History Music / AutomaticForThePeople

* {{Corpsing}}: In "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" after the line "...and a reading from Creator/DrSeuss", as he apparently couldn't pronounce the name right, saying "[[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus]]" instead of "Seuss." Ironically, the ''true'' correct pronunciation (which nobody ever uses) was "Dr. Soyce" (rhymes with "voice").

* The latter lines of the third verse of "Man on the Moon" could allude to the urban legends surrounding Andy Kaufman's death--claims that persist to this day that he's still alive.
-->''Here's a truck stop instead of St. Peter's (yeah yeah yeah yeah)\\

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Hey, kids, rock and roll. Nobody tells you where to go."'']]
->''When your day is long''\\
''And the night, the night is yours alone''\\
''When you're sure you've had enough''\\
''Of this life, well hang on''\\

''Don't let yourself go''\\
'''Cause everybody cries''\\
''Everybody hurts sometimes''\\
\\
''Sometimes everything is wrong''\\
''Now it's time to sing along''
-->--'''"Everybody Hurts"'''

[[caption-width-right:350:''Hey, kids, rock and roll\\
Nobody tells you where to go'']]

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Mostly ranges from a 1 (i.e. "Nightswimming") to a 3 (i.e. "Man On the Moon", "Monty Got a Raw Deal"), but briefly jumps up to a hard 5 on "Ignoreland", the sole remnant of the original plan for a HardRock-style album.

* YouMakeMeSic: "The Sidewinder Sleeps '''Tonite'''".

* {{Corpsing}}: In "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" after the line "...and a reading from Creator/DrSeuss", as he apparently [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY couldn't pronounce the name right]], saying "[[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus]]" instead of "Seuss." Ironically, the ''true'' correct pronunciation (which nobody ever uses) was "Dr. Soyce" (rhymes with "voice"), which would've more readily rhymed with the line "a can of beans or black-eyed peas, some Nescafé and ice."

* RearrangeTheSong: The live version of "Try Not to Breathe" is somewhat faster and heavier, sounding more desperate and pained than the already-haunting studio version.
** "Drive" also sounded notably different live-- the studio version is again haunting and acoustic-based, whereas the live version they played at the time was faster, set to a funk rhythm, and featured distorted guitar. In later performances, they went back to approximating the studio arrangement though.

-->''The movies had [[Shaped Like Itself that movie thing]]''

-->''The movies had that movie thing''

Starting production while ''Music/OutOfTime'', their previous effort, shot up the charts, the band initially sought out a harder, more aggressive sound similar to that of their late 80's output as a means of offsetting ''Out of Time''[='s=] LighterAndSofter approach, only to find themselves short on ideas. Consequently, at the suggestion of guitarist Peter Buck, they instead shifted towards a more acoustically-driven, melancholic sound featuring string arrangements by [[Music/LedZeppelin John Paul Jones]]: bleak in both sound and tone, the album ended up becoming the band's darkest, with lyrics focusing on themes of mourning, morality, loss, nostalgia, and depression, fueled by the members of R.E.M. approaching their 30's and consequently no longer being young adults.

** The DeliberatelyMonochrome cover, consisting of a gritty, stylized photograph and stark white text, seems evocative of the style of album art that was popular for AlternativeRock artists in the 1980's (particularly acts like Music/TheSmiths, Music/TenThousandManiacs, and R.E.M. themselves).
** The spines on the album packaging mimic the style of CD releases from Creator/WarnerMusicGroup-affiliated labels in the 1980's, with centered, taller-than-wide, plain white text on a black background.
** The more subdued, acoustic sound mixed with string arrangements evokes the roots rock style of groups like Music/DireStraits that was still popular in the early 80's, as evidenced by the success of albums like ''Music/MakingMovies'' (1980) and ''Music/LoveOverGold'' (1982) during that time.

** "Man on the Moon" was written in memory of Creator/AndyKaufman (and became so associated with him that... well, see TitledAfterTheSong below). The phrase "yeah yeah yeah yeah" at the end of each line is also a homage to Music/{{Nirvana}}, whose frontman Music/KurtCobain was friends with Michael Stipe; Stipe noted that Cobain had a tendency to interject "yeah" in his songs, and decided to try and outdo him as an inside joke, to the extent of counting the number of yeah's in "Man on the Moon".

** "Monty Got a Raw Deal" is a dual nod to actor Creator/MontgomeryClift and talk show host Creator/MontyHall, famous as the host of ''Series/LetsMakeADeal''. Clift suffered a car accident in TheFifties that led to a rapid decline in his health and career; director Robert Lewis referred to his post-accident career as "the longest suicide in Hollywood history", and he spent his last days addicted to painkillers and alcohol. According to his brother, Clift was also likely either bisexual or gay, which he was forced to conceal from the public. Creator/ElizabethTaylor, who called him her closest friend and confidant, later stated that he was gay. The song is saying, in a parallel to the game show, that Clift got a raw deal with how his life turned out.

* GratuitousPanning: The main guitar line of "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" is panned entirely to one side. There's also a weird, mechanical, tribal percussion part in "Monty Got a Raw Deal" panned entirely to one side. It's only really audible if you're listening carefully, though.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Hey, kids, rock and roll. Nobody tells you where to go.'']]

'''''Automatic for the People''''' is the eighth studio album recorded by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}} It was released through [[Creator/WarnerBrosRecords Warner Bros. Records]] on October 5, 1992.

Starting production while ''Music/OutOfTime'', their previous effort, shot up the charts, the band initially sought out a harder, more aggressive sound similar to that of their late 80's output as a means of offsetting ''Out of Time''[='s=] LighterAndSofter approach, only to find themselves short on ideas. Consequently, at the suggestion of guitarist Peter Buck, they instead shifted towards a more acoustically-driven, melancholic sound featuring string arrangements by [[Music/LedZeppelin John Paul Jones]]: bleak in both sound and tone, the album ended up becoming the band's darkest, with lyrics focusing on themes of mourning, morality, loss, nostalgia, and depression, fueled by the members of R.E.M. approaching their 30's and consequently no longer being young adults. This had the unfortunate side-effect of making audiences think that Michael Stipe was dying-- erroneously drawing comparisons to Music/{{Queen}}'s similarly dark and brooding album ''Music/{{Innuendo}}'' from the previous year and its thematic focus on Music/FreddieMercury's losing battle with AIDS-- but with time the false assumptions dissipated, aided by the band constantly being open about the album's meaning in interviews.

Although the album is seen as polarizing to some fans, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks in part because of its immense success]], critics have been more favorable, regarding ''Automatic for the People'' as R.E.M.'s greatest album: it was ranked at No. 249 on Magazine/RollingStone's [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] list (later being bumped up to No. 96 on [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime2020 the 2020 revision]]) and No. 65 on Magazine/{{NME}}'s [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime similar list]], and is currently at No. 46 on Website/AcclaimedMusic's [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums compilation of critics' lists]]. Among the fans who do like it, it's also frequently regarded as a major high point for the band, being ranked as one of their finest works alongside ''Music/{{Murmur}}'', ''Music/{{Document}}'', ''Green'', ''Out of Time'', and ''Music/NewAdventuresInHiFi''; it's also a personal favorite of bandmates Peter Buck and Mike Mills, for what it's worth. The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 1994 Grammy Awards, but lost to Music/WhitneyHouston's soundtrack for ''Film/TheBodyguard''. It was also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the same ceremony, but lost that award to ''Zooropa'' by Music/{{U2}}.

* BookEnds: "Monty Got a Raw Deal" begins and ends with the line "Monty, this seems strange to me".

* ColorMotif: Continuing R.E.M.'s longstanding association with the color yellow, the back cover prominently uses yellow tones, the CD label is bright translucent yellow, and early CD copies feature a translucent yellow media tray, similar to the translucent red tray on Music/DavidByrne's ''Uh-Oh'' from earlier that year. The 25th anniversary deluxe edition release of the album also features a yellow banner on the top of the front cover and prominently features yellow throughout the rest of its packaging too.

* {{Retraux}}: The album seems to be designed as if it was released ten years before it actually was.

* NonAppearingTitle: "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", though it comes close twice. "Star Me Kitten" also ''technically'' counts, if only because Michael Stipe actually sings "''fuck'' me, Kitten" in the song; the title is a {{censored|Title}} one.

* PrecisionFStrike: "Star Me Kitten" and "Ignoreland" both drop the F-bomb, which isn't heard anywhere else on the album.

* TalkAboutTheWeather: "Find The River" is most hardcore fans' favorite R.E.M. song for this reason. The song seems to be the last words of a dying person who is at peace with their life and is telling their relatives not to worry, PassingTheTorch to the new generation. The music fits this, not being sad but being wistful and bittersweet. Essentially then the song is relaxing with a hint of melancholy, but is a tearjerker because it's so beautiful.

* NewSoundAlbum: Acoustic rock with string backings and an overall dour tone. Incidentally, the shift in sound parallel's that of Music/TenThousandManiacs' similarly soft and sour sound on ''Our Time in Eden'', released just six days before this album; given that R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs were closely affiliated, the parallels seem to be the result of the two bands once again influencing each another.

** "Monty Got a Raw Deal" is a dual nod to actor Creator/MontgomeryClift and talk show host Creator/MontyHall, famous as the host of ''Series/LetsMakeADeal''. Clift suffered a car accident in TheFifties that led to a rapid decline in his health and career; he spent his last days addicted to painkillers and alcohol. According to his brother, Clift was also likely either bisexual or gay, which he was forced to conceal from the public. Creator/ElizabethTaylor, who called him her closest friend and confidant, later stated that he was gay. The song is saying, in a parallel to the game show, that Clift got a raw deal with how his life turned out.

'''''Automatic for the People''''' is the eighth studio album recorded by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. It was released through [[Creator/WarnerBrosRecords Warner Bros. Records]] on October 5, 1992.

''Automatic for the People'' is the eighth studio album by Music/{{REM}}, released on October 5, 1992. Starting production while ''Music/OutOfTime'', their previous effort, shot up the charts, the band initially sought out a harder, more aggressive sound similar to that of their late 80's output as a means of offsetting ''Out of Time''[='s=] LighterAndSofter approach, only to find themselves short on ideas. Consequently, at the suggestion of guitarist Peter Buck, they instead shifted towards a more acoustically-driven, melancholic sound featuring string arrangements by [[Music/LedZeppelin John Paul Jones]]: bleak in both sound and tone, the album ended up becoming the band's darkest, with lyrics focusing on themes of mourning, morality, loss, nostalgia, and depression, fueled by the members of R.E.M. approaching their 30's and consequently no longer being young adults. This had the unfortunate side-effect of making audiences think that Michael Stipe was dying-- erroneously drawing comparisons to Music/{{Queen}}'s similarly dark and brooding album ''Music/{{Innuendo}}'' from the previous year and its thematic focus on Music/FreddieMercury's losing battle with AIDS-- but with time the false assumptions dissipated, aided by the band constantly being open about the album's meaning in interviews.

* MythologyGag: Mike Mills and Bill Berry's backing vocals on "Find the River" hark back to a similar technique on "Harborcoat" nearly a decade prior, a similarity that Mills confirmed to be an intentional creative decision in an interview with ''Melody Maker''.

* BuffySpeak: "Monty Got a Raw Deal":
-->''The movies had that movie thing''

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Right before the second chorus of "Ignoreland", Michael is singing "I'm just profoundly frustrated by all this, so [[PrecisionFStrike fuck you]], man!" and in the instrumental transition towards the chorus is also heard mumbling "fuck 'em!" It's nowhere near as indecipherable as some of their more famous examples, but the processed vocals still can make it easy to go through the song and miss it.