History Music / LifesRichPageant

* YouMakeMeSic: The album title intentionally excludes an apostrophe from "Life's."

** "Just a Touch" was based on the public reaction to Music/ElvisPresley's death in 1977.

** According to an interview Michael Stipe conducted with ''Stereogum'' in 2021, the lyrics to "Swan Swan H" were derived from an [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]]-era needle embroidery he saw in the American Folk Museum.

** According to an interview Michael Stipe conducted with ''Stereogum'' in 2021, the lyrics to "Swan Swan H" were derived from an UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar-era needle embroidery he saw in the American Folk Museum.

* YouMakeMeSic: The album title intentionally excludes an apostrophe from "Life's."

* CoversAlwaysLie: The back cover features the album's tracklist very much out of order on both LP and CD copies[[note]]the exact listing is "Begin the Begin", "Hyena", "Just a Touch", "I Believe", "These Days", "The Flowers of Guatemala", "Cuyahoga", "What If We Gave It Away?", "Fall on Me", and "Swan Swan H"[[/note]]; the disc labels though feature the proper sequence. Whether or not this was an intentional decision or simply the result of the running order being changed at the last minute is difficult to determine.

''Lifes Rich Pageant'', released in 1986, is the fourth studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Following the TroubledProduction of and initial CreatorBacklash towards ''Music/FablesOfTheReconstruction'' the previous year, the band sought another shakeup of their sound and style, returning to production in the United States with the aid of Don Gehman, known for his work with John Mellencamp and, later, for producing Music/HootieAndTheBlowfish's first two albums.

* GreenAesop: "Fall on Me" is about acid rain, while "Cuyahoga" is partly about the eponymous polluted river.

* LeadBassist: "Cuyahoga" is driven primarily by Mike Mill's bassline, to the point where the unaccompanied bass riff [[BookEnds both opens and closes the track]].

''Lifes Rich Pageant'', released in 1986, is the fourth studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Following the TroubledProduction of and initial CreatorBacklash towards ''Music/FablesOfTheReconstruction'' the previous year, the band sought another shakeup of their sound and style, returning to production in the United States with the aid of Don Gehman, known for his work with John Mellencamp and, later, for producing Music/HootieAndTheBlowfish's first two albums. Contrary to Hootie's relatively safe and mellow sound, however, Gehman moved R.E.M. into a more HardRock influenced direction, leading them out of the opaque style of their first three albums and into a path more in-line with changing critical and audience attitudes towards alternative rock (which was beginning to favor [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth more abrasive sounds as "authentic"]]). Fitting this change, not only did Michael Stipe trade out his murky, mumbling vocals for a more passionate and enunciated delivery style, he also focused more on themes of social activism and protest in his lyrics, influenced by his relationship with Music/TenThousandManiacs frontwoman Natalie Merchant (who had previously convinced him to write about the Native American genocide on ''Fables'' track "Green Grow the Rushes").

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly left-leaning base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government.[[note]]The political leanings of the alternative scene meant that it was often considered friendlier territory for women (like Merchant) and LGBT people (like Stipe) in contrast to the often misogynistic and homophobic mainstream rock culture of the era, though Stipe himself would only come out as "queer" in the '90s.[[/note]] Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, ''Slant'' magazine would rank ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 52 on its list of the best albums of the 80's, heralding it as "a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." That same year, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list it at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Later, in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums.

In addition to being a major critical success, ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' also marked a commercial turning point for the band as well, peaking at No. 21 on the Billboard 200-- their highest US chart placement up to that point-- and staying on the charts for 32 weeks straight. Lead single "Fall on Me" would also be the first to crack the top ten on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chat, peaking at No. 5 (though it just barely made the mainline Hot 100 at No. 94), and the album itself would be R.E.M.'s first to receive RIAA certification, reaching gold status at the start of 1987; it would additionally be certified platinum in Canada later that year. This success would pave the way for the band's BreakthroughHit with ''Document'' and "The One I Love" in 1987-- that didn't seem to occur to Creator/IRSRecords distributors Creator/{{MCA}} however, who were still openly reluctant to do anything to promote R.E.M. In fact, Peter Buck later recalled that during a meeting with the folks at MCA, one executive outright said, to his face, that the company wouldn't promote ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at all due to a lack of hit singles on it. This brought R.E.M.'s issues with I.R.S.'s poor distribution to a tipping point: after finishing up ''Document'', the band would cut ties with the label, making a ChannelHop to Creator/WarnerBrosRecords, who promised full creative control to and extensive promotion for the band.

* BookEnds: "Cuyahoga" opens and closes with Mike Mills playing unaccompanied on bass.

** "Begin the Begin" uses German priest Martin Luther, founder of Protestantism, as a metaphor for political protest.

* RuleOfThree: {{Invoked|Trope}} in "These Days", which features the line "we have many things in common, name three (three! three!)."

* ColorMotif: Green and orange, both colors that yellow is a component of, to the point where later CD releases feature an orange-on-green disc label instead of the previous black-on-transparent. Sadly, no CD releases used a green or orange jewel case tray.

* FesteringFungus: "The Flowers of Guatemala" describes ''Amanita muscaria'' fungi as a metaphor for American military intervention in Latin America. Given the song name, it's also a case of FungiArePlants.

* LargeHam: Thanks to him no longer muddying his vocals in the music, Michael Stipe now adopts a more passionate style of delivery, one that reviewers would compare to both Celtic and Muslim chants of all things.

* LyricVideo: "Fall on Me", featuring the lyrics in large orange type across black and white footage of a railroad track.

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly left-leaning base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government. The political leanings of the alternative scene meant that it was often considered friendlier territory for women and LGBT people in contrast to the often misogynistic and homophobic mainstream rock culture of the era, though Stipe himself would only come out as "queer" in the '90s. Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, ''Slant'' magazine would rank ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 52 on its list of the best albums of the 80's, heralding it as "a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." That same year, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list it at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Later, in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums.

* AlliterativeTitle: "'''Begin''' the '''Begin''", "'''S'''wan '''S'''wan H"

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly left-leaning base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government. The political leanings of the alternative scene meant that it was often considered friendlier territory for women and LGBT people in contrast to the often misogynistic and homophobic mainstream rock culture of the era, though Stipe himself would only come out as "Queer" in the '90s. Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, ''Slant'' magazine would rank ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 52 on its list of the best albums of the 80's, heralding it as "a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." That same year, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list it at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Later, in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums.

''Lifes Rich Pageant'', released in 1986, is the fourth studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Following the TroubledProduction of and initial CreatorBacklash towards ''Music/FablesOfTheReconstruction'' the previous year, the band sought another shakeup of their sound and style, returning to production in the United States with the aid of Don Gehman, known for his work with John Mellencamp and, later, for producing Music/HootieAndTheBlowfish's first two albums. Contrary to Hootie's relatively safe and mellow sound, however, Gehman moved R.E.M. into a more HardRock influenced direction, leading them out of the opaque style of their first three albums and into a path more in-line with changing critical and audience attitudes towards alternative rock (which was beginning to favor more abrasive sounds as "authentic"). Fitting this change, not only did Michael Stipe trade out his murky, mumbling vocals for a more passionate and enunciated delivery style, he also focused more on themes of social activism and protest in his lyrics, influenced by his relationship with Music/TenThousandManiacs frontwoman Natalie Merchant (who had previously convinced him to write about the Native American genocide on ''Fables'' track "Green Grow the Rushes").

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly left-leaning base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government. The political leanings of the alternative seen meant that it was often considered friendlier territory for women and LGBT people in contrast to the often misogynistic and homophobic mainstream rock culture of the era, though Stipe himself would only come out as "Queer" in the '90s. Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, ''Slant'' magazine would rank ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 52 on its list of the best albums of the 80's, heralding it as "a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." That same year, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list it at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Later, in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums.

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly left-leaning base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government. Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, ''Slant'' magazine would rank ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 52 on its list of the best albums of the 80's, heralding it as "a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." That same year, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list it at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Later, in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums.

''Lifes Rich Pageant'', released in 1986, is the fourth studio album by American AlternativeRock band Music/{{REM}}. Following the TroubledProduction of and initial CreatorBacklash towards ''Music/FablesOfTheReconstruction'' the previous year, the band sought another shakeup of their sound and style, returning to production in the United States with the aid of Don Gehman, later to be known for his work producing Music/HootieAndTheBlowfish's first two albums. Contrary to Hootie's relatively safe and mellow sound, however, Gehman moved R.E.M. into a more HardRock influenced direction, leading them out of the opaque style of their first three albums and into a path more in-line with changing critical and audience attitudes towards alternative rock (which was beginning to favor more abrasive sounds as "authentic"). Fitting this change, not only did Michael Stipe trade out his murky, mumbling vocals for a more passionate and enunciated delivery style, he also focused more on themes of social activism and protest in his lyrics, influenced by his relationship with Music/TenThousandManiacs frontwoman Natalie Merchant (who had previously convinced him to write about the Native American genocide on ''Fables'' track "Green Grow the Rushes").

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly lefist base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government. Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, ''Slant'' magazine would rank ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 52 on its list of the best albums of the 80's, heralding it as "a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." That same year, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list it at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Later, in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums.

* The line "when I was young and fever fell" in "I Believe" alludes to an incident in Michael Stipe's life where he contracted scarlet fever just before his second birthday, an incident he claimed to still remember in adulthood.

* LyricalDissonance: "Fall on Me", an upbeat-sounding song about the devastation caused by acid rainfall.

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly lefist base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government. Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, with ''Slant'' magazine would rank ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 52 on its list of the best albums of the 80's, heralding it as "a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." That same year, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list it at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Later, in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums.

Not everyone took kindly to the political approach, with detractors later [[PersonAsVerb using Stipe's last name as a pejorative]] for celebrities appearing to overstep their boundaries in this regard, but they made up only a sliver of audience members compared to the vast majority of listeners who approved of the new direction, aided by both the predominantly lefist base for alternative rock and the approaching US midterm elections that year, in which the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to take back control of Congress from a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-dominated government. Often treated in hindsight as a direct prelude to ''Music/{{Document}}'' the year after it, fans quickly viewed ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' as a sign of R.E.M. skillfully adapting to changing climates in alternative music and the changing atmosphere of the 80's as a whole; critics thought similarly of the album, both then and now viewing it as a major point of artistic growth and maturation for the band following the brief stumbling block of ''Fables''. In 2012, ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' would list ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' at No. 324 on its [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime list]] of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and in 2020, ''[=PopMatters=]'' included it in their "12 Essential 1980s Alternative Rock Albums" list, with ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic'' placing it at No. 597 on their updated [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums list]] of the 3000 most critically lauded albums that year.