The 1975 song that made Michael Stipe a performer: “I never looked back”Most musicians remember the first time they ever fell in love with music. For others, like Michael Stipe, it only took one song before everything became clear. While for some, it was David Bowie or Eric Clapton that inspired them to want to pursue music, for Stipe, it was the Godmother of Punk herself, Patti Smith. Stipe first discovered Smith one day while in school detention, when someone had left a copy of Creem magazine on the desk. “That was the song that I just said, what the fuck is this?