Maps of Music

Automatic for the People (1992)

Where the lyrics of Automatic for the People take you, and where it was really made.

The cover star does not come from the Athens restaurant that gave the album its title. It is a motel sign star in Miami, near the studio where most of the album was recorded.

Key places

Demos recorded in New Orleans (1992)

Recording site Kingsway Studios — In February 1992 the band recorded another set of demos at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans, before the finished recordings began. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Finished recordings in Woodstock (1992)

Recording site Bearsville Studios — Finished recordings were made at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, with co-producer Scott Litt, starting on 30 March. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Miami sessions near the motel (1992)

Recording site Criteria Studios — Criteria Studios in Miami is where the bulk of the album was recorded, and the cover motel sign stands near it. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Athens recording credit (1992)

Recording site John Keane Studios — The album credits list a recording engineer working in Athens, Georgia, linked to John Keane Studios, but the source does not describe the sessions in detail. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Motel sign on the cover (1992)

Album cover Sinbad Motel — The front cover star is an ornament from the sign of the Sinbad Motel on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, and the motel is still there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M.
• Released 5 October 1992 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and the next day in the United States, by Warner Bros. Records
• Yielded six singles
• Several tracks have strings arranged by John Paul Jones and conducted by George Hanson

Background

• Origins in mixing sessions for the previous album Out of Time, held at Paisley Park Studios in December 1990
• Formal work on the new album began after promotion for Out of Time ended, while Out of Time was still climbing the charts
• From June 1991 the members met several times a week in a rehearsal studio and took a week off each month
• Members often swapped instruments: Buck on mandolin, Mills on piano or organ, Berry on bass
• The band wanted a harder-rocking album after Out of Time but came up with fewer than six faster songs
• Michael Stipe did not attend the early sessions and received the finished demos at the start of 1992
• Buck linked the album's themes of loss and mourning to the feeling of turning 30

Recording

• Another set of demos was recorded at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans in February 1992
• Finished recordings began at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, on 30 March, with co-producer Scott Litt
• Overdubs were recorded in Miami and New York City, and string arrangements in Atlanta
• Recording sessions finished in July, and the album was mixed at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle

Cover

• The album name refers to the motto of Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods, an eatery in Athens, Georgia
• The front cover photo shows a star ornament from the sign of the Sinbad Motel on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami
• The motel still stands, but the star was removed after damage from Hurricane Andrew

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe, all University of Georgia students
• Released the single "Radio Free Europe" in 1981 on the independent label Hib-Tone
• Signed with I.R.S. Records in 1982

Members

• Michael Stipe (lead vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass, vocals), Bill Berry (drums) until 1997
• Bill Rieflin served as touring drummer from 2003 until his death in 2020

Career

• Breakthrough hit "The One I Love" in 1987 from Document; signed with Warner Bros. in 1988
• Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992) made them leaders of alternative rock
• Continued as a trio after Berry left in 1997
• Broke up in 2011 after selling more than 90 million albums worldwide
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2024

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone gave the album five stars; reviewer Paul Evans wrote that despite its difficult concerns, most of Automatic is musically irresistible
• Melody Maker reviewer Allan Jones wrote about the rumours of Stipe's health and concluded the album shows R.E.M. at the very top of their form
• Ann Powers in The New York Times noted that only three songs went beyond mid-tempo and that only Man on the Moon shines with wit
• Guy Garcia in Time noted the album's themes of hopelessness, anger and loss
• Placed third in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop year-end critics' poll

Reappraisal

• Biographer David Buckley wrote that Peter Buck and Mike Mills, and most critics, regard it as the finest R.E.M. album ever recorded
• Pitchfork in 2017 called it a nakedly emotional album and ranked it 63rd best of the 1990s in 2022
• Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger said R.E.M.'s achievement was to wear their craft on their sleeve

Records

• Reached number 2 on the US Billboard 200
• Topped the UK Albums Chart on four separate occasions
• Drive, the lead single, peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest US hit from the album
• Everybody Hurts charted in the top ten in the UK, Canada and Australia
• Nominated for Album of the Year at the 1994 Grammy Awards, losing to The Bodyguard
• Certified four times platinum in the US (four million shipped), six times platinum in the UK (1.8 million shipped), three times platinum in Australia (210,000 shipped)
• More than 18 million copies sold worldwide
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums: 247 in 2003, 249 in 2012, 96 in 2020

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Trivia

• Mills said in 2023 that the countermelody he sings on Try Not to Breathe is one of his favourites because everybody else had left the studio
• Everybody Hurts was inspired by Nazareth's cover of Love Hurts
• The album's name was first planned as Star, and the cover photo was taken by Michael Stipe, according to Scott Litt in Mojo
• The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite contains an interpolation of The Lion Sleeps Tonight
• Kurt Cobain reportedly listened to the album a lot shortly before his death in April 1994

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

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