In Athens, Georgia, the home of R.E.M., there’s a diner called Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods with a sign that reads: “Automatic for the People.” R.E.M. named their eighth studio album after this phrase, which owner Dexter Weavers says to customers instead of “you’re welcome.”
Videos by American Songwriter
R.E.M.’s new album began before their previous recording was finished. While the group was mixing Out of Time, they also recorded demos at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. One of the demos was a song called “Drive.” After releasing Out of Time, R.E.M. grew from alternative cult status to full-blown arena rock stars. “Losing My Religion” and “Shiny Happy People” were in regular rotation on MTV. Guitarist Peter Buck’s mandolin became as recognizable as any guitar riff of the time.
But something changed internally. There’s a darker tone on Automatic for the People, especially on “Drive.” It was more evolution than reinvention. R.E.M. left behind the influences of The Replacements, Big Star, and Hüsker Dü; lyricist Michael Stipe, in particular, felt the world’s weight on his shoulders, and he needed to write about it.
Rock the Vote
The lyrics Smack, crack, bushwhacked, are aimed at President George H.W. Bush. “Bushwhacked” dates back to Stipe’s get-out-the-vote efforts on college campuses supporting Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988.
Smack, crack, bushwhacked
Tie another one to your racks, baby
Hey kids, rock and roll
Nobody tells you where to go, baby
The “rock and roll” line was inspired by the David Essex hit, “Rock On,” a song the singer had connected with in his youth.
Hey, kids, where are you?
Nobody tells you what to do, baby
Hey kids, shake a leg
Maybe you’re crazy in the head, baby
Mike Mills, the band’s bassist and multi-instrumentalist, told Melody Maker the song “is just telling kids to take charge of their own lives.” It’s a political song urging kids to get involved, though, and like many R.E.M. lyrics, the words are abstract and left wide open for interpretation.
In keeping with Stipe’s free-to-interpret grammar and beginning with R.E.M.’s 1983 debut Murmur, the group didn’t include song lyrics in their album artwork. The practice wouldn’t change until 1998 with Up, their 11th studio album. Listeners had to interpret the lyrics as Stipe sang them. On paper, they don’t often make sense. But the emotion in Stipe’s voice adds something like meaning. Sometimes a well-sung lyric trumps clear language.
During a 1992 Melody Maker interview, Guitarist Buck added, “You can appreciate these songs on any level you want to.” With fewer details or even obscured details, a song reaches universal appeal.
Maybe you did, maybe you walked
Maybe you rocked around the clock
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Maybe I ride, maybe you walk
Maybe I drive to get off, baby
Shiny Not-So-Happy Band
Buck, Mills, and drummer Bill Berry arranged and recorded instrumental songs they’d later send to Stipe. Most R.E.M. songs were born this way. Stipe listened and wrote lyrics and vocal melodies from the instrumentals. He noticed a darker tone in the band musically, inspiring a similar tone in the subject matter he was writing about.
There was pressure on R.E.M. to follow the massive success of Out of Time. It was bold to release “Drive” as the opening single. The song is a slow build with darkly sarcastic lyrics but ultimately pays off with an orchestrated crescendo. Stipe barely sings above his speaking voice, but Buck’s vivid guitar layers build on the backbone of Mills and Berry.
Stipe’s voice is layered in echo, sounding like a megaphone reminding the young that each generation is responsible for making change. Apathy isn’t an option. Stipe’s support of Dukakis was unsuccessful, but President Bush would be defeated by Bill Clinton in 1992.
MTV
The black and white video for “Drive” shows Stipe crowd surfing in slow motion. Youth movements carry culture. Maybe Stipe is riding on the backs of the next generation. Or perhaps he’s on the verge of being torn apart, symbolizing a tenuous and fractured world. Like most music videos from R.E.M. during this time, “Drive” was in constant rotation on MTV.
Automatic for the People continued their rapid climb to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world. Though Buck’s guitar still shimmered, there was a gloomy complexity to the band’s new sound, but it didn’t hinder R.E.M.’s commercial ascent, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Automatic for the People has sold more than 18 million copies as of this writing.
Doom and Gloom in Their Finest Hour
Biographer David Buckley noted most critics consider Automatic for the People to be R.E.M.’s finest work. The alternative bands of this time had become mainstream, and they brought with them a sober outlook on life. In the ’80s, rock bands had nothing but a good time, but songwriters like Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, and Stipe saw things differently.
R.E.M. connected with young audiences as an underground college radio band, but their stark political message wasn’t limited to resonating with kids on college campuses. The arenas weren’t solely filled by Generation X. Some parents came along, too.
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Photo by Rick Diamond/WireImage
