For many years, they were the ultimate underground band. And then they suddenly became one of the most popular groups in the world. R.E.M. went on quite the whirlwind ride in their heyday.
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When the carousel slowed down a bit, they tried to change course during a time of tumult. Their last US Top 40 single came from this period.
Leaving College Behind
College radio in the United States might never have developed in quite the same fashion if R.E.M. hadn’t arrived on the scene. The scrappy quartet from Athens, Georgia, came charging forth with chiming guitars, locomotive rhythms, and Michael Stipe’s engaging free-associative lyrics.
Pop chart success seemed miles away throughout their first four albums, even as those LPs sold increasingly well. By 1987, they simply outgrew their college-radio sphere, in large part thanks to the thunderous Top 10 single “The One I Love”.
The next big step towards the mainstream came when they switched to a major label for their 1988 album Green. As they entered the 90s, the band was poised to go even bigger. But nobody could have foreseen how big a leap in the new decade.
‘Monster’ Ball
The band took a lot of stylistic swings on their 1991 album Out Of Time. Surprisingly, they went with a minor key-drenched, mandolin-laden song with cryptic lyrics about lost love as lead single. Before long, “Losing My Religion” gave the band what would be the biggest hit of their careers.
That song also spearheaded the supernova portion of their career. Following up Out Of Time with Automatic For The People in 1992, R.E.M. went softer and more introspective. And they triumphed all over again.
The band took some time off before planning their next move. They decided that they’d gone a little bit too far away from their rock roots. As such, they chose to go with shredding electric guitars and thrashing rhythms on their 1994 album Monster. Unfortunately, they ran up against some internal squabbles that nearly derailed their process.
The “Blame” Game
After the fact, members of R.E.M. explained that they very nearly broke up during the making of the record. Their efforts to change the sound led to some artistic differences, which generated heated arguments. Nonetheless, they came out of the process with a fierce new record that seemed like an effort to reclaim some territory ceded to the younger grunge bands of the era.
The first single, “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”, continued their hot streak, landing at No. 21. Next up was “Bang And Blame”, which built from quieter verses into a crunching chorus section. It did even better, landing at No. 19. Little did anyone know that would be the last time the group ever would hit the US Top 40.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Over the next two years, R.E.M. released three singles that made it to the Top 50 but stopped shy of No. 40. Two more songs later in the decade got stuck at No. 57. All those close calls aside, “Bang And Blame”, a relatively unheralded song in their catalog, served as the last hurrah for this legendary band in the Top 40.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
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