Maps of Music

Monster (1994)

Where the lyrics of Monster take you, and where it was really made.

R.E.M. made Monster as a deliberate turn toward loud, distorted guitar, away from the acoustic-leaning sound of its two previous albums, and the band's first tour since 1989 followed in 1995.

Key places

Criteria Studios, Miami (1994)

Recording site Criteria Studios — The band relocated here in late April 1994. Recording was interrupted because Stipe had an abscessed tooth. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Kingsway Studio, New Orleans (1994)

Recording site Kingsway Studios — Pre-production for the album took place here under Mark Howard, who had worked on Automatic for the People. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Ocean Way Recording, Los Angeles (1994)

Recording site Ocean Way Recording — Production moved here later in the process, when the band was already behind schedule. The album was also mixed here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Crossover Soundstage, Atlanta (1994)

Recording site DARP Studios (Atlanta) — In February 1994 the band moved here, and most of the album's basic tracks were recorded live as if they were playing in concert. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Monster: ninth studio album by American rock band R.E.M.
• Released by Warner Bros. Records: UK on September 26, 1994, US the following day
• Produced by the band and Scott Litt; recorded at four studios
• Intentional shift from Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992)
• Introduced loud, distorted guitar tones and simpler lyrics
• Lead single "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" debuted at number one in the US and at least seven other countries

Background

• Early 1993: four-day meeting in Acapulco to plan 1994 through 1996
• Drummer Bill Berry was eager to tour, the band's first since 1989, and insisted the album "rock"
• The band agreed not to make another slow-paced album after its previous two
• Michael Stipe saw the album as an attempt to "reinvent" R.E.M.
• Monster Tour in 1995: the band's first concert tour since 1989
• Tour was commercially successful, but several band members suffered health problems

Recording

• Pre-production at Kingsway Studio in New Orleans under Mark Howard, who had worked on Automatic for the People
• February 1994: move to Crossover Soundstage in Atlanta, where most basic tracks were recorded live
• Late April 1994: move to Criteria Studios in Miami, interrupted by Stipe's abscessed tooth
• Production later moved to Ocean Way Recording in Los Angeles, where the band was behind schedule
• Scott Litt, who had worked with the band since Document (1987), co-produced

Cover

• Blurred drawing of a bear's head against an orange background
• Cover artist Chris Bilheimer started from a balloon Stipe showed him, which was originally green
• Bilheimer changed the balloon's color and re-photographed the bear head

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

• Monster debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 344,000 copies
• Sold 131,000 copies in four days to debut at number one on the UK Albums Chart
• Rolling Stone critic Robert Palmer noted Stipe's lyrics dealt with issues of identity
• Palmer found the album fun despite its potentially grave subject matter
• NME reviewer Keith Cameron wrote that the album felt distanced, engaged only on a secondhand level
• AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the album lacks the conceptual unity of Automatic for the People but offers a wide range of sonic textures

Reappraisal

• Rolling Stone originally named it the year's second-best album
• Rolling Stone dropped it to fifteenth-best in a 2014 re-ranking
• Guitar World ranked it ninth on its top-ten list of 1994 guitar albums (2011)
• Guitar World also included it in its list "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994"
• Voted number 786 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000)

Records

• Billboard 200: debuted at number one
• UK Albums Chart: debuted at number one
• "Bang and Blame" charted better than any single from Automatic for the People in the US and Canada
• Nominated for Best Rock Album at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards, lost to the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge
• Later became notorious for a disproportionately high resell rate

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Bill Berry collapsed onstage in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 1, 1995 from a brain aneurysm during the Monster Tour and recovered fully within a month.
• Stipe wrote the lyrics in character, and the band left blank choruses on certain songs so fans could sing along.
• "Let Me In" was written and recorded in tribute to Kurt Cobain, and Mike Mills played a Fender Jag-Stang that Courtney Love gave him, playing it backwards as a right-hander.
• The album was dedicated to River Phoenix, whose sister Rain provided background vocals on "Bang and Blame".
• The first single's title alludes to a 1986 attack on CBS journalist Dan Rather in New York.

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

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