R.E.M., "Automatic for the People"

Mitch says sometimes you gotta leave to find your way

Mitch’s Pitch:

Quitting is underrated.

My old nemesis The Man wants you to think that quitting is failure, and that there's nothing worse in life than failing. But if you're someone like me - a person with no discernible talents or skills or abilities - you get used to failure. There's something noble about perseverance in the face of near-certain failure, the ability to keep trying new things, to keep pushing yourself, even if you know that it probably won't work out in the end. In a weird way, embracing failure shifts your focus in life away from outcomes and towards the journey and the process. And every once in a while, when things actually go your way, well, sweetness follows.

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Our musical tastes are largely shaped in our teen/college years, and for us Gen Xers that means the music of the '80s and '90s. To me, the two bands that best defined those two decades were U2 and R.E.M. Both started on "the left side of the dial" in the early '80s. Both broke through to the mainstream with surprise hits. Both evolved their sound for the '90s and became even more popular; But that's where the similarities end, because over time U2 became obsessed with outcomes - the need to stay current, to stay relevant, and to stay popular - and R.E.M. just up and quit.

14 years after drummer Bill Berry quit for health reasons (unrelated to his magnificent unibrow), R.E.M. put the band to sleep for good in 2011, and we haven't heard anything from them since. As a result, we're slowly forgetting them. Forgetting how important they were. Forgetting how good they were. Forgetting how big they were. Forgetting how influential they were. It's ironic that R.E.M. did the "right" thing artistically - they left the party early and never sold out - and now their legacy is obscured, while their lesser peers get praise for milking the nostalgia circuit at county fairs.

And what a legacy it is. Long ago we talked about the IRS years and Lifes Rich Pageant. For many people, the early years represent the best of R.E.M., when they were at their most innovative and experimental. I love all those records, but for me, it's second period R.E.M. that hits hardest. And while there's not a bad album between Green and New Adventures, nothing quite reaches the glorious and depressing heights of Automatic for the People.

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R.E.M. intended to create an upbeat rock album after the poppy Out of Time, but that's not where their journey took them. There are only three rockers on Automatic, the slight "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight", the throwback sounding "Ignoreland", and the incredible and enigmatic "Man on the Moon". The rest of the album is moody and atmospheric - and inexplicably both sad and uplifting.

The themes of the lyrics are mostly about death ("Find the River"), fear ("Nightswimming"), loss ("Try Not to Breathe"), and failure ("Everyone Hurts"), and yet something about Michael Stipe's confident vocals (no more mumbling), Peter Buck's ever-present jangle, and the sweeping string arrangements give us hope and faith that things will work out on the end, even if that means embracing failure or letting go of things that once seemed important.

Automatic for the People is an album of profound truth and beauty. An unflinching look at life and death, and an important reminder to focus on the journey and not the destination. It's R.E.M.'s masterpiece and one of the greatest albums of the '90s.

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Please do me a favor. Quit something today. Embrace failure. Put down that book you're slogging your way through. Stop binging that terrible show. Give up on old notions of who you are or what you're supposed to be. Quit the things and relationships that aren't bringing you joy. Sometimes it's hard to let go, but it's the only way forward. No guilt, no fear, just an appreciation for the journey. Pick up here and chase the ride. The river empties to the tide. All of this is coming your way.

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CJ’s Response:

I’m terrible at quitting things. This has worked both for and against me over the course of my life. On the upside, I’m a bulldog when it comes to solving a problem. Stubborn to the point of stupidity until I’ve figured it out. On the downside, I don’t know when to walk away from a bad thing. Bad girlfriends, bad jobs, bad cars, I’ve held onto each of them far longer than any sane person would. Failure is very much an option for me, but quitting isn’t.

When I listened to Automatic for the People all the way through for the first time this week, I was a little disappointed. I am surely in the ‘80s R.E.M. camp, counting Lifes Rich Pageant, Fables of the Reconstruction and Reckoning among my favorite albums of the decade. Give me the jangle and spite of “Pretty Persuasion” any day of the week. Maybe that’s why Automatic came across as mopey and dirge-y, especially in the middle of a radiant late summer week. “Try Not to Breathe” even reminded me, in a comical way, of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.

“Uh-oh,” I thought. “I’m going to exile this album and face a raft of ‘CJ hates sad music and this is Phil Collins all over again’ blowback from the alternative crowd (and Mitch).”

Then I listened again.

I forgot how good R.E.M. is at making music that challenges their listeners. You almost never hear one of their songs for the first time and love it immediately. You’ve gotta sit with it for a while, mull it over in your brain a couple of times before you render a verdict. More often than not, you come around to their point of view.

Three, four and five times I rolled through Automatic, feeling it get better and better each time. Funny enough, the big hits from the album fell away and the other songs rose to the top. “Monty Got a Raw Deal” might be the most underrated song in their catalog and “Try Not to Breathe” went from AM Gold to pure 24K.

I could’ve quit on Automatic for the People this week, but that’s not in my nature. Good thing, too. Because Newbury St. would’ve been deprived of a gem.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my 2004 Toyota Camry needs its exhaust system replaced. Again.

• Pitch Successful (I hope they made things right with Monty.)

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Ken’s Response:

R.E.M. did not quit. Okay, technically they stopped making music but I’ve always contextualized that ugly word. Quitting is for weak people without the fortitude to see things through when they get difficult. Quitting is what losers do when they know they’re going to get fired, or cut from the team, or didn’t get a big enough part in the play, or band, or whatever activity they were attempting. R.E.M. retired, and they did it gracefully. They drove full-speed through their tough times and excelled, becoming one of the greatest, and most beloved American bands of all time. They downsized seamlessly, the world’s musical tastes changed and they adapted beautifully, and through every era they rose to the top.

Automatic For The People is supremely R.E.M., an album that can’t (or shouldn’t) be covered.  Like almost all of the band’s music, it’s so iconically R.E.M., from the airy guitars, to the gorgeous countermelodies, to Stipe’s immediately identifiable vocals, they always refuse to be boxed into anyone else’s definition. They make R.E.M. music, understand it but don’t try to define it.

Now, somewhere along the way I adopted a Pavlovian reaction to “Everybody Hurts”, and now I can’t listen to it without thinking of Dwight Schrute sitting in his beat up Trans Am. As the kids say, IYKYK.  

Outside of my strange visions of Rainn Wilson, there are so many amazing tracks here. From the spacey “Drive” and “Try Not To Breathe” to smash hits “Man On The Moon” and “Nightswimming”, it’s a dirgy joy from beginning to end.

Don’t ever quit. Fight through the difficult, overcome the adversity. No one accomplishes anything without getting uncomfortable. And everybody hurts, but only the strong survive.

• Pitch Successful (Andy Kaufman’s on his way over for a quick game of Monopoly.)

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Mitch’s pitch was successful and R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People has been added to the Newbury St. Collection. What’s your take on mid-period R.E.M.? Which Top 20 album from 1993 would you have pitched? Please let us know in the comments.

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Other albums from 1993 we’ve covered:

• Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville

• Counting Crows, August And Everything After

• Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream

• Sheryl Crow, Tuesday Night Music Club

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Please join us next week as the EONS time machine accelerates to 1974 as CJ strokes his long beard and waxes poetic with a pitch for ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres.