R.E.M. part 5

1992 was the year of Automatic For The People. The album received critical adulation and - although the band once again, as with Out Of Time, refused to tour in support of the album - its commercial fortunes were anything but diminished: the album went 4x Platinum in the US and 7x Platinum in the UK and Canada, eventually selling in excess of 18 million copies worldwide.

The album (of which only three songs went beyond mid-tempo) dealt with themes of loss and mourning inspired by "that sense of [...] turning 30", according to Buck.

The front cover of the album shows a greyed-out photograph of a Miami motel sign, although you would be totally forgiven for confusing it with the demonic box from Hellraiser and Hellraiser II: Hellbound.

We'll practically discuss the whole thing, so be prepared for a lot of songs. I'll take the songs in the order that they appear on the album.

The opening track is Drive, which was also the first single. An atmospheric song with the guitar in the forefront and double-tracked vocals, Drive, as Mike Mills has said "is just telling kids to take charge of their own lives. [Pause.] Among other things."

Try Not To Breathe is about sharing (or not sharing) memories and experiences with the people that are important in your life.

The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, influenced by The Lion Sleeps Tonight, is one a the few lighter moments on the album. Mike Mills said: "It's about somebody that doesn't have a place to stay. Part of it is also about what man can do that machines can't. The rest of it – I don't have any idea what it's about."

Everybody Hurts is the album's most famous song. It is an inspirational song, a country-ish ballad in adagio. It is a song written to give courage to people having a tough time, especially to bullied high-school children. That's the reason that the song is so direct, so that it can get through to these children. Another great music video, this is definitely in my Top 10 R.E.M. songs.

After the interval of New Orleans Instrumental No. 1, Sweetness Follows: a song about the way petty grudges and self-absorption have either damaged or completely severed the connections of the surviving family members, after the death of its characters’ parents. It also appeared in the soundtrack of Vanilla Sky, a film starring Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz.

Monty Got a Raw Deal is dedicated to the late gay film legend Montgomery Clift.

Ignoreland is political. Mike Mills said: “Michael’s rolling against Republican politics. The opening line is, ‘These bastards stole all the power from the victims of the us v. them years / Wrecking all things virtuous and true’. And the last verse is really great – ‘I know that this is vitriol, no solution, spleen-venting / But I feel better having screamed. Don’t you?’ It’s really great.”

Star Me Kitten is a sexy song, but in a pessimistic, Michael Stipe way.

As a bonus, here's the version that appears in the album Songs in the Key of X, a collection of songs that were featured in or were inspired by The X-Files. In this version, lead (spoken) vocals are by legendary author William Burroughs (of Naked Lunch fame).

Man on the Moon is my favorite song in the album, in a tie with Everybody Hurts. It's a tribute to the late comedian Andy Kaufman (star of TV show Taxi).

Nightswimming is also a favorite of mine. It evokes memories of young men who go skinny dipping at night. The string arrangement is by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.

The album closes with Find the River, another beautiful song, its subject being the search for spiritual fulfillment.

As critic Steven Hyden wrote: "Automatic For The People might be the most quietly serene Rock record about loss ever made."