#automatic for the people

[jt1674]

#rem #rem band #r.e.m. #automatic for the people #try not to breathe #I need something to fly over my grave

[batteredshoes]

R.E.M. | Sweetness Follows

It's these little things, they can pull you under Live your life filled with joy and wonder I always knew this altogether thunder Was lost in our little lives

#berry buck mills stipe #automatic for the people

[musicandoldmovies]

R.E.M. - Man on the Moon

From the album Automatic for the People

#REM #automatic for the people #man on the moon #Youtube

[yourfavealbumisgender]

Automatic for the People by R.E.M. is a Bisexual Trans Man!

requested by anon

#request #album #automatic for the people #bisexual #transgender #trans #transmasculine #trans masc #r.e.m. #rem #bill berry #peter buck #mike mills #michael stipe #alternative rock #baroque pop #folk rock

[blocodeespantamentos]

R.E.M., Nightswimming

#breviário de sons #r.e.m. #nightswimming #automatic for the people

[itgetsrad]

but has anyone ever thought about the fact that Try Not To Breath, Sidewinder Sleeps, Everybody Hurts, Man on the Moon AND Nightswimming are all on the same fucking album?!?!

#r.e.m. #michael stipe #automatic for the people #itgetsrad

[valassky-archived]

R.E.M. “Man On The Moon.” Automatic for the People, 1992.

#R.E.M. #REM #Automatic For The People #Man on The Moon #audio

[dweeeeeb]

R.E.M. - Drive [Official Music Video] (1992)

#MMitM1 #MMitM1VU #REM #Drive #Automatic for the People #1992

[girlreviews]

Review #96: Automatic For The People, R. E. M.

Are you very depressed? Me too. Automatic For The People is rich, beautiful, tonally downer music for sad people who occasionally have bright sunny days.

It describes such a complex sadness, and that’s something I love about it. In Nightswimming, we aren’t just swimming at night, we are “pining for the moon”. Who among us sad losers doesn’t pine for the moon from time to time? Hmm? And we are doing so alongside glorious strings, oddly chirpy piano, and what I believe to be a damn OBOE. How often do we get to hear an oboe? Do you know? I do. It’s not that often. It’s not.

I have complicated feelings about Everybody Hurts. I was only four when this record came out. But this song didn’t go anywhere for a really long time. It was constantly on the radio well into my teens. The riff becomes very monotonous. What is supposed to be a comfort, a message that you’re not alone, can kind of eventually sound like, hey get over it because your problems are the same as everybody else’s, everyone has heard this song too, and everyone kind of hates it by now. It’s been a long ass time since I’ve spent time with it, and it might just have been long enough. Let’s try again in a few years.

I have always liked R.E.M. and a lot of their songs well enough, but maybe never known their albums inside out. More like, well versed in their radio hits, and I definitely always had an attitude about them. I wouldn’t admit to liking them, kinda thing. Imagine my surprise when I stuck this album on for reviewing purposes and I started singing all the words to all the album tracks? I knew them all. All of them! Suddenly I was taken back to Sunday afternoons in my house when it was time to clean, or cook, or whatever you know, just boring nothing Sunday stuff, and I guess this one was one that my Mom liked. It must have reverberated through the house and I must have absorbed it. This is the way I’ve come to know and love a few artists and albums that I believe I previously held disdain for. Over time, I have reluctantly accepted that they’re just pretty fucking good, and I can’t hate it just because my Mother likes it. Simon and Garfunkel being probably the greatest, and most painful example. Sigh.

As annoying as this might be, Drive, the opening track, is pretty joyous to relive. I mean, it’s the opposite of joyous in that it’s a huge dose of frowny-face sounds, but joyous in that it’s a song about challenging the status-quo by voting (seriously, it is — they were a big part of the Rock the Vote campaign and some of the lines are very pointed towards Bush Sr, who was running for a second term), but also questioning your sanity and driving around to uh, feel better. Relatable. It also references another song, a mechanism that I delight in — Rock Around the Clock, by Bill Haley and the Comets, if you’re wondering.

R.E.M. stand out with their use of mandolin and other not so typically utilized instruments, and it’s always really funny to me that they were so popular in top 40 music when they just, aren’t pop music at all. But that isn’t a bad thing. The bright sunny day for your average sad sack lives in The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, where you even hear Michael Stipe laugh his way through the lyrics. It’s upbeat, it’s absurd, and it’s also fucking great. It’s fun as hell to sing. Lastly, I may be in the minority, but I love instrumental tracks (when they’re good), and New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 is two minutes and thirteen seconds of someone letting me fall asleep on them like a cat while they gently play with my hair. I could listen to it on repeat forever and I’d never be sick of it. It’s so beautiful. In my incessant need to know everything about every song, I have learned that a longer version exists (may I hear it?), and that it has never been performed live (may we hear it?).

I guess my Mom just really liked them. She grew up playing a few different stringed instruments but is deaf in one ear and can’t hold a tune to save her life. Still, once, she took me and that shitty boyfriend to our hyper local village music store (it’s long gone but was such a gem), I think so I could buy some guitar strings. The woman picked up a mandolin, and played a few chords perfectly. Our jaws hit the floor. Every time I hear the mandolin in one of their songs, I think of that moment and how cool she was to me in it.

They will always get bonus points for two additional things: Mike Mills is a consistent staple in the modern day Big Star lineup, with R.E.M. being one of the bands responsible for their later resurgence by citing their influence. Actually, I’m only just realizing this, but I HEAR IT IN ALL THAT MANDOLIN. Holy shit.

So, okay, I’ll always love them for that. But also, they are fictional character Ben Wyatt’s favorite band in the dorkiest and most pure, sincere way ever. Could a depressed person make this?

I had no idea I had this much to say about R.E.M. I’m a little embarrassed.

#album review #music #music review #rolling stone top 500 #r.e.m. #automatic for the people #ben wyatt #parks and rec #big star

[mumblelard]

finnie and ev and i took a road trip over to clarke county, georgia to eat fried chicken, drink dr pepper, and pay our respects to the tree who owns herself

#arboreal #emancipation #black friday #blargh #automatic for the people #fried chicken #rambles #doctor pepper #diatribes #gas station #blues #happy black friday rebecca black #clarke county #georgia

[mortifiedandawesome]

Monty Got A Raw Deal

#monty got a raw deal #rem #r.e.m. #document #michael stipe #mike mills #bill berry #peter buck #why did i type document #automatic for the people

[peterbuckmichaelstiperem4ever]

Poster from the 1993 fanclub Christmas package. Photo by Melody McDaniel.

#r.e.m. #rem band #michael stipe #peter buck #bill berry #mike mills #90s #1993 #fanclub #christmas package #poster #man on the moon #automatic for the people #melody mcdaniel #not my pic #my scan #new scanner

[fallimentiquotidiani]

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night

The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago

Turned around backwards so the windshield shows

Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse

Still, it's so much clearer

I forgot my shirt at the water's edge

The moon is low tonight

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night

I'm not sure all these people understand

It's not like years ago

The fear of getting caught

Of recklessness and water

They cannot see me naked

These things, they go away

Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night

September's coming soon

I'm pining for the moon

And what if there were two

Side by side in orbit

Around the fairest sun?

That bright, tight forever drum

Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you

You I cannot judge

You, I thought you knew me

This one laughing quietly underneath my breath

Nightswimming

The photograph reflects, every streetlight a reminder

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night

#30 years ago #automatic for the people #Rem #R.e.m. #nightswimming