Breakthrough Hit: While the band had already been steadily building up a mainstream fanbase since the success of "The One I Love" in 1987, Out of Time and "Losing My Religion" in particular were what ultimately solidified R.E.M.'s place as international superstars.
Creator Backlash: The band held a fierce distaste towards "Shiny Happy People" for a long while, which contributed to its absence from both their setlists and the 2003 Greatest Hits AlbumIn Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003. They would eventually warm up to it for the most part (though Michael Stipe still only begrudgingly accepts its place in the band's history), including it on the post-breakup retrospective compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011.
As with Green before it, a special edition release of Out of Time was put out featuring the CD and ten postcards in a rectangular portfolio. The disc itself was kept in a translucent vellum sleeve; the same material would be reused for the photo cards on the special edition release of Automatic for the People.
The album was given a two-disc reissue in 2005 along with every other album in the band's Warner Bros. catalogue up to that point. Like those reissues, this one came with a DVD-A of the album done in a 5.1-channel surround sound mix (courtesy of acclaimed audio engineer Elliot Scheiner), a complete set of lyrics, and a photo gallery.
A box set of the album was released for its 25th anniversary in 2016, bundling the original album with a disc of demos, a live show from 1991, and a Blu-ray containing the 2005 surround sound mix, the album's associated music videos, and a virtual recreation of the album's press kit.
Rarely Performed Song: Depending on the source, the band refused to perform "Shiny Happy People" live due to either absolutely hating the song or because they find it too difficult to perform live. Furthermore, they also bounce between either hating the song or having a love-hate relationship with it.
Reality Subtext: Out of Time was chosen as the album's title because the group had been having trouble coming up with one before they had to send the album in to Warner Bros., resulting in them literally being, you guessed it, out of time.
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, a documentary about the Duggar family of 19 Kids and Counting fame and their relationship with the ultraconservative Christian organization Institute in Basic Life Principles, is titled after the R.E.M. song.
Throw It In!: Michael Stipe improvised his choreography in the "Losing My Religion" video, mostly due to how frustrating its production was for him.
Troubled Production: The "Losing My Religion" video was a frustrating experience for both the band and its director, Tarsem Singh. Since English was his second language, he didn't fully understand the concept of the lyrics, so he was mostly winging his ideas for the video. He staged for vocalist Michael Stipe to show various poses related to Indian religions, however it wasn't quite looking right. Singh also had a stomach bug and was rushing back and forth to the bathroom. That's when Stipe said "Just let me do my thing," which resulted in the random choreography of the video. Despite its lack of structure, it's a beloved video of its era and turned the song into R.E.M.'s biggest hit ever.
Potential title choices considered for the album included Imitation Crabmeat and The Return of Mumbles.
"Shiny Happy People" was originally selected as the theme song for Friends, only for the band to rescind the rights once it was picked up as a full series thanks to their Creator Backlash towards the song. The show would eventually use the original composition "I'll Be There for You" by the Rembrandts instead.
Working Title: "Endgame" was originally titled "Slow Sad Rocker" in its demos, while Peter Buck tossed around "End Title Sequence" as a potential name, perceiving the song as playing over a film's credits. R.E.M. acquaintances Radiohead would later pull off an idea similar to Buck's with the title of "Exit Music (For a Film)".
Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: According to Peter Buck, Michael Stipe improvised the lyrics to "Country Feedback" in the recording booth— a sharp deviation from his normal method of planning out and proofreading lyrics in advance— based on a small doodle of a Native American and an arrow.
of Out of Time was put out featuring the CD and ten postcards in a rectangular portfolio. The disc itself was kept in a translucent vellum sleeve; the same material would be reused for the photo cards on the special edition release of Automatic for the People.