By now you’ve heard about R.E.M.’s Mike Mills breaking the news of David Letterman’s retirement yesterday, but here’s the reason he was even there: Mills and former bandmate Peter Buck reunited on “The Late Show” to back Joseph Arthur’s performance of “Walk on the Wild Side.”

Bob Mould may be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Workbook at the moment, but he’s also looking ahead: Merge Records this week announced that it will release Mould’s 11th studio album, Beauty & Ruin, which “packs a staggering lifetime’s worth of emotion and experience into a 36-minute package.”

As promised, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart reunited as the Eurythmics to perform a Beatles cover — “The Fool on the Hill” off Magical Mystery Tour — on the “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles” television special that was taped last month and broadcast on CBS last night.

Last summer, the members of New Order — Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, as well as former bassist Peter Hook — and sleeve designer Peter Saville were interviewed by Swedish National Television for a 30-minute documentary on the story behind their iconic 1983 single “Blue Monday.”

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart will reunite once again as the Eurythmics to perform a yet-to-be-announced Beatles cover at “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles,” a television special that’s being taped on Jan. 27 in Los Angeles the day after the Grammy Awards.

Southern California punk giants Bad Religion dropped by TBS’ “Conan” show last night to spread some Yuletide cheer, ripping through their appropriately raucous take on the classic hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” off the band’s recently released holiday album, Christmas Songs.

Nearing the end of a December swing across the West Coast, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo brought his new band The Dust — featuring SY drummer Steve Shelley — to TBS’ “Conan” show last night to perform “Lecce, Leaving,” the opening track to the band’s 2013 album Last Night on Earth.