Although R.E.M. had been around for many years, by the time Automatic for the People came out in 1992, the excitement and rush it caused in their long term fans could be seen as finally over-spilling into mainstream appeal.
The band had finally broken both the U.K. and American top ten with their previous album Out of Time and with Automatic for the People they cemented their position as one of the great alternative/rock band of the period. The four musicians that made up the band seemed to pick the right time to come of age, making their way through a very pop dominated 1980’s in which to start with they barely troubled the U.K. charts, through the power period dominated by bands such as Heart/Whitesnake/T’Pau and finally were in the position to be among the bands that were sweeping aside the celebrity culture of pop inspired false personality.
R.E.M. will rightly or wrongly be placed into the same category as Nirvana and Garbage for example who smashed the latent lazy attitude that was creeping into the music scene in the late 1980’s and gave it a rougher much needed edge, something to speak up about the sense of desperation that was hanging in the air with the attitude of insincerity keeping it company. However, R.E.M. should be seen as something a little more than being in the same vein as the crashing and somewhat fierce and in places openly antagonistic music of Nirvana. This can be seen in the trilogy of albums that the band produced between 1991 and 1994, Out of Time, Automatic for the People and Monster, the music is satirical, longing, honest and with the melancholic playfulness of four musicians fighting all-comers.
Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Michael Stipe produced these three albums in near rapid succession without the seeming hindrance of touring for a while. The ethic of the band paid off in three records that are considered quite rightly by some as the finest pieces of work the band produced, even if it meant that the wider world would not have the pleasure of seeing how these songs worked in a live environment.
Automatic for the People starts off with the guitar playing of the lead single Drive. Without the vocals of Michael Stipe it wouldn’t have been out of place on a record by Johnny Cash or with the burgeoning amount of bands that were coming out of America in 1990, frustratingly simple and devastatingly brilliant. It is the framework for which the album hangs itself upon and the silent message of a disaffected youth that spirals itself around the dark lyrics.
The song deals with lyrics that could be argued were the epitome of the underclass of American youth, sensing a change but not being able to implement it themselves in the political arena. Within a few weeks of the album being released the American people swept aside 12 years of conservative Republicanism and voted in Democratic hopeful Bill Clinton to the White House as leader of the United States of America. It was this change that was the catalyst for the young of America, whilst not exactly the same era as those listening to the likes of R.E.M., he was at least a new breed of politician not to have the baggage of being born between two world wars and stuck with the mentality or supposed threat of post-war Communism. He represented something the young Americans and sub sequentially British youth could identify with. The fresh approach that had been missed but now represented itself with this new dawn in American politics.
Michael Stipe sings of “Hey kids, No one tells you what to do…” and of the allusion of illegal narcotics with the words of smack and crack. The use of these two evils of society points at the desperation the vast majority of people felt in how they saw civilisation going down the pan. It is particularly noteworthy to see that the band in the lyrics make repeated use of the words kids; this could be seen as either derogatory or as fashionably inspired, appealing to the youth to listen but also take the lead in a new order.
The album wallows in its inspired messages but also there is an underlying element of regret, an element of loss and desire not to be able to be easily contacted, alienation from themselves as well as from the audience. In The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, this can be seen be seen in lyrics where the protagonist is telling their friend that no matter how times they try to contact him, its more than likely he will never pick up the phone. The coil which was attached to the older type of phones will remain in its place, undisturbed. It also alludes to the rattlesnake which bares the same name. This gives the listener the sense that should the person ever answer the phone, the fire, poison and venom that comes out from their mouth will be akin to a bite from the said rattlesnake. It is the venom that will hurt the caller, the realisation that whilst the person is uncountable the words remain unsaid and remain also safe.
The whole album is littered with fantastic songs, from the delectable Everybody Hurts with its memorable video, the homage to Andy Kaufman in the brilliant Man in the Moon through to the sweet laconic feel of Nightswimming.
It could be argued that Automatic for the People is the creative high for the band and that even though they still pursued goals, sold millions of records and turned one great song after another, the band tapped into something in America, the growing desire to see the old guard swept aside somehow and in its place a softer more tolerant United States and more sympathetic music scene rises up. Eras are not meant to last forever, politically, artistically or personally. The flow and ebb must turn but it seems that the time for R.E.M. was so brief and coincided with the departure of Bill Berry after his horrific aneurism.
Arguably the most perfect album by the four members that made up R.E.M. An album that saw them reach the pinnacle of their career, perhaps far too soon. What cannot be argued with is the connection it made with ordinary Americans and with the young of every country it charted in. It is an iconic album that deserves its place in American and world popular culture.
Ian D. Hall