >> then what has been your greatest accomplishment as a band? >> we did it our way. >> that's exactly right. if there were part of a legacy that we could actually fairly speak ourselves, it would be that we showed people that there are more ways than one to become successful. in other words, you can do it on your own terms. there are a lot of people that try to tell you you have to do this, this, this and this. >> we started with this idea of what it is to sellout. we came from punk rock and the whole do it yourself

prealternative music, precollege radio all the -- all of our philosophies come from punk rock. so we had what r.e.m. called the row of no, which were all the things we knew we didn't want to do and make bands or tragic and make them kind of suck. and so we were trying very hard not to suck for a long time. ♪ ♪ it's the end of the world as we know it, it's the end of the world as we know it ♪ ♪ i feel fine >> in the line of your retrospective album, michael you wrote, thank god we have always had each other to convince ourselves how wrong and right we can be. are you going to miss that energy? >> what i'm going to miss is being on stage with these guys. that's going to be the hardest thing as a performer, as a live performer, that charge, that surge of energy that we get from an audience is something that i don't think i can repeat outside

of or after r.e.m. i don't think i'll ever feel that again. to the degree that i felt it with these guys. >> can each of you tell me which song from your extensive catalog means the most to you? >> maybe not means the most but i've been thinking a lot about a song called "supernatural superserious." >> the nobody cares, nobody remembers and nobody cares. >> i took my desire to write a character with a narrative arc that is so outrageous. i took it as far as i could push it with that song. i'm proud of it. i don't use the term rocking very much. but it's kind of a rocking tune. >> it does rock. >> yes, it does. ♪ now did you hear about >> i think "man on the moon" captures all of the essential elements of r.e.m. i mean, it's beautiful. it's wistful. it rocks. it's in the present and yet

nostalgic. has great harmonies on it, great lyrics and even the video is one of the best we ever did. so i'd throw that one out there if you had to just pick one thing to represent us, i wouldn't mind that being the song ♪ if you believe in the man on the moon ♪ >> as you close the door on r.e.m., what do you want to say to your fans? >> thanks for being there. thanks for giving us this amazing amazing opportunity to create music together and tour and really live a life that i only dreamed of as a teenager. it was a lot of hard work, but it was really worth it. >> it's true. some cliches exist for a reason, and we couldn't have done it without them. ♪ if you believe there's nothing out ♪ >> oh, shanon cook joins us now live from new york. shannon, you