History Music / UpREMAlbum

* UncommonTime: The chorus of "Sad Professor" alternates unpredictably between 3/4 and 4/4 time, highly unusual for this band.

** The line "the sky has opened up again" in "You're in the Air" nods back to the line "the sky is falling in" on [[Music/FablesOfTheReconstruction "Feeling Gravitys Pull"]].

''Up'', released in 1998, is the eleventh studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Shortly after the release of ''Music/NewAdventuresInHiFi'', the band became interested in shaking up their sound once again; looking towards all the styles of music they had either ignored or refused to explore, they decided on approaching a more experimental sound, grounded in ElectronicMusic, drum loops, and percussion. Thus, in 1997, they began rehearsals with this radically new sound in mind, planning recording sessions for that October.

* CerebusSyndrome: The music and lyrics both become much bleaker and more downbeat as a result of Bill Berry's absence and the stress it placed on the band.

''Up'', released in 1998, is the eleventh studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Shortly after the release of ''Music/NewAdventuresInHiFi'', the band became interested in shaking up their sound once again; looking towards all the styles of music they had either ignored or refused to explore, they decided on approaching a more experimental sound, grounded in ElectronicMusic, drum loops, and percussion trickery. Thus, in 1997, they began rehearsals with this radically new sound in mind, planning recording sessions for that October.

* SurrealMusicVideo: Both "Lotus" and "Daysleeper" in different ways. "Lotus" is mainly the band performing in a room full of glow effects and CGI trickery, while "Daysleeper" uses avant-garde video editing techniques to replicate the effects of sleep deprivation.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: Simply a collection of blue, green, and white squares with a couple stark logotypes plastered on.

While Berry's encouragement provided some form of safety net, the shock of his loss caused the remaining members to cancel the planned recording sessions, unsure of how to go on without Berry helping with their songwriting. R.E.M. would ultimately return to the studio in February 1998, bringing aboard ''Music/{{Monster|REMAlbum}}'' and ''New Adventures'' engineer Pat [=McCarthy=] as their new producer (as prior collaborator Scott Litt had also left to focus on his independent record label). The band would work with [=McCarthy=] until 2004, and he would use his work mixing Music/{{Madonna}}'s similarly electronic ''Music/RayOfLight'' to help craft the band's new approach to their music. To further help with the shift in sound, the band enlisted the engineering help of Music/{{Radiohead}} collaborator Nigel Godrich, fresh off of producing the smash success ''Music/OKComputer''.

* ColorMotif: The band returns to their early association with blue on this album, which features predominantly blue tones throughout the cover art; a few spots of their more common yellow appear, but don't dominate the artwork.
* EpicRocking: When including "I'm Not Over You", "Diminished" runs for just over six minutes.

* SillyLoveSongs: "At My Most Beautiful" was R.E.M.'s first honest attempt at a love song, and was designed to {{subvert|edTrope}} the "silly" part.

While Berry's encouragement provided some form of safety net, the shock of his loss caused the remaining members to cancel the planned recording sessions, unsure of how to go on without Berry helping with their songwriting. R.E.M. would ultimately return to the studio in February 1998, bringing aboard ''Music/{{Monster|REM}}'' and ''New Adventures'' engineer Pat [=McCarthy=] as their new producer (as prior collaborator Scott Litt had also left to focus on his independent record label). The band would work with [=McCarthy=] until 2004, and he would use his work mixing Music/{{Madonna}}'s similarly electronic ''Music/RayOfLight'' to help craft the band's new approach to their music. To further help with the shift in sound, the band enlisted the engineering help of Music/{{Radiohead}} collaborator Nigel Godrich, fresh off of producing the smash success ''Music/OKComputer''.

While Berry's encouragement provided some form of safety net, the shock of his loss caused the remaining members to cancel the planned recording sessions, unsure of how to go on without Berry helping with their songwriting. R.E.M. would ultimately return to the studio in February 1998, bringing aboard Pat [=McCarthy=] as their new producer (as prior collaborator Scott Litt had also left to focus on his independent record label). The band would work with [=McCarthy=] until 2004, and he would use his work mixing Music/{{Madonna}}'s similarly electronic ''Music/RayOfLight'' to help craft the band's new approach to their music. To further help with the shift in sound, the band enlisted the engineering help of Music/{{Radiohead}} collaborator Nigel Godrich, fresh off of producing the smash success ''Music/OKComputer''.

''Up'', released in 1998, is the eleventh studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Shortly after the release of ''Music/NewAdventuresInHiFi'', the band became interested in shaking up their sound once again; looking towards all the styles of music they had either ignored or refused to explore, they decided on approaching a more experimental sound, grounded in ElectronicMusic, drum loops, and percussion trickery. Thus, in 1997, they began rehearsals with this radically new sound in mind, planning recording sessions for that October. However, just before they were to enter the studio, Bill Berry suddenly announced that he was retiring from the music industry, influenced by a mix of burnout, health concerns (after a near-fatal brain aneurysm on the ''Music/{{Monster|REMAlbum}}'' tour), and a desire to start a new chapter in life. Aware of the band's democratic manner of operating, Berry knew that his loss could potentially threaten the future of the band; not wanting to take his bandmates down with him, he encouraged them to continue as a trio, using their planned change in sound as a stepping stone for redefining themselves without him.

While Berry's encouragement provided some form of safety net, the shock of his loss caused the remaining members to cancel the planned recording sessions, unsure of how to go on without Berry helping with their songwriting. R.E.M. would ultimately return to the studio in February 1998, bringing aboard Pat [=McCarthy=] as their new producer (as prior collaborator Scott Litt had also left to focus on his independent record label). The band would work with [=McCarthy=] until 2004, and he would use his work mixing Music/{{Madonna}}'s similarly electronic ''Music/RayOfLight'' to help craft the band's new approach to their music. To further help with the shift in sound, the band enlisted the engineering help of Music/{{Radiohead}} collaborator Nigel Godrich, fresh off of producing the smash success ''Music/OKComputer''. Despite having veteran electronic-oriented staff on their side, however, R.E.M. still found Berry's absence hanging over them like a Sword of Damocles, with their uncertainty and anxiety reflected in the more downbeat tone of the music, itself more of a lengthy, mostly uniform soundscape of plodding synths and hushed vocals compared to their usual energetic and varied style. In fact, the band nearly broke up as a result of the stress they faced during recording, only soldiering on due to Berry's requests for their continuation.

When the album released, fans and critics responded with immense confusion. ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' had widely been considered a return to form, so this shift to a sound far-removed from their best-known works resulted in everything from befuddlement to outright hostility. Recognizing Godrich's involvement and the timing of its release, many accused it of being an attempt at riding off the coattails of Radiohead's mainstream explosion, which combined with their new $80 million contract with Creator/WarnerBrosRecords revived longstanding SellOut accusations. As the band's succeeding output in the early 2000's garnered increasingly divided responses, audiences came to believe that ''Up'' marked the start of a major DorkAge for R.E.M., one that wouldn't be broken until their return to a harder and faster sound on 2008's ''Music/{{Accelerate}}''. Despite this, the album managed to sell fairly well (albeit nowhere near the levels of their early 90's output), peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and topping the charts in Austria, Germany, and Norway. It would later be certified platinum in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Norway, as well as gold in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Additionally, despite the divided responses, the album garnered some degree of accolades within a few years of its release, with ''Nude as the News'' ranking it as the 74th most compelling album of the 90's in 1999 and Jude Rogers including it in ''The World''[='s=] 2005 list of the most underrated albums of all time. Within the year of its release, at least 22 different magazines listed it as one of the best albums of 1998. Concurrently, ''Up'' would be massively VindicatedByHistory among both fans and critics in the years after its release, with both groups praising the band's audacity in their sonic shift as well as the quality of the songwriting despite the stress of Berry's absence. This belated appreciation would be enough for it to place at No. 1943 on the 2020 edition of ''UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums''. Today, it generally ranks as the most well-regarded of the [=McCarthy=]-produced albums, and is often placed alongside ''Accelerate'' and ''Music/CollapseIntoNow'' as the best albums of the "trio" era of R.E.M.

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The video for "At My Most Beautiful" runs on three narratives happening at once simultaneously: R.E.M. waiting around in a room, a woman having a particularly bad day, and a model performing a photoshoot. At the end, the first two intertwine: the band are holding an audition, and the unlucky woman is one of the performers who just barely arrived in time.

* LastNoteNightmare: "Lotus" closes out with the string section suddenly turning into an eerie cacophony during the fadeout.

** "Hope" interpolates the melody and meter to [[Music/SongsOfLeonardCohen "Suzanne"]] by Music/LeonardCohen, who's consequently given a writing credit on the song.

* UnreplacedDeparted: Rather than replace Bill Berry in their lineup, R.E.M. recruited session drummers and installed drum machines for both this album and ''Reveal'' after it, as well as on their supporting tours. Bill Reiflin would eventually be hired as an auxiliary musician on ''Around the Sun'' and would remain with them both in the studio and on the stage until their dissolution in 2011, but he was never made an official member of R.E.M.

''Up'', released in 1998, is the eleventh studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Shortly after the release of ''Music/NewAdventuresInHiFi'', the band became interested in shaking up their sound once again; looking towards all the styles of music they had either ignored or refused to explore, they decided on approaching a more experimental sound, grounded in electronics, drum loops, and other percussion experiments. Thus, in 1997, they began rehearsals with this radically new sound in mind, planning recording sessions for that October. However, just before they were to enter the studio, Bill Berry suddenly announced that he was retiring from the music industry, influenced by a mix of burnout, health concerns (after a near-fatal brain aneurysm on the ''Music/{{Monster|REMAlbum}}'' tour), and a desire to start a new chapter in life. Aware of the band's democratic manner of operating, Berry knew that his loss could potentially threaten the future of the band; not wanting to take his bandmates down with him, he encouraged them to continue as a trio, using their planned change in sound as a stepping stone for redefining themselves without him.

While Berry's encouragement provided some form of safety net, the shock of his loss caused the remaining members to cancel recording sessions, unsure of how to go on without Berry helping with their songwriting. R.E.M. would ultimately return to the studio in February 1998, bringing aboard Pat [=McCarthy=] as their new producer (as prior collaborator Scott Litt had also left to focus on his independent record label). The band would work with [=McCarthy=] until 2004, and he would use his work mixing Music/{{Madonna}}'s similarly electronic ''Music/RayOfLight'' to help craft the band's new approach to their music. To further help with the shift in sound, the band enlisted the engineering help of Music/{{Radiohead}} collaborator Nigel Godrich, fresh off of producing the smash success ''Music/OKComputer''. Despite having veteran electronic-oriented staff on their side, however, R.E.M. still found Berry's absence hanging over them like a Sword of Damocles, with their uncertainty and anxiety reflected in the more downbeat tone of the music, itself more of a lengthy, mostly uniform soundscape of plodding synths and hushed vocals compared to their usual energetic and varied style. In fact, the band nearly broke up as a result of the stress they faced during recording, only soldiering on due to Berry's requests for their continuation.

Additionally, despite the divided responses, the album garnered some degree of accolades within a few years of its release, with ''Nude as the News'' ranking it as the 74th most compelling album of the 90's in 1999 and Jude Rogers including it in ''The World''[='s=] 2005 list of the most underrated albums of all time. Within the year of its release, at least 22 different magazines listed it as one of the best albums of 1998. Concurrently, ''Up'' would be massively VindicatedByHistory among both fans and critics in the years after its release, with both groups praising the band's audacity in their sonic shift as well as the quality of the songwriting despite the stress of Berry's absence. This belated appreciation would be enough for it to place at No. 1943 on the 2020 edition of ''UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums''. Today, it generally ranks alongside ''Accelerate'' and ''Music/CollapseIntoNow'' as the best albums of the "trio" era of R.E.M.

** The line "the sky has opened up again" in "You're in the Air" nods back to the line "the sky is falling in" on [[Music/FablesOfTheReconstruction "Feeling Gravitys Pull"].

While Berry's encouragement provided some form of safety net, the shock of his loss caused the remaining members to cancel recording sessions, unsure of how to go on without Berry helping with their songwriting. R.E.M. would ultimately return to the studio in February 1998, bringing aboard Pat [=McCarthy=] as their new producer (as prior collaborator Scott Litt had also left to focus on his independent record label). The band would work with [=McCarthy=] until 2004, and he would use his work mixing Music/{{Madonna}}'s similarly electronic ''Music/RayOfLight'' to help craft the band's new approach to their music. To further help with the shift in sound, the band enlisted the engineering help of Music/{{Radiohead}} collaborator Nigel Godritch, fresh off of producing the smash success ''Music/OKComputer''. Despite having veteran electronic-oriented staff on their side, however, R.E.M. still found Berry's absence hanging over them like a Sword of Damocles, with their uncertainty and anxiety reflected in the more downbeat tone of the music, itself more of a lengthy, mostly uniform soundscape of plodding synths and hushed vocals compared to their usual energetic and varied style. In fact, the band nearly broke up as a result of the stress they faced during recording, only soldiering on due to Berry's requests for their continuation.

When the album released, fans and critics responded with immense confusion. ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'' had widely been considered a return to form, so this shift to a sound far-removed from their best-known works resulted in everything from befuddlement to outright hostility. Recognizing Godritch's involvement and the timing of its release, many accused it of being an attempt at riding off the coattails of Radiohead's mainstream explosion, which combined with their new $80 million contract with Creator/WarnerBrosRecords revived longstanding SellOut accusations. As the band's succeeding output in the early 2000's garnered increasingly divided responses, audiences came to believe that ''Up'' marked the start of a major DorkAge for R.E.M., one that wouldn't be broken until their return to a harder and faster sound on 2008's ''Music/{{Accelerate}}''. Despite this, the album managed to sell fairly well (albeit nowhere near the levels of their early 90's output), peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and topping the charts in Austria, Germany, and Norway. It would later be certified platinum in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Norway, as well as gold in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

* SensoryAbuse: {{Invoked|Trope}} in the music video for "Daysleeper", which uses jittery footage manipulation and flicker effects to mimic the ways that a nocturnal lifestyle messes with night shift workers.

* NonAppearingTitle: "Airportman" and "At My Most Beautiful" (the line "at '''your''' most beautiful" appears, but not the first-person variant).

While Berry's encouragement provided some form of safety net, the shock of his loss caused the remaining members to cancel recording sessions, unsure of how to go on without Berry helping with their songwriting. R.E.M. would ultimately return to the studio in February 1998, bringing aboard Pat [=McCarthy=] as their new producer (as prior collaborator Scott Litt had also left to focus on his independent record label). The band would work with [=McCarthy=] until 2004, and he would use his work mixing Music/{{Madonna}}'s similarly electronic ''Music/RayOfLight'' to help craft the band's new approach to their music. To further help with the shift in sound, the band enlisted the engineering help of Music/{{Radiohead}} collaborator Nigel Godritch, fresh off of producing the smash success ''Music/OKComputer''. Despite having veteran electronic-oriented staff on their side, however, R.E.M. still found Berry's absence hanging over them like a Sword of Damocles, with their uncertainty and anxiety reflected in the more downbeat tone of the music, itself more of a lengthy soundscape of plodding synths and hushed vocals compared to their usual energetic and varied style. In fact, the band nearly broke up as a result of the stress they faced during recording, only soldiering on due to Berry's requests for their continuation.

Additionally, despite the divided responses, the album garnered some degree of accolades within a few years of its release, with ''Nude as the News'' ranking it as the 74th most compelling album of the 90's in 1999 and Jude Rogers including it in ''The World''[='s=] 2005 list of the most underrated albums of all time. Within the year of its release, at least 22 different magazines listed it as one of the best albums of 1998. Concurrently, ''Up'' would be massively VindicatedByHistory among both fans and critics in the years after its release, with both groups praising the band's audacity in their sonic shift as well as the quality of the songwriting despite the stress of Berry's absence. Today, it generally ranks alongside ''Accelerate'' and ''Music/CollapseIntoNow'' as the best albums of the "trio" era of R.E.M.