Automatic for the People / YMMV

Anvilicious: Michael Stipe intentionally made "Everybody Hurts" this so the message that You Are Not Alone would be unmistakable to listeners, mainly the teen market he was trying to reach.
Broken Base: Along with most of R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. albums, this is either their one of their best or worst albums. Much of this seems to stem from its more acoustic direction, its status as R.E.M.'s most commercially successful album, the presence of "Everybody Hurts" (which is frequently accused of glurge despite its on-the-nose nature being a deliberate choice), and it being released when the band were at their peak in terms of mainstream exposure.
Critical Dissonance: Critics generally consider this album R.E.M.'s finest; fans meanwhile are much more split on the matter.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- "Everybody Hurts" was written to discourage suicide, but the album was the last thing Kurt Cobain listened to before he killed himself in 1994.
- The line "marched into the capital" in "Ignoreland", used to compare the rise of the Ronald Reagan-led Conservative Revolution to a coup, became frighteningly more prescient after an actual coup attempt in 2021 that featured mobs of Donald Trump supporters quite literally marching into the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States) to try and overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Heartwarming Moments: "Everybody Hurts" performed live in Lima.
- Heck, "Everybody Hurts" performed anywhere. The 1993 MTV Video Music Awards is another notable example.
- "Man On The Moon" can be viewed as a touching tribute to comedian Andy Kaufman. The fact that it became the namesake for a 1999 biopic about Kaufman only amplifies this, as does the film's inclusion of an orchestral rendition of the song.
- "Nightswimming", when heard as an introspective ode to the passing of youthful indiscretion, can be hauntingly beautiful.
Hilarious in Hindsight: "Ignoreland" features the line "1980, '84, '88, '92 too, too." The first two years refer to the United States presidential elections that Ronald Reagan won, while the third refers to the election that made George H. W. Bush President. The fourth year, by extension, refers to the 1992 presidential election, in which Bush was running for a second term; the year's inclusion is meant to fearfully anticipate Bush winning (note that the song was released nearly a month before Election Day 1992), but come the election, Bill Clinton would soundly disprove that notion.
Memetic Mutation: #EverybodySpurts"^Explanation
Narm Charm: Those who do enjoy "Everybody Hurts" cite this trope as part of the appeal, noting that despite the song's anti-suicide message being so on-the-nose that it almost becomes glurgey, it actually works in the song's favor. It helps that Michael Stipe intended for the song to be as blunt as possible so as to reach the teenage portion of the band's audience, at a time when the general public was just barely starting to take the mental health of youth more seriously.
Signature Song: Especially "Everybody Hurts", which is kind of a Black Sheep Hit, but very likely to be R.E.M.'s most popular song behind "Losing My Religion". Then, there's "Man on the Moon" which is not far behind in popularity, was a live staple and remains very iconic. Also "Drive" and "Nightswimming" are very well-remembered, although the former, for reasons unexplained, never appeared on compilations.
Values Resonance: Originally written in reaction to the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, "Ignoreland" still remains relevant all the way into the present day, especially in light of the high-profile voter apathy that punctuated the 2020 election cycle (at least before Joe Biden's victory that year). Similarly to Bush when the album released, incumbent president Donald Trump was running for reelection in 2020 and was expected by a large number of people across the political spectrum to win despite his divisive reception among the American population.

YMMV / Automatic for the People

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