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''Automatic for the People'' is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released by Warner Bros. Records on October5, 1992 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and on the following day in the United States. R.E.M. began production on the album while their previous album, '' Out of Time'' (1991), was still ascending top albums charts and achieving global success. Aided by string arrangements from John Paul Jones, ''Automatic for the People'' features ruminations on mortality, loss, mourning, and nostalgia. Upon release, it received widespread acclaim from critics, reached number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200, and yielded six singles. '' Rolling Stone'' reviewer Paul Evans concluded of the album, "This is the members of R.E.M. delving deeper than ever; grown sadder and wiser, the Athens subversives reveal a darker vision that shimmers with new, complex beauty." ''Automatic for the People'' has sold more than 18million copies worldwide.


Background and recording

What would become ''Automatic for the People'' had its origins in the mixing sessions for R.E.M.'s previous album '' Out of Time'', held at Paisley Park Studios in December 1990. There, demos for "Drive", "Try Not to Breathe", and "Nightswimming" were recorded. After finishing promotional duties for ''Out of Time'', the members of R.E.M. began formal work on their next album. Starting the first week of June 1991,Robbins, Ira. "R.E.M." ''Pulse!''. October 1992 guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer
Bill Berry William Thomas Berry (born July 31, 1958) is an American musician who was the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. Although best known for his economical drumming style, Berry also played other instruments, including guitar, bass guitar ...
met several times a week in a rehearsal studio to work on new material. Once a month they would take a week-long break. The musicians would often trade instruments: Buck would play mandolin, Mills would play piano or organ, and Berry would play bass. Buck explained that writing without drums was productive for the band members.Fletcher, p. 208 The band, intent on delivering an album of harder-rocking material after ''Out of Time'', made an effort to write some faster rock songs during rehearsals, but came up with less than a half-dozen prospective songs in that vein.Fricke, David. "Living Up to ''Out of Time''/Remote Control: Parts I and II". ''Melody Maker''. October 3, 1992. The musicians recorded the demos in their standard band configuration. According to Buck, the musicians recorded about 30 songs. Lead singer Michael Stipe was not present at these sessions; instead, the band gave him the finished demos at the start of 1992. Stipe described the music to '' Rolling Stone'' early that year as " ry mid-tempo, pretty fucking weird ..More acoustic, more organ-based, less drums". In February, R.E.M. recorded another set of demos at Daniel Lanois' Kingsway Studios in New Orleans. The group decided to create finished recordings with co-producer Scott Litt at
Bearsville Studios Bearsville Sound Studio was a recording studio founded by Albert Grossman in Bearsville, New York, west of Woodstock in 1969. History Albert Grossman, who was the manager of Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary, first arrived in Bearsville in 1 ...
in Woodstock, New York, starting on March 30. The band recorded overdubs in Miami and New York City. String arrangements were recorded in Atlanta.Buckley, p. 216 After recording sessions were completed in July, the album was mixed at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle.


Music and lyrics

Despite R.E.M.'s initial desire to make an album of rocking, guitar-dominated songs after ''Out of Time'', music critic David Fricke noted that instead ''Automatic for the People'' "seems to move at an even more agonized crawl" than the band's previous release. Peter Buck took the lead in suggesting the new direction for the album. The album dealt with themes of loss and mourning inspired by "that sense of  ..turning 30", according to Buck. "The world that we'd been involved in had disappeared, the world of Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, all that had gone ..We were just in a different place and that worked its way out musically and lyrically." "Sweetness Follows", "Drive", and "Monty Got a Raw Deal" in particular expressed much darker themes than any of the band's previous material and "Try Not to Breathe" is about Stipe's grandmother dying. The songs "
Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" ...
", "
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was influenced by the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", both in the title of the song and through the song's opening refrain. (SongFacts writes, "Rather than follo ...
", " Everybody Hurts", and "
Nightswimming "Nightswimming" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released in 1993 as the fifth single from the group's eighth album, ''Automatic for the People'' (1992). "Nightswimming" is a ballad featuring singer Michael Stipe accompa ...
" feature string arrangements by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Fricke stated that "ballads, in fact, define the record", and noted that the album featured only three "rockers": "
Ignoreland "Ignoreland" is the eighth track from R.E.M.'s studio album ''Automatic for the People''. The song was only released as a promo single, but had chart positions on the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. "Ignoreland" is the sixth song by R.E.M ...
", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", and " Man on the Moon". "It pretty much went according to plan," Litt reported. "Compared to ''
Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
'', it was a walk in the park. ''Out of Time'' had an orchestral arrangement—so, when we did ''Automatic'', judging where Michael was going with the words, we wanted to scale it down and make it more intimate."''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...
'' #21, August 1995
"Song by song ..the whole album is referencing the 1970s," recalls Stipe. ' Everybody Hurts' was inspired by
Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
's cover of ' Love Hurts'. '
Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" ...
' was an homage to David Essex and ' Rock On', especially that song's early glam rock production style.


Packaging

The album name refers to the motto of Athens, Georgia, eatery Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods. The photograph on the front cover is not related to the restaurant: it shows a star ornament that was part of the sign for the Sinbad Motel on
Biscayne Boulevard U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River (Florida/Georgia), St. Marys River into Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia north of Boulogne, Florida, Boulogne and south of ...
in Miami, near Criteria Studios, where the bulk of the album was recorded. The motel is still there, but the star is not since it was damaged in a hurricane. The slanted support where it was once attached is still present. "The album was going to be called ''Star'' at one point, hence the object on the cover that Michael had photographed and really dug," Scott Litt told ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...
''. "It helps to have some kind of focus in the studio, so the photo was stuck up." The star photograph is placed over an embossed image, which is also included inside the album's booklet distorted on a white background. The interior jacket shows a two–three story circular platform that was the sign for the old Bon Aire Motel on the former Motel Row on Miami Beach. The Bon Aire and other motel row establishments have mostly been demolished for new high-rise condominiums. The back cover features a photograph of an old building with the track listing written over at the same angle from which the building is viewed. Other photographs, taken by
Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner"' ...
, feature the band members on a beach. The compact disc release was originally issued in a jewel case with a translucent yellow CD tray, traded out with a then-standard opaque black tray on later pressings; the cassette shell was also issued with the same color. The yellow was made to match the color of the CD. The band would later use a similar method for ''
Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
'', which was released with a metallic orange CD tray on early copies (though this matched the album cover).


Release

''Automatic for the People'' was released in October 1992. In the United States, the album reached No.2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album charts." Automatic for the People > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums. Allmusic. Retrieved on March12, 2009. The album reached No.1 in the United Kingdom, where it topped the UK Albums Chart on four separate occasions. Despite not having toured after the release of ''Out of Time'', R.E.M. again declined to tour in support of this album. ''Automatic for the People'' has been certified four times platinum in the US (four million copies shipped), six times platinum in the United Kingdom (1.8 million shipped), and three times platinum in Australia (210,000 shipped).Buckley, p.358 The album has sold 3.52million copies in the US, according to
Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
sales figures . In 1993, the album has sold 1.7 million copies in the US, according to billboard's lists of 1993's best-selling albums domestically. ''Automatic for the People'' yielded six singles over the course of 1992 and 1993: "Drive", "Man on the Moon", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", "Everybody Hurts", "Nightswimming" and "
Find the River "Find the River" is a song by American rock band R.E.M., released on November 29, 1993 as the sixth and final single from their eighth album, ''Automatic for the People'' (1992). Background Regarding the song's backing vocals, Mike Mills expla ...
". Lead single "Drive" was the album's highest-charting domestic hit, reaching No.28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Other singles charted higher overseas: "Everybody Hurts" charted in the top ten in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. A live, harder, version of "Drive" appears on the ''Alternative NRG'', recorded at Athens' 40 Watt Club on November19, 1992, during an invitation-only concert supporting Greenpeace Action. A re-recorded, slower version of "Star Me Kitten", featuring William S. Burroughs, was released on '' Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files''. The music videos from the album were included in ''
Parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...
''. In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued a two-disc edition of ''Automatic for the People'' which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a
5.1 5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dol ...
-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes. A 25th anniversary edition was released on November10, 2017, by
Craft Recordings Craft Recordings is a record label owned by Concord. Like UMe, Legacy Recordings and Rhino Entertainment, Craft is specialized in reissues of Concord's back catalog. The imprint was founded in 2017, along with an online store by the same name of ...
, featuring four discs of live recordings, demos, and the album remixed in Dolby Atmos, making ''Automatic for the People'' the first music release on this format.


Critical reception

R.E.M. biographer David Buckley wrote, "''Automatic for the People'' is regarded by Peter Buck and Mike Mills, and by most critics, as being the finest R.E.M. album ever recorded." ''Rolling Stone'' gave the album five stars. Reviewer Paul Evans wrote, "Despite its difficult concerns, most of ''Automatic'' is musically irresistible." ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' reviewer Allan Jones commented, "It's almost impossible to write about the record without mentioning the recent grim rumors concerning Stipe's health," in reference to the rumors at the time that the singer was dying of
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
or cancer. Jones concluded his review by noting, "Amazingly, initial reactions to ''Automatic for the People'' in this particular vicinity have been mixed ..Psshaw to them. ''Automatic for the People'' is R.E.M. at the very top of their form." Ann Powers, reviewing the album for '' The New York Times'', noted that only three of the songs on the album went beyond mid- tempo and said, "Only 'Man on the Moon' shines with a wit that balances R.E.M.'s somber tendencies." Powers finished her review by saying, "Even in the midst of such disenchantment, R.E.M. can't resist its own talent for creating beautiful and moving sounds. ..Buck, Mills and Berry can still conjure melodies that fall like summer sunlight. And Stipe still possesses a gorgeous voice that cannot shake its own gift for meaning." Guy Garcia, for '' Time'', also noted the album's themes of "hopelessness, anger and loss". Garcia added that the album proves "that a so-called alternative band can keep its edge after conquering the musical mainstream" and that it "manages to dodge predictability without ever sounding aimless or unfocussed." ''Automatic for the People'' placed third in the '' Village Voice'' Pazz & Jop year-end critics' poll. ''The Village Voice''s
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
later gave the album a three-star honorable mention rating, indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure." The album was nominated for
Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...
at the
Grammy Awards of 1994 The 36th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 1, 1994. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Whitney Houston was the Big Winner winning 3 awards including Record of the Year and Album of the Year while opening th ...
, but lost to Whitney Houston's ''
The Bodyguard A bodyguard is an individual who protects another from harm or threats. Bodyguard may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * The Bodyguard (1944 film), ''The Bodyguard'' (1944 film), a Tom and Jerry short * Bodyguard (1948 film), ...
''. It was later ranked number 247 in '' Rolling Stone''s
500 Greatest Albums of All Time * Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time * NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a 2013 special issue of British magazine '' NME'', available digitally or in newsstands on October 23. The li ...
, 249 in a 2012 revised list, and 96 in a 2020 reboot of the list. ''Rolling Stone'' also ranked it at number18 on its "100 Greatest Albums of the 90s" list. It was also voted number 6 in
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...
's '' All Time Top 1000 Albums'' 3rd Edition (2000)''.'' In 2006, '' British Hit Singles & Albums'' and '' NME'' organised a poll of which, 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and ''Automatic for the People'' was placed at number 37 on the list. The album was also included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''. "I'm not so crazy about 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite'," Buck reflected in 2001, "but overall I think it sounds great." Buck added in 2003, in regard to the song, "We included this song on ''Automatic'' in order to break the prevailing mood of the album. Given that lyrically the record dealt with mortality, the passage of time, suicide and family, we felt that a light spot was needed. In retrospect, the consensus among the band is that this might be a little too lightweight." The 25th anniversary re-release of In 2017, Pitchfork called ''Automatic for the People'' an "nakedly emotional album consumed by the anxiety of aging, the inevitability of death, the loss of innocence, and the impossibility of holding on to the past"; in 2022, they ranked this album the 63rd best of the 1990s.


Track listing


Original release


25th Anniversary Edition

In 2017,
Craft Recordings Craft Recordings is a record label owned by Concord. Like UMe, Legacy Recordings and Rhino Entertainment, Craft is specialized in reissues of Concord's back catalog. The imprint was founded in 2017, along with an online store by the same name of ...
and
Concord Music Group Concord Music Group was an American independent music company based in Beverly Hills, California, with worldwide (including the U.S.) distribution through Universal Music Group. The company specialized in recordings ( Fearless Records, Concord R ...
released a 25th anniversary edition with exclusive demos, live songs and a blu-ray disc with music videos and a promotional video.


Personnel

R.E.M. *
Bill Berry William Thomas Berry (born July 31, 1958) is an American musician who was the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. Although best known for his economical drumming style, Berry also played other instruments, including guitar, bass guitar ...
 – drums, percussion, keyboards, bass guitar, backing vocals, melodica on "Find the River" * Peter Buck – electric and acoustic guitars,
mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, bass guitar, bouzouki on "Monty Got a Raw Deal" * Mike Mills – bass guitar, piano, keyboards,
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
, backing vocals, double bass on "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" * Michael Stipe – lead vocals Additional musicians * Scott Litt –
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
,
clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
* John Paul Jones – orchestral arrangements on "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming" *George Hanson –
conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
on "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming" *Denise Berginson-Smith, Lonnie Ottzen, Patti Gouvas, Sandy Salzinger, Sou-Chun Su, Jody Taylor – violin on "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming" * Knox Chandler, Kathleen Kee, Daniel Laufer, Elizabeth Proctor Murphy – cello on "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", "Sweetness Follows", and "Nightswimming" *Reid Harris, Paul Murphy, Heidi Nitchie – viola on "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming" *Deborah Workman – oboe on "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming" Production * Scott Litt –
producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
, mixing engineer *Ed Brooks – second engineer (Seattle) *George Cowan – second engineer (Bearsville) *Adrian Hernandez -Second assistant engineer (Hollywood) *John Keane – recording engineer (Athens) *Mark Howard – second engineer (New Orleans) *Tod Lemkuhl – second engineer (Seattle) *Ted Malia – second engineer (Atlanta) * Stephen Marcussen –
mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...
(Precision Mastering) * Clif Norrell –
recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
, mixing engineer *Andrew Roshberg – second engineer (Miami)


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


Certifications and sales


See also

*'' Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic for the People''


References

*Black, Johnny. ''Reveal: The Story of R.E.M.'' Backbeat, 2004. *Buckley, David. ''R.E.M.: Fiction: An Alternative Biography''. Virgin, 2002. *Fletcher, Tony. ''Remarks Remade: The Story of R.E.M.'' Omnibus, 2002. . *Platt, John (editor). ''The R.E.M. Companion: Two Decades of Commentary''. Schirmer, 1998.


Notes


External links

*
R.E.M. - ''Automatic Unearthed''
official documentary about the making of the album {{Authority control 1992 albums Albums produced by Bill Berry Albums produced by Michael Stipe Albums produced by Mike Mills Albums produced by Peter Buck Albums produced by Scott Litt R.E.M. albums Warner Records albums Albums arranged by John Paul Jones (musician) Albums conducted by George Hanson Baroque pop albums