Automatic For The People

It's great music, but it's also incredibly melancholy music, and it requires a matching melancholy mood for maximum appreciation. This is NOT an album for my regular rotation.

Caught me listening to the words in a way rock often fails to. 4.

8/10

Commercial R.E.M. appears to be my preferred mode of the Mekon-headed collective, evocative, Stipe finding just the right level of obscurity to complement the polished clamour.

Fourth R.E.M. album that's come up on this thing, which seems like too many. Regardless, this was good, a lot less rocking and more of a crawling deliberate record with some great standout songs.

Michael Stipe has an iconic voice. I really like it, though sometimes I find he becomes a bit of an American Morrissey, just warbling and rambling out of time on certain tracks. 'Ignoreland' and 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite' is where it's most prominent, though both tracks are among the best on the album. 'Everybody Hurts' is still amazing. A bittersweet sound which is prominent on most of the album but nowhere moreso than on this track. I like the more happy sounding songs too, a fun jangly pop sound. I enjoyed this a lot, but there was something missing. Just that extra piece of the puzzle that would have made it incredible, but I'm not sure what that is.

Heard Before? Yes indeed. I was after all alive during the 90s. Notes: - typical list-fodder. universally acclaimed and overplayed. but does it interest me? - midtempo, midrange, not very dynamic. - the lyrics sound meaningful, but i didn't bother paying attention. - subtlety is the main theme here. slight variations in mixing, arrangements and songwriting, along with some masterful sequencing, keep things moving along quite nicely. i really appreciate how the ebb and flow of instrumentation props up what are very simple songs. - for me "ignoreland" is the strongest and most interesting song, while "star me kitten" is the only real dud. - a second listen revealed lots more fascinating subtleties, especially in the drum and keyboard parts. truly stellar production. still don't really care about the lyrics. Verdict: This strikes me as "mature" music, for better and worse. Much to admire, little for me to love. Listen Again? I'm only getting older, maybe it will appeal more later.

Not my favorite REM this far, but pretty good. Did find some of the tracks a bit boring compared to others. Strong 3

Not terrible but I don't like how he sings

Automatic for the people was actually a really solid album. The songs here definitely left quite the impression on me especially the last few songs which could be legitimate tearjerkers at times. The sound of this album isn't really anything too special, different or unique but for what it does sound like, it manages to sound pretty good. The songs here were a bit similar sounding to each other but i didn't find that a huge issue since the style was all still good. This album is one that doesn't break new grounds but still manages to be a solid listen. Best Song: The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite Worst Song: Sweetness Follows

overall i think mid but it all sounded almost the same to me, although i added some songs to my playlist i was lowk bored and didnt really enjoy, it almost felt like a chore

Man, I am NOT an R.E.M. fan, so I'll get through this one, I guess... My old roommate's dad was in a bunch of Savannah bands back in the 70's and 80's, and he used to tell us that his band played in Athens one time, and they had to open for some shitty house band named REM. I guess they aren't so shitty, because they've sold a ton of albums. Good for them. Maybe Jeff's dad was just jealous. It just isn't for me. I'm actually upset, because now the Spotify algorithm will try and infuse this into my recommendations... There is a nostalgia to some of these tunes. I watched MTV a lot back when this came out, so I was inundated with the "hits." If I had to pick, I like the album before this one, and I like Orange Crush off of their 88 album Green. Favorite song on here, Man on the Moon.

This one starts off a little slow and stays that way for really the whole album. It's not bad, just not what I would expect I guess. I also think it sounds a little thin, guitars in particular, but I feel like thin sounding guitars are kind of an R.E.M. signature. That's one of the problems I've always had with R.E.M. - I always feel like they need to fill out the sound spectrum a little. I felt myself kind of drifting out of attention throughout this whole record. Does that make it background music? I hate to use the word 'boring' but it kind of was. I was excited when this record came up for the day but left a little disappointed. There are certainly songs I like on this record, Everyboy Hurts, Drive, Monty Got A Raw Deal, Man On The Moon. But I wouldn't play this whole album again. 2.5 stars

Fine music, but I don't really vibe with it. I think it's a little too mellowed out, and flat. It doesn't really do it for me.

I hate REM

I truly dislike everything about REM. Couldn’t finish.

9/10

I've always loved their singles but I've never listened to this album before. It's pretty much perfect. It's emotional and heartfelt. The tunes are insanely catchy. Michael Stipe has a great voice and the rest of the band tie it all together. Five stars.

Let me start at the end by saying that Automatic For the People is one of my favorite albums, it's one of the all-time great albums. It's an easy 5 star. This is a Southern Gothic masterpiece in musical form. The songs are often melancholic moody songs, but I don't want to stop listening to them. Man on the Moon, Sidewinder, Drive, Nightswimming, Everybody Hurts are just all of them great songs. Man on the Moon, Nightswimming, and Find the River make an amazing three song punch to close this record.

# Album Name: Automatic For The People # Artist: REM # Rating: 5/5 # Comments: Great album with plenty of bangers. # Top Tunes: drive / sidewinder / everybody hurts / sweetness follows / MOTM / Nightswimming # Would I listen to it again? Yes

Classic. Knew this album inside out and lovely to revisit it.

The band set out to make a hard rocking album. They failed completely and accidentally made one of the greatest records of the 1990s. Sometimes being bad at your original plan is the best thing that can happen to you. Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry spent months in a rehearsal studio trading instruments and writing songs without Michael Stipe present, which is either a profound creative strategy or a very polite way of saying they needed a break from each other. They handed him the demos in early 1992. Stipe listened and described the music as pretty weird, more acoustic, more organ-based, less drums. He then went away and wrote an album about death, loss, AIDS, Reagan, grief and his dying grandmother. This is not what most bands do when handed a set of mid-tempo ballads but it is absolutely what R.E.M. did and it is exactly right. John Paul Jones, yes that John Paul Jones, arranged the strings for Drive, Everybody Hurts, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite and Nightswimming. He showed up with charts, directed the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, swapped autographs with everyone afterward, and then went out for drinks and what he described as a bit of old style rock and roll behavior. Nobody deserved that dinner more. The title comes from a slogan at a soul food restaurant in Athens, Georgia called Weaver D's. Automatic for the People means we will take care of you without you having to ask. That is also what this album does. They did not tour. Not for Out of Time, not for this. Stipe's explanation was that you cannot play a festival in Belgium in front of 45,000 drunk muddy people and perform beautifully orchestrated slow songs. He is correct. Instead the album was left to stand entirely on its own merits, which turned out to be considerable given that it sold 18 million copies worldwide and topped the UK charts four separate times. Meanwhile the press, noting Stipe's thin frame and the album's relentless meditation on death, began printing rumors that he was dying of AIDS. His response was to wear a baseball cap to the Grammys that read White House, Stop AIDS. Stipe should be protected at all costs. This review stands by that position without reservation. Man on the Moon almost had no vocals. Stipe could not find the lyrics. He finally finished the song by walking around Seattle thinking about Kurt Cobain's use of the word yeah in Nirvana songs, and decided to end it with more yeahs than any Nirvana song had ever used. That is the most 1992 sentence in recorded history and the song is perfect. Monster came next. I lost interest. We do not talk about Monster. 5 out of 5. All five stars awarded without negotiation, without caveats, and without a single deduction for anyone's personal conduct.

music is love

5/5.

This is an amazing record. REM is one of the most important bands in my lifetime and this one could be most people's greatest hits album. Drive, Man on the Moon, Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight and Everybody Hurts are all on this album. Then I have to separate Nightswimming. It might be my favorite song ever written. It's just simple and powerful. I often used to say the band I would pay the most to see get back together was Talking Heads. I think I'm leaning that title to REM now. I saw them once on the Monster tour, and I feel like I missed out on all the other tours. Great band, amazing record.

masterpiece

fantastic!

I bought Automatic for the People when I was 14 and my favourite track was Find the River. Then I heard that song on the radio and wondered why it didn’t sound as amazing as usual. I eventually realised the reason I loved it so much was because it was the perfect closing track, and it didn’t hit quite as hard out of context. All of which is my rambling way of saying that Automatic for the People taught me that an album can be a cohesive collection of songs that work together to create something bigger than the sum of its (already great) parts.

R.E.M.'s masterpiece and therefore one of the greatest albums of the 90s.

not for me

# Playlist Track - Drive # Notes - "Everybody Hurts" is still kind of cliché and corny, but it's ageing gracefully. The crescendo towards the end is fantastic! - The whole album does, really. - Do I understand it? Heck no. I didn't back then and I don't do now. But it's fine. Great listen!

There are so many wonderful songs on here but I would give this a 5 just for Nightswimming. It is a great song but it is my association with listening to it while swimming at night in France that makes it so evocative for me.

Probably my favourite R.E.M. album. Likely where Stipe’s vocals are at his best, and both the music and lyrics have that wistful, bittersweet quality to them and with a quality of song that is sustained for the duration of the album. ‘Everybody hurts’ is overplayed at this point but there is still something about that ‘so hold on’ change to a major key that still gets me. The 3 song run at the end also shows the breadth of songs that they can write, with ‘nightswimming’ surely being up there with some of the best.

r.e.m. is one of america’s greatest bands. certainly of their era. so many classic tunes and albums and this is one of them. “drive”, “the sidewinder sleeps tonite”, “everybody hurts”, “man on the moon”, and “nightswimming” are classics. but the rest are great too - especially “monty got a raw deal” and “ignoreland”.

Frequently flaunted as one of the best albums ever I approached with a somewhat cynical view… but they are right. Great from start to finish.

Not sure I have ever properly listened to 'Everybody Hurts' before, or perhaps it just hits different now I am a little older, but oh my, what an absolutely incredible song. What an incredible album from start to finish.

This is a great '90s album. “Drive,” “Everybody Hurts,” and “Man on the Moon” are all timeless tracks that still hold up decades later. The impressive thing is that the album isn't just carried by its biggest hits; there really isn't a bad song on here. The whole record has a warm, reflective feel to it, and it flows effortlessly from beginning to end. It's one of those albums that's easy to put on and let play without ever feeling the need to skip a track. Not every song reaches the heights of the classics, but the consistency is remarkable. From start to finish, it's just a really well-crafted album.

Moving away completely from the jangling guitars for a more acoustic and strings-laden instrumentation, R. E. M.'s eighth album might be their most accessible. Everything sounds so big on here. The vocals delivered by Michael Stipe are fantastic, but backing vocalist Mike Mills steal the show due to what they bring to the band' s already massive sound. "Everybody Hurts" is so timeless and sounds like it could have been record anytime in the last 50 years. It feels like the band's eighties stuff is more celebrated nowadays, but I believe this might be the band's greatest work. Starting my weekend off with this album made for a serene experience

Rare for an album as heavily played as this to be so good to listen to every time. Wonderful songs and songwriting, a real treat.

I came to REM quite late and aside from the obvious singles I didn’t really listen to them until I met my husband. Therefore they have been a band that I have kind of learnt to love over the years. It’s tricky to explain but I genuinely feel there are not many bands more perfect than REM. This doesn’t mean they are my favourite band or even one I listen to a lot (I do like a lot of messy bands!) its more that when you break down what a great band should be REM just hit all the goals. Anyway on to the album - it’s brilliant. Not even my favourite REM album (that goes to New Adventures in Hi-Fi) but still incredible. It was 5 stars before I even pressed play. Even the hugely overplayed Everybody Hurts still packs a punch.

A masterpiece of an album. Vastly overplayed which has diminished its value somehow, but I came to this not having listened to it in some years. There is not one weak song and many truly great ones. Personally, not a fan of Everybody Hurts as it's become almost a parody of itself but there's no denying it's still a great song.

REM has been college radio darlings for a while, and they’d been gaining popularity in mainstream radio. But this album catapulted them into stardom. And with good reason.

Bloody love me some R.E.M. Brilliant, brilliant album, absolutely rammed with great songs. I will say though, for many years this was my favourite from them but Murmur has probably overtaken it now. Top Track - Bloody hell how to pick. Either Nightswimming or Man On The Moon

Rock history

Great album. Has hits but does everything really well. I even like instrumental interludes

Most R.E.M. albums would be a 5 for me, including maybe all of their first 10, plus Eponymous and Monster and maybe a couple of others. Even among that group, this is a standout. Man on the Moon is one of their greatest, Drive is cool, and Nightswimming and Everybody Hurts are two of their best quiet tracks, but I'd forgotten some of the excellent subtle songs in the middle. One other thing that struck me during Find the River -- and to anyone paying attention this was old news by the end of Radio Free Europe -- was the excellence of Mike Mills's backing vocals.

5/5 - Totally transported to my college dorm room...REM's best mix of production and songwriting. I mistakenly said the other day that this wasn't a masterpiece, but it is. The opening tracks are outstanding, but the last three songs here are as good as any closing three on any album. Try Not to Breathe and Find the River will always be the standouts for me.

Magic album.

Very polished album

Accidentally rated the last REM album a 5 when I meant to click 4 because this album deserves a 5 much more

My favorite alt rock album ever

Love this album

Nice work here

When this popped up, I figured it'd be an easy 4. I've always liked it, but don't think of it as an album I love. Color me surprised, though. This album is so good. I think I added most of the songs to my 1992 playlist - 5 Stars. Let's go

A five star album for sure. A great blend of introspection, joy and sorrow. Really wonderful orchestration as well. And Nightswimming might be in the top ten rock songs for me.

I could really listen to this all day long - Man on the Moon is one of my all time favourite Pop Song!

Been awhile since I listened to this. Can't imagine a better album.

I love everything about this album. The vocals, the production, the instrumentation, the lyrics. It sounds incredible even played from YouTube music through crappy headphones. Perfectly blends energy with melancholy. Legitimately deep. Hits me right in the feelings in all the right ways. The perfect R.E.M. album topped off with a healthy dose of nostalgia because this was a regular in my parent's 5-CD changer stereo. Can't be anything but a 5.

A sonic treat, and a pop masterpiece. Michael Stipe’s crowning achievement and probably an excellent showcase of what Mike Mills quietly did for the musicianship of this band.

The production quality alone brings this well above the rest of the albums on this list. It's like audio recorded in 4k. Not only that but the mix of the highs, lows, and middle range of audio is perfect. This is my first time listening all the way through this album and I love it. It's easily one of the best albums I've heard on this list so far and definitely going on my daily listening playlist. What an experience. R.E.M. is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. Michael Stripes voice in this album is so hauntingly melancholy and it does wonders with the lyrics being sung. This is definitely a 10/10 and I'll absolutely be revisiting this album.

Solid. Stands the test of time

Love this album. Straight back to high school

Sublime. Haven’t listened to this for a good while but it absolutely sounds as good as it ever did. Up there as one of my all time time faves and I am so glad the generator has reintroduced us.

I do love this album , his voice is just unreal

This album received heavy play in my 1987 Honda Civic back in the day - I am familiar with it. This was college-era David Letterman part of my life and by this time REM had broken from their Indie roots and into the mainstream following Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People roughly a year earlier. And while this album is better than Out of Time, I still prefer their earlier material from high school - especially Document, Green and Dead Letter Office. That said, listening today reminded me just how great this band was from top to bottom. This album contains my favorite REM song of all time: Nightswimming and several other greats (Sweetness Follows and Find the River not to mention Drive and Everybody Hurts). 5/5

totally rips. changed my life probably

ILOVEIT

Отличный альбом.

This one is beautiful and perfect and the sound of R.E.M. all grown up, and yet it wouldn't even make my top 5 from the band. The middle half is a bit less memorable than the rest, but that start and end are both world-beaters. In particular, I think "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" might be one of the all-time most quotable songs.

It’s a shame that R.E.M’s best album Reveal is not on this list but the presence of this goes somewhere to righting that wrong. Full of hits with the best being the legendary Everybody Hurts, it is an album which has something for everyone. No listened to he album in full for ages so doing so today reminded me what a great band R.E.M were who despite their vast catalogue disappeared munch too soon. 5/5 15/5/26

R.E.M. is one of my two favorite bands, but this album is kind of mid in my ranking of their albums. I mostly like earlier stuff better -- and Everybody Hurts and Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight are too... what, immature? Not my faves. That said, Nightswimmer is one of my favorite songs of all time by any artist.

It was great to listen to this fantastic album again. 5/5

Absolute classic

Really, really good.

Can’t explain it but it’s such a human sounding album

Where is the 6 star at? This album deserves it.

Me gustó mucho, muy tranqui, muy lindo como suena, no mucho mas que decir, esta muy bueno la verdad.

When I listen to R.E.M., I know I will positively enjoy it, and the same was true for this album. It starts very mellow, with great songs such as 'Drive' and 'Try Not to Breathe,' and then progresses into some of their greatest work, like 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite' and 'Nightswimming.' 5/5

Timeless music with imponderable lyrics. Classic.

9/10… rock / 90s indie / *1992

For my money, the best R.E.M. album ever, and that is saying a lot. It has a handful of standout tracks that did well on the charts, but the entire album works incredibly well together and benefits from listening to it in its entirety. It is beautiful and deals with life and mortality and depression. A wonderful mix of darkness, difficulty and intense beauty.

Nightswimming alone makes this top tier

I know that this is their most commercial album, and the one where a lot of their earliest fans regarded the group as "selling out," but to my mind this is R.E.M.'s best album. That's no small feat when you consider the strength of the rest of their discography. The singles remain the standouts with "Man On The Moon," "Nightswimming," and especially "Everybody Hurts" being all time classics. That said, none of the rest of the tracks can be regarded as filler. Something about the juxtaposition of melancholy lyrics and upbeat music (or the inverse in the case of "Drive") just works for R.E.M.

so great all the way through

During that period, R.E.M. could have recorded an album of nothing but farts, and it would still have looked like the Sistine Chapel. Incredible!

qué puto discazo

- Oh, I know this album well and still love it! It takes me back, and it really felt so fresh at the time. Honestly, there isn't a bad song here. - This album has a really introspective, sensitive vibe, but still with great melodies and sweeping instrumentation - I especially like the strings.

YESSSSSS

This is tied for my very favorite REM LP.

E vel en eller to låter som føles ut som fyllstoff, ellers e dette et mesterverk.

Klassiker. Mye nostalgi knyttet til denne.

This is one of the albums that is the soundtrack to the 90s(for me)

Det här är en av de där ovanliga plattorna, som är helgjuten. Alla låtarna är fantastiska och de bildar en än starkare helhet. Skivan tar dessutom ut en ny riktning, med ett nytt sound. Från ett band som redan var så etablerade att det bara kunnat fortsätta i samma spår. Michael Stipe har aldrig sjungit bättre. Det bara fortsätter ... En solklar femma!

This was the first R.E.M. album I ever owned but I slept on it a bit at first. I got the album after this Monster for Christmas and initially didn't enjoy it: I wanted more acoustic ditties a la Automatic rather than creepy glam rock. However, after a few listens I did a 360 and became absolutely obsessed with R.E.M and going back through their impeccable -to that point anyway- catalogue. I still feel a greater personal attachment to Murmur and Document but this was probably their artistic peak in terms of songwriting, and despite the bleak the sombre themes, I feel it's ultimately en uplifting meditation on death and loss. There are a couple of songs I'm.not crazy about (the jaunth Sidewinder feels out of keeping with the rest of the album and Star Me Kitten's would benefit from less vocal loops) but those are minor quibbles. 5 stars?.Automatic.

Love this album! It’s not perfect by any means but it has so many great tunes and vibes. I want to give it a 5!

This album made me feel things.

R.E.M son más grandes que la puta vida. Recuerdo con exactitud la primera vez que les escuche, en un puto campamento. Era el Out of Time que me dejó loco. Luego comprobé que ese disco ni siquiera era de los buenos. Su puta madre. Rajo a quien se meta con R.E.M. ¿Sabéis por qué nadie hace versiones de R.E.M? Porque es imposible llegar al tono de puto Stipe y siempre vas a hacer el ridículo. Hasta tengo una letra en español para The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite con el estribillo que dice "¿Cómo no le voy a echar beicon?". Pero a ver quién se la juega.

Not my favorite R.E.M. album, but it's still a 5-star album. So many pure classics on here. Drive, Everybody Hurts, Nightswimming, Man on the Moon...it just keeps going. Brilliant.

I listened to this so much back in the day that I kind of overdosed and rarely revisit it now, so this was like catching up with an old friend. It is just brilliant, with genuinely moving reflective songs alongside some of their catchiest pop songs.

When to listen: In my feelings, a dark night in New Jersey. A strong no skip album. Nightswimming will always be a fave. Also really enjoyed The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight.

My ex bought me this in cassette form for Christmas 1992 and it's the only thing I'm grateful to her for.

Loved this when it came out and love it today. Find the River is one of my all time favorite songs. Nightswimming, Try Not to Breathe, Man on the Moon, Sidewinder….From beginning to end, this is an easy 5. The only weakness I can find with this album is that I have listened to it too much and sometimes tire of it.

Automatic 5

Obsessed with this honestly

One of my three favorite albums of all time, can't recommend it highly enough. It's beautiful, it's sad, it's dark, it's uplifting. Just perfect in every single way.

Beautiful album that displays a large range of expression and nails everything it goes for. It’s like a culmination and celebration of the human experience. It’s just so well done. Favorite Song: Nightswimming Least Favorite Song: New Orleans Instrumental No.1

Amazing from front to back!

My favourite REM record

Sone great songs on here, Drive, Try not to Breathe Sweetness Follows and Find the River are my favourites. As much as I love this album, it doesn't make it into my top 5 REM albums.

Loved this when it came out!

Was originally a 4 star album but then i remembered that Nightswimming is on this album so that alone makes it a 5 star album. idk i don't make the rules

Shoutout Weaver D's (which is closed now, sadly)! This album was great, and I forgot this was twelve whole years into R.E.M.'s career. Everybody Hurts is beautiful, and the rest are just so amazing. Stipe's voice is great to listen to, and I love the instrumentation throughout here. There's so much creativity in this record, and I'm excited to hear more R.E.M. on this list. Favorites: Try Not To Breathe, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Everybody Hurts, Man On The Moon, Nightswimming, Find The River

Not my favorite REM record, but this would also be 99% of bands' magnum opus so.... I must remember to not grade on a curve. REM is just so cool, man. They became one of the biggest bands on the planet but never lost what made them who they were. One of the rare acts that even the mainstream couldn't deny because they were so singular. This is a near perfect record (Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite is a goof that doesn't belong though sure is catchy). It's crazy that they were even better than this.

Yeah R.E.M. can sound a bit gloomy from time to time, but I would never call any of their music outright depressing until Automatic for the People. This album is crushing compared to some of the more lighthearted released the band had put out in their past, and it shows just as much in the instrumentation as it does in the writing department. Stipe comes off as borderline pleading at times with just how broken he sounds, and yet he somehow makes it sound so god damn catchy. Every song, even the New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 gets you in such a sensitive place and holds you there as you get sucked down this dark hole the band was trapped in for all 48 minutes of this album. It is incredible how easy this album can shift your mood and enthrall you in an existential crisis of sorts all by your own willpower. Even with that being said, R.E.M. also manages to make this an album full of catchy tunes which I don't think I will ever truly be able to comprehend and yet somehow it is here. It shouldn't take me to tell you this is a classic, just listen for yourself and it will be hard to deny it. Nuff said.

a flawless piece of art

Excellent

speechless

Beautiful songs on this one.

Remember mail order CD clubs? We ordered Automatic for the People from one of those. I bet my parents still have it floating around their CD collection. My parents were the types of people to buy a full album and only play the singles, thus most of this record is a fresh listen. So good! I suppose 10 year old me wouldn’t have appreciated REM anyway.

This is another of my all-time favorite albums. Absolutely brilliant.

Absolutely massive. Great songwriting and production all the way through. Will definitely want to go back and listen again.

Super Dope

En av de bästa albumen jag vet. Inte en enda dålig låt. Allt flyter och är så fint och vackert. Drive är en av världens bästa låtar! Nightswimming Everybody Hurts så vackra. Man on the Moon, Try not to breathe och sweetness follows. Så bra! Allt är bra, de nämnda låtarna är bara standouts för mig. Stripes röst är magisk. Saknar verkligen REM!

hype. very good.

When an album has not just one, but multiple of my favourite songs on it, you know it's going to be amazing. I've listened to this album more times than I can count, and it never fails to impress.

Automatic five star.

What a treat! I knew some songs but not the whole album, really like it. Listened to the whole thing twice

I would sell my soul to be able to hear Nightswimming again for the first time. One of the most stunning four minutes of music ever. For me, Automatic For The People is one of my favourite records of all time, zero skips, not bloated in run time, a band absolutely at their zenith (albeit a band such as REM never really dipped below said zenith in their career.) Truly is a perfect record.

Duh!

I know this album by heart.....5/5 for an excellent album soaked in nostalgia for me.

Thought this was a very solid album, I love the twang on the lead singer's voice. Everybody Hurts and Man on the Moon are great tracks and the songs in between were engaging as well

Classic album with some great songs and sets a distinct tone the whole way through.

This is my second R.E.M. album in seven days. Automatic for the People is one I’ve always loved, so I was really looking forward to today’s listen. I still can’t decide between this and Document as the best R.E.M. album, both are superb. The album starts brilliantly. The first four tracks are incredibly strong, with powerful lyrics and fantastic music. It also finishes beautifully with Nightswimming and Find the River, two of the most delicate and moving songs on the record. Listening again reminded me just how much I enjoy this album and how I really should play it more often. Favourite tracks: All the big songs are superb. I love The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Everybody Hurts, and Drive. There are also some brilliant hidden gems like Sweetness Follows and Monty Got a Raw Deal. Least favourite track: I’m not sure New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 really adds much, but I’m being very picky here. Album artwork: An iconic cover that perfectly matches the mood of the music.

Really Enjoyable Music

Their best.

No idea why I didn't listen to them more back in the day...

I’ve never listened to this entire album until today. Without knowing any backstory, it felt beautifully melancholy. I do listen to music before lyrics, but the feel of the album was wistful in parts, but maybe it was just me remembering earlier times. Thoroughly enjoyed this album.

Oh R.E.M. How do I love thee, let me count the ways.

An easy 5 for me. One of my fav albums of all time. Such great songs here, opens with the amazing Drive and closing with the perfect Find the River.

Спокійний альбом. Деякі пісні немов з якихось мультиків про ельфів та/чи фей, або ж з якихось атмосферних старих пригодницьких ігор з елементом детективу(?). Альбом, направду, не дуже чомусь западає в пам'ять, проте він комфортний, спокійний, затишний - може саме тому й не западає бо перед цим я чула два-три альбоми, які викликали в мене бурхливі емоції, а тут спокій і тому здається, що він пріснуватий:( Однак, він справді, гарний. На спокійні вечори, перед сном - те що треба! (чи на фоні, при посиденьках з друзями, мабуть, також було б кайфово:3)

bellino

This to me brought the end to REM's list of absolutely killer albums, starting with Document and going through Green and Out of Time. Of the 4, this is probably my least favorite but still 5 stars. Still remembering buy this the day it came out in the longform cardboard CD box shortly after I first got a CD player.

Loved it

Прекрасный альбом, давно любимый.

I really enjoyed this one!

Another band I had no time of day for as a teenager. When Everybody Hurts came on our Video Hits channel I couldn’t wait for the clip to finish. Didn’t get the lyrics, fast forward 34 years and 10 years battling depression, I finally fucking get it. “Everybody Hurts Sometimes”. Oh and I now think R.E.M are sublime!

Tough one. By tough I mean choosing between a 4 and a 5. Let's see how generous I'm feeling tomorrow morning.

Day780 - i couldn’t pick out a favorite if i had to but i could listen to drive,the sidewinder sleeps tonite, nightswimming , man on the moon, and everybody hurts without ever getting tired of them

I still remember sharing a room with my younger brother and constantly hearing Everybody Hurts on the radio alarm and getting lost in Michael Stipe's voice. Anyways, decades later I was riding the D train and Michael Stipe was on it and no one paid him any attention, except for this weirdo who was secretly fanboying and wishing I had the balls to go up to him and ask - "what's the frequency, Kenneth?" I did not and he got off the train at Grand Street to head to what I can only hope was a delicious meal of soup dumplings.

Really loved this one!

Really enjoyed it. But I knew I would due to having a few songs in the library. Fresh but uplifting music... Great.

Perfect album

Superb!

I didn't write any notes while I was listening to it, but I liked it quite a bit. I think maybe more than the last R.E.M. album. But my memory isnt that great.

A beautiful album that can make me cry with joy and sadness.

One of my favourite ever albums

REM made some great albums in the 80s and 90s, up till this LP. This would end up being the pinnacle of their output; their masterpiece. Tracks complement each other perfectly to provide light and shade - perhaps a bit more shade than light. The vocal performances are honest and sincere, and perfectly project the joy, despair and hope of the first class lyrics. Arrangements are more complex, with much use of piano, organ and strings. Some will miss the fact that they no longer sound like a four-piece, and the masterly way in which they managed limited resources, say as on Fables of the Reconstruction. Some will miss the jangle of Green, or the obscure murmurings of Murmur, but for me, these are all part of the story that unfolds and leads ultimately to this album.

R.E.M.’s career is one which is defined by change. It's not always helpful to think of the band in terms of the “IRS era” or the “Warner era” because more often than not each album is in direct opposition to the last. There is little cohesion between their first five records, or what comes after. In one way Automatic for the People is a natural continuation of the increasingly maximalist sound of their previous three records. Perhaps the success of Losing My Religion led the group to focus their efforts on refining this bigger, more “full” sound. But in other ways it couldn’t be more different from Out of Time. You couldn’t imagine the relentlessly cheery Shiny Happy People, the joyful Near Wild Heaven, or the downright silly Radio Song on this record. Automatic is their darkest album, and the one that most openly emotes sadness. Outside of this album my favourite R.E.M. songs tend to be the ones that equally balance optimism and pessimism, often blending downbeat verses with upbeat choruses. Before Automatic for the People it was unusual for them to push the darker elements of their sound further than that, and the rare songs where they did leave me feeling cold. On their eighth album they push this much further, and with magnificent style. Not only do they harness darkness in a new way but they manage to sustain this over the course of a whole album without tipping over into something unattractive or bleak. Nightswimming is nostalgic and hopeful in its sadness, it brings a smile. Man on the Moon has a great momentum and despite it being a spooky, meditative number, somehow manages to slowly morph towards a rousing conclusion. This is only possible because of the band’s advanced understanding of songwriting - they’ve had a lot of practice. The one brief moment of unadulterated joy is The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite which cuts through like a shard of light as a result. The dynamic shifts on Out of Time were smaller than previous records; passages that could have been quiet were delivered with a booming stage whisper and a chorus pedal. That doesn’t change with Automatic, yet here it’s an asset. The songwriting has been optimised for this approach, dynamics resulting from changes in intensity and emotional impact, rather than volume. When Radiohead say that R.E.M. had a profound and direct influence on them, it may be this that they are referring to. OK Computer similarly has several moments that “feel” quiet despite all proof to the contrary. If it’s not clear from the above, I think Automatic for the People is a perfect album which has had an indelible impact on our culture and the music that has come since. It went wider and deeper into public consciousness than anyone listening to Murmur in 1983 could have imagined. It’s a testament to the value of a band constantly moving forward, developing and changing up their sound. They should have been household names several times over by the time this LP came out so I feel a huge sense of warmth, satisfaction and justice that this album was an unmitigated success.

Yes so another low 5 for REM for me. This one is the REM I was raised on as my mum loves this era of their work and I love it very differently to how I love the IRS stuff Rich got me into in uni, and different still from the middle era stuff I’ve found on my own this one has lush instrumentals and strong arrangements throughout, a couple of pop bits, a couple of beautiful ballads, and a lot of good stuff - it never takes me away completely and REM haven’t got a 10/10 album for me, but they have a few 9s which in this system is a low 5 for me

One of the best ever

and I even knew most of the tunes. Lovely orchestration on most tracks. Love the vocals. Memories recalled (Andy Kaufman) - Man on the Moon) left me with smiles and good vibes. although some of the subjects are not happy times moments. like mortality, suicide, and aging. Toe tapping and dancing in the kitchen did commence, partly due to the music but also due to the existence of this album on this list. One of my faves so far for sure. I agree with another reviewer..."Find The River" is a song I want to be played at my funeral. And that's probably because "Try Not To Breathe" would be considered in bad taste" (Even though I don't intend to have a funeral.) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This album is a downer but it's so beautiful. Love the strings, the iconic vocals. The lyrics for Ignoreland. I mean, Man on the Moon. The piano and strings on Nightswimming. Um, hello, oboe.

Good listen

Wonderful album from a band at the peak of the creativity.

Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on October, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. Yielding six singles, the album reached number two on the US Billboard 200 and received widespread acclaim from critics upon release. Automatic for the People has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide, and has been listed as one of the greatest albums of all time, with Rolling Stone ranking the album number 96 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020.

Excellent! I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I djd

Such a good album, start to finish. Man on the Moon, Sidewinder, Nightswimming, Find the River (one of my favourite songs full stop), Sweetness Follows, Monty Got a Raw Deal … just great tune after great tune. Not just a five star album, but one of my favourite of all time.

The zenith of a certain strain of warm, jangly, intelligent, big hearted music broadly known as alternative in the 90s, or more aptly college rock. This is an album that wraps around you like a woollen cardigan. A deserved masterpiece.

Classic album. Not my genre, and still a banger

Spent a lot of time with this album. Was a great album then and still is today

Yes!

Sometimes I forget just how great REM was. Wow, what an album. Even the lesser known tracks are good, and it includes at least two of my favorite REM songs. Highlights: "Drive", "Everybody Hurts", "Nightswimming" and "Man on the Moon"

Really awesome, relaxing, melancholy album. Loved the music with Drive being my song of the album (and best first listen), with Man On The Moon and Find The River being other highlights

This is the stuff. When the rest of the world was heading towards grunge, R.E.M. just continued doing R.E.M. things and quietly churned out this masterpiece. I don’t think there is a bad song on here, even though Michael Stipe is in full enigmatic indecipherable mode. Some of their most beautiful moments on record here, including ‘Everybody Hurts’, ‘Sweetness Follows’, ‘Find The River’ and the incomparable ‘Nightswimming’, that just makes we want to learn piano to be able to play it. Although ‘Man On The Moon’ can get a bit grating after the 500th listen, the rest is so great that it can only be 5 stars.

deadly

I mean, yeah, this is one of my all-time favorite albums. Lyrical and resonant and beautiful and playful and somber and gorgeous. Good way to start this project!

Very impressed with the mix on this. The performance is really nice, the vocal isn't doing too much and the instrumentation is lush and full. Rides the line between folk and punk without really feeling like it exists as some kind of middle ground for very long and I find that really impressive. The songwriting and arrangement are very purposefully done. It's easy listening, not too much of any one thing but also consistent enough to make it a very well rounded project. It doesn't lose me at any point. And it resolves in such an amazing way with Nightswimming and Find the River which are just awesome. It doesn't have as many huge highs as most albums that I'll round to a 5 to on here, but it is so consistently great that I can't give it anything else. 4.6/5

Great album. One of the best albums from the 90's. Some classics (drive, everybody hurts, man on the moon...) and great "less-known" songs (star me kitten, try not to breathe, nightswimming, find the river).

Best album so far. A lot of iconic tracks and no filler at all. 9/10

Everything you want from an album. Bit of an experimental feel but still slots in with the norm to make a great listen. Doesn’t get a lot better. Favourite track- Man on the Moon

Tbh this is R.E.M.’s best album without question. Drags in the middle a bit but the beginning and end are so incredibly strong. “Man On The Moon” might be their best song ever, but “Drive,” “Everybody Hurts,” “Try Not To Breathe,” and “Nightswimming” are also highlights. Fantastic album and an easy 5 stars.

Absolutely stellar album. Some of the best 90s Brit rock going.

Probably the best album Led Zeppelin could say they are associated with.

Moederautorijmuziek

😎😎😎😎😎😎

Dafür braucht es nicht viele Worte! Klasse einprägsame Songs ohne Schnickschnack!

I'm going to be a little biased here as R.E.M. is one of my all-time favorite bands and I bought this when it first came out. After Out of Time, this album turned a little more somber, a little more introspective while still keeping the core R.E.M. sound - and I love that. A great album among a big catalog of great albums, at least in my book. (Just skip past "Everybody Hurts".) - Heard before? So many times. - Will I listen again? You couldn't stop me. - Does it inspire me to listen to more of this artist? Yep, I've got another R.E.M. album playing right now. Notable songs: Nightswimming, Try Not To Breathe, Sweetness Follows, and The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight (I smile every time I hear Michael Stipe's little laugh after the Dr. Seuss line).

1992 was a wild time for music. So many different styles and important albums dropping. REM was college radio until Automatic For The People. Even your mom liked the radio hits off this one.

ach schon toll! c

4.5 (48:52, 12 tracks, 8th album, 1992) Alt Rock By 1992 what was called “College Rock” or “Jangle Rock”, which REM more or less invented, in 1983 with their debut Murmur had become Alternative Rock, a genre REM dominated even while bands like the Pixies (and Nirvana) were taking the genre to a harder post-punk song known of course as Grunge. I’ve always loved this album, The Smashing Pumpkins and so many others were doing this type of Alternative Rock; but there is no doubt REM was the/a driving force defining the genre which saved America from “Hair Metal” (now I loves me some hair metal, but there was only so far we could ride that burning ship before it sunk.) The album is a bit faster paced; more rock less alternative than some REM records. Alternative radio really fell in love with this album. By 1992 REM had hit their prime where they could have written some really experimental, fan and radio unfriendly, shit – I’m glad they went this direction, they didn't "sell out" they sold in - and everyone is better for it. It’s slow yet rocky, less Jangle Rock than their debut stuff. So why so sad? These guys were entering their 30’s, punk was dead and they just crushed (pun intentional) it. Stipe struggled with anxiety and his sexuality (pretty much an open secret at this point he was gay) but did NOT, despite rumors, have AIDS. It’s a mood album, sometimes, depending on my mood, it’s my favorite REM album. Hard to say it was as influential as their earlier works but still just a classic album. Track listening * denotes radio released single (all of which got seemingly unlimited radio play in the early 90’s). A – F (A being great, A+ classic, F being terrible) grading of songs. 1. *"Drive" – 4:31 A (great opening track, just dives right into it) 2. "Try Not to Breathe" – 3:50 A 3. *"The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" – 4:06 A 4. *"Everybody Hurts" – 5:17 A 5. "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" – 2:13 B 6. "Sweetness Follows" – 4:19 B+ 7. "Monty Got a Raw Deal" – 3:17 B 8. "Ignoreland" – 4:24 A- 9. "Star Me Kitten" – 3:15 C+ 10. *"Man on the Moon" – 5:13 A 11. *"Nightswimming" – 4:16 A+ (favorite song on album) 12. *"Find the River" – 3:50 A (great ending) album opens and closes so strong. SNEAKS into the 5 category, I feel it doesn't deserve a 5 (not trendsetting, nothing 'you must listen to before you die' but look at the grades (first time I've done this) - there isn't a bad song on this album. It's also in perfect album format album where each song flows into the next.

Deze was echt alles dat mis was met blur. Eerste album dat ik 2 x heb geluisterd sinds we dit doen. Niet echt de tijd om een uitgebreide review te schrijven. Zit tussen 4 en 5 in maar doe niet aan pussy voting.

One of the most solid albums out there. Highly recommend for grieving people cause Michael Stripe's voice hits me like few singers before him (shout out Jerry Garcia). Thank you R.E.M.

Everybody hearts шикарный трек из альбома

An alternative classic, a very rewarding and emotional listen.

Matched my mood great

Underrated

This is one of my all time favorite albums now. Nightswimming is the best REM song hands down.

Really good.

One of my first favorite albums ever. I've loved it since I was 11 years old.

This! This album is brilliant. A dramatic departure from the previous album. Has probably not been another album like this for decades.

Album i po. Hit za hitom a gdje su trebali biti filleri opet odlične pjesme. Da je cijeli album samo Drive opet bi bila petica ali drago mi je da nema ništa da sroza ukupni utisak. Remek-djelo.

First impression was this sounds great. The mixing is fantastic and all the instruments are balanced and sound good. Second impression is the album is great. It builds it has hit songs I didnt realize, and the songwriting is consistently good. Easy 5 star album will listen to again.

Another great REM album. I've listened to this all the way through before, and I'll say that the while the singles are really excellent, the rest of it is just as good. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" is a great song, despite the cramming of too many words in one sentence in the refrain, which somehow works in this case. The strings in a bunch of the songs add to it without being pretentious, and the classic instrumentation of the band is front and center with every instrument clear and loud. The emotions are all front and center, and while this is a "sad" album I find plenty of joy in it as well. It's not a depressing album, more of a sweet melancholy. Really excellent.

I heard Man On The Moon and Everybody Hurts previously but never gave the whole album a listen. Such a soothing listen.

I have a vinyl and cd of this one from what may be the greatest band of all time. Great to listen again

Automatic for the People is one of those albums that feels quietly monumental, never raising its voice yet carrying enormous emotional weight. It strips away any remaining noise or bravado and replaces it with space, patience, and absolute confidence in restraint. Everything here feels deliberate, from the pacing to the arrangements, creating an album that moves slowly but never drags, heavy without being suffocating. What makes it extraordinary is how direct and human it feels without ever becoming sentimental. The songs deal with loss, memory, mortality, and compassion in a way that feels clear-eyed rather than dramatic. Michael Stipe’s voice is calm and grounded, letting the words land without forcing them, while the instrumentation supports rather than competes. Strings, acoustics, and subtle dynamics are used with real discipline, giving each track room to breathe and resonate. By the time it ends, Automatic for the People leaves behind a stillness that feels earned. It does not try to console or resolve, it simply acknowledges difficult truths with grace and honesty. There is no filler here, no excess, just a sequence of songs that feel perfectly placed and deeply considered.

Love!

A classic!! Lovely, including the iconic ‘Everybody Hurts’ …. Sometimes…. 💭🎶

My exposure to R.E.M. has been largely confined to the In Time compilation, so having the chance to encounter tracks deemed 'less popular' was fun. A very good, albeit very acoustic (IMO), album. Drive, Monty got a Raw Deal and Ignoreland made it to the Liked list, alongside Man on the Moon, Everybody Hurts and Nightswimming.

Let's see, how many of these album I already own...

9.5/10 really enjoyed

Because of its ubiquity in pop culture, you forget how good Everybody Hurts actually is, and how crazy it is to jump into that track off of the power of The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite. This is a mature album that I could not have appreciated as a teenager or maybe even as a young adult. It's wild to think this came out in 1992 and everything else going on in the musical landscape at the time. IF YOU BELIEVE, THEY PUT A MAN ON A MOON!

181/1001 :: R.E.M. - Automatic For The People Heard before? ✅ Would I revisit? ✅ Rating: 9 Listen before you die: Yeah It’a not hard to appreciate and or love this album. The songs are great. The flow is great. I don’t generally think of this as their best album but today while I was listening I was questioning whether it was or not. I generally don’t love Everybody Hurts but within the context ion the album it’s amazing. It’s also an important moment for mental health. Also, if I had to pick 1, Man On The Moon really up there a far as favorite R.E.M. songs go (easily Top 3). Just fun, catchy, insightful, etc… Anyway you slice it, this is an amazing album by a great band.

I’m a big REM fan but probably underplayed this one back in the day. Not quite sure why as it’s clearly a belter of an album with some big songs on it. Even outside the big hits there are a lot of strong songs. Nightswimming is a beautiful song and one of my favourites but also love Ignoreland and Try not to Breathe. Clearly a great album.

I liked almost every song. Definitely will listen to it again

clasico de clasicos

Wow

One of the BEST ever!

Brilliant. Utterly Brilliant. I love Drive, and the video for Everybody Hurts has stuck with me but there is so much more to this album. I think it's REM's best album by some distance

An hour ago if you'd asked me to rate this album based on memory, I'd have given it a 4. I would have been so wrong. What a damned masterpiece.

Peak dad rock

This album is immaculate. Love every note of this record. Love R.E.M. and could listen to this everyday of the week.

No way to be objective about this one. It has carried me across the Atlantic so many times. Nightswimming is a top-10 cut for me.

Love this

A perfect album. The more I listen to R.E.M. the more I like them. And I think A Man on the Moon might actually be their best song

Best Track - "Man On The Moon"

01) Drive - 10,0 02) Try Not to Breathe - 8,5 03) The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite - 10,0 04) Everybody Hurts - 10,0 05) New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 - 8,5 06) Sweetness Follows - 9,0 07) Monty Got a Raw Deal - 8,5 08) Ignoreland - 8,5 09) Star Me Kitten - 8,5 10) Man On The Moon - 10,0 11) Nightswimming - 10,0 12) Find The River - 9,0 TOTAL: 9,21 (92/100) Current ranking: 36/752

Full confession-I was a fan of REM from the beginning with Murmur. I was a sophomore in college and beginning to discover the alternative scene. I loved it, but my favorite album of theirs was and remains Reckoning. I loved each of the next few albums as well. For many of us early fans, the jump to a major label and more clearly heard lyrics did not bode well. Out Of Time was fine, but there was reason to doubt REM could give us another amazing album. The first single released from Automatic For The People was Drive, and this indeed seemed different. It was certainly not Shiny Happy People. When the album dropped it took me a few listens before I really got into it, but then I really loved it. There are the obvious hits, but also songs like Ignoreland and The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite blew me away. I hadn't listened to the entire album in many years, so I was excited to do so today. And interestingly, it was just like the first few times I'd played it way back in 1992. The songs that stood out then still stood out, but the ones that took a while to really get into still did that for me. Ultimately the album ends on such a strong note that I totally got into it again and wished it was a bit longer. Definitely still one of their best albums. And their last great one IMO.

Great songs, great instrumentation, great vocals, great production, class all round.

-this isn't the best REM album, it might not even be top 5, but it's still a perfect record. That's how good REM were. -a true "no skips" album. -REM were excellent songwriters who didn't just lean on "great songwriting." They were also powerful performers who brought a lot of soul, groove, expression, etc. to every note they played. -this album is a bit slicker and more "commercial" than some other REM records, but it doesn't feel cheap or gaudy. -I've been listening to this album since high school (!) and my new hot take is that REM is what you should listen to when you think want to hear the Smiths. They are the more clever, groovier, less pretentious, more earnest queer Byrds fans.

amazing amount of good songs on this 1 album

Easiest five ever. This is one of the best albums of all time.

An easy five. Richly textured and beautifully executed. It’s a rare giant hit record that was artistically daring and stands the test of time. Every song is wonderful and weird in their own way. REM became mega-stars in the most REM way imaginable.

Rips

Automatic For The People by R.E.M. A truly great L.P. and an easy 5 ⭐️. I was 15 or 16 when this was released and my friends and I listened to it a lot as well as other LPs by the band. I tried to ignore the fact that I know I love this LP and the band and listen with fresh ears, I still love this LP. Although it does hit differently as I approach 50, far more melancholic than I remember. I have so many memories attached to this record and it is truly a masterpiece.

I wouldn’t call myself an alt-rock zealot. I don’t carry the torch for every jangly guitar and murky lyric from the early 90s. But Automatic for the People has hit the mark for me for close to thirty years now, and at this point it’s pretty clear that isn’t nostalgia talking. It’s just a genuinely great record. What floors me is how confidently it leans into quiet, reflective spaces without ever turning dull. “Try Not to Breathe,” “Sweetness Follows,” “Nightswimming,” “Everybody Hurts”—these songs go straight for something human and vulnerable without slipping into melodrama. There’s a sincerity at the core of this album that most bands would break trying to reach. Even the bigger moments, like “Man on the Moon,” feel earned rather than showy. The whole album radiates that strange little R.E.M. magic trick: they sound completely relaxed and somehow world-weary, but they never lose their footing. It’s gentle, melodic, and deeply emotional without ever begging for attention. For me, this is one of those rare records that becomes part of the internal landscape. Sunday night reflection, long drives, quiet mornings—you drop it in, and suddenly you’ve got a companion that doesn’t demand anything but gives you a lot in return. That’s the territory of a five.

this was honestly a masterpiece and i’m so glad i listened to it

Solid

A favorite of mine. REM at the peak of their powers. Sad, political, driving. Many hits here but Nightswimming is such a special song.

If R.E.M. had a 5 star album, it would be this one. There are two songs on here I haven't listened to before, the rest I have had. I have heard the hit ones many times. Such a great album!

I’m embarrassed to admit this is the first time I’ve ever listened to this full album. I’ve always had a reverence for R.E.M. as the father of something that I loved musically. But couldn’t get past shiny happy people. This is a wonderful album. I’ll listen to it a lot. Aside from the big songs There’s a couple gems that I’ll probably play on Repeat before I put this down.

Every song on this is good or great. Definitely a five.

Gets better every listen

Iconic album

Soft 5 but love the bangers

One of REMs best

Classic album, captures an era. Brings back memories. And is lovely.

R.E.M. going soft and wistful... call me basic, but it's their most popular album for a reason, it truly stood the test of time

I've been a R.E.M. fan since Murmer came out and still have a personal fondness for the early IRS albums. However, this one is right out there with the early albums as a favorite of mine. I particularly love “Monty Got a Raw Deal” and “Ignoreland”. If I could give if this 6 stars I would.

This is just such a lovely album, and I don't think it's even my favorite REM. Automatic 5 stars!

A very special magic album for me.

It’s just so beautifully sad

Nightswimming is an all time top five favourite song. This album is a masterpiece.

I read the reviews of this before writing my own because I already have an opinion on this record, and someone said Sweetness Follows is the worst song on AFTP. No, there are no bad songs. And SF is maybe the best of the batch so ... Anyway, AFTP is a demonstration of why music exists. An all timer, one of the greats, no notes. Putting this record on in the dark can take you places.

Banger an album so well ordered and with songs that libge one into the other but dont sound the same. Its a poetry album that was sung with passion and feeling that we dont usually hear.

It's been a while since I had listened to this album. I had forgotten how good it was, from the emotional depth of Nightswimming and Everybody Hurts, to the lesser known tracks, especially Sweetness Follows and Ignoreland. Nightswimming is one of those rare songs that I can remember where I was and what i was doing the first time I heard it. Consistently good, timeless and deserving of 5 stars.

Quite impressed, I didn't know any track outside of Everybody Hurts and Man On The Moon, but I didn't expect this much variety and range from this album. Definitely will listen it again!

On hyvä. Remmin toppinkia

Ooh this is cool! Really vibed to this one

This list has made me realize just how much I love R.E.M. I knew I liked this one, Document, and some of their other stuff, but going back through their discography has been a great experience. This, though not quite as good as Document, is still a masterpiece. "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", "Everybody Hurts", "Man On The Moon", "Nightswimming", and my personal favorite, "Ignoreland". I mean, what a lineup. Easy 5.

Really solid REM album.

You really going to send this to me on a rainy day. Really. 5 BABY.

Something about this album is exactly what I needed to listen to right now

Just fantastic

R.E.M wer kennt die Band nicht. Der erste Song sagt schon aus wer diese band ist.

There are some seriously great songs on this album.

Packed with REM hits. Five might be a bit generous but I like the band and pretty much all the songs.

With small tears in my eyes (Nightswimming, Everybody Hurts), I give this album a perfect rating. Because it is perfect.

own

My favourite REM album

Sidewinder, everybody Hurts, man on the moon, nightswimming... Viel besser geht's glaub ich nicht

Perfect all the way through.

Probably my favorite REM record and an absolute 90s classic.

I’d forgotten what a great album this is, I haven’t listened to it in years

Probably their biggest album, personally wouldn't say it's their best but it's brilliant. For ages I was just sold on the singles and avoided some of the album tracks but the highs are incredibly so. Nightswimming, Find The River, Sweetness Follows, Ignoreland, Drive. Unreal. An easy five.

Nostalgia will not let me give this anything less than a 5.

Brilliant album

I love this album.

Many memorable songs on this album. Truly a great album.

In February 2025, I thought about throwing it all away. I got the help I needed and I stand relatively better than what I was at that time. I think a big reason for why I held on was because of Everybody Hurts. I found out something heartbreaking and the way I let out my emotions was by locking myself in a recording studio and singing that song at the top of my lungs. For some reason, those words rang true that day and something was felt. I didn’t throw it away that day. Months later, I had the idea of finally the code with R.E.M. I had tried getting into them years earlier but my younger self couldn’t quite understand what was so special about this band. But sometimes taste changes with age. Some things that sounded dull to me years earlier will make sense, and if there’s an example of this, it’s with this record. Automatic For The People, if not for All Things Must Pas, would be my favorite record that I’ve gotten into this year. It’s not a perfect record to me; Star Me Kitten is the only song I don’t return to often. However, it is a phenomenally meaningful record to me. These songs are what I needed at this time. These songs are my voice for when I fear to speak. They’re my grief and anxiety tackled into one hug that I haven’t felt in ages. In other words, I have been healed but also damaged by this record. Such intense emotions have been felt from songs such as Nightswimming, Try Not To Breathe, Sweetness Follows and the aforementioned Everybody Hurts. It’s honest, a fantastic listen, and to me, R.E.M.’s best. We’ve got a boogie, boogie move on this one (9/10, 5/5 on this scale) Additional Statement:
 If you are struggling, please call your loved ones or the crisis hotline at 988. Please further contact a professional for help. “You are not alone” This song saved my life.

30 plus years ago I wore this CD out. Almost a perfect record.

Nie będę przepraszać za to, że kocham te płytę. Może dla innych jest kiczowata, ale dla mnie jest zbiorem hitów, a ostatni kawałek miałam kiedyś na zapętleniu przez dobre kilka tygodni. Jasne, maniera śpiewania może wkurzać, ale dla mnie jest po prostu rozpoznawalna i dziwna w dobry sposób. 8.5/10 równane w górę.

childhood music <3

My favorite album, by my favorite band of all time. What a masterpiece!

R.E.M. at their peak! Everybody Hurts is hands down the best R.E.M. song, and both Man on the Moon and Nightswimming are incredible.

One of the best of all time

Ooit mocht ik meerijden naar Frankrijk met truckchauffeur René uit Bergambacht. Onderweg kocht hij bij een tankstation in Luxemburg een cd van REM. Hij zette hem op, luisterde een stukje van de eerste track en sprak de onsterfelijke woorden: 'Hm, ken ik niet.' En hij zapte door naar track 2, en weer bromde hij: 'Ken ik niet.' Pas bij 'Everybody hurts' bleef hij hangen en was hij tevreden. Waarmee ik maar wil zeggen je niet iedereen meteen gelukkig kunt maken... Hoe dan ook, er is natuurlijk geen enkele reden om nummers door te zappen, de muziek is van begin tot eind prachtig. Wat een wondermooi samengaan van spel en zang, de fans vragen zich volgens mij al jaren af waar het eigenlijk over gaat, maar die vraag moet je je helemaal niet stellen. Drijf mee met 'Everybody hurts', 'Man on the moon', 'Night swimming' en al die andere sfeervolle nummers. Jeugdsentiment, klassieker, plaat met eeuwigheidswaarde waarbij elke track een schot in de roos is.

We hebben het halve oeuvre al mogen luisteren van R.E.M., dus ik hoef hier niet extra uit te wijden waarom ik dit het meest iconische album van ze vindt. Want dat heb ik al bij eerdere albums van ze gedaan. Everybody Hurts en Man on the Moon zijn het bekendste (en vind ik dus het minst interessant, want te grijs gedraaid). Sowieso heeft REM daar natuurlijk wel een handje van, dat het op een gegeven moment wel oorwurmen worden. Dus ik snap wel dat sommige zure broeders dit geen 5 geven. Maar het album sluit af met Nightswimming en Find the River, beide vind ik wonderschone nummers en het is heerlijk als een album daarmee eindigt.

Rockin. Love this shit.

R.E.M. had a magnificent 5-album run starting with Green and ending with the highly underrated New Adventures in Hi-Fi, but Automatic For the People is the absolute peak of that wave -- a masterpiece in their oeuvre. Not much to add that's already been said a million times before, but listening to this album for the umpteenth time I hear really outstanding production front to back. I hadn't listened to this one in a while, so I was pleased to see it pop up as my daily assignment.

Absolutely masterpiece. Just love the final song so much

There's very little to not like about this album. It's full of great songs and hits and thoroughly deserves a 5 star rating.

Great front to back.

One of the easiest albums to rate. This remains a masterpiece, with Find The River being one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs ever written.

Best REM album

I already know this is one of my favorite albums ever, I listened to it recently at the end of August as it has the line "Septembers coming soon" in Nightswimming which is just about a perfect song on an album of perfect songs. I could honestly have this be the last album I hear and die happy. REM is just important to me in my music life overall. My first real rock concert was seeing REM on June 3rd 1995 at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. I was 2 weeks away from turning 13 which is a pivotal point in anyones life. That concert is actually immortalized on REM's 1994 "Monster" album's 25 anniversary deluxe edition. Every summer we'd drive to New York from Chicago and REM albums dubbed onto cassette tapes were a staple, in particular the "Eponymous" record. Once a CD player became standard equipment this was one of the first to be played. The album closer "Find the River" is also just perfect in a way I just can't understand. Anyways, I'll gladly listen to this one again, maybe even the giant 25th Anniversary extended edition. On the list of finalists for favorite album of this entire project!

ahh. I remember when it came out and how different it was from all the REM that preceded it, my faves try not to breathe and everybody hurts. the whole album is wonderful. feeling generous today, a big fat 5 for the boys from Athens

One of my favourite albums. Michael Stipe is unstoppable

Sentimental for this album? Sure. Is it worth a 5? Absolutely. A time, and a place.

Again, another foundational text. I come and go with REM and really only love this album. Epnoymous and some of the earlier songs like Radio Free Europe absolutely rock and I think this has elements of that early stuff, matched with a maturing band, creating a musical peak. But the songs are so rich even when they go into political stuff or high emotionality the storytelling, harmonies, and interesting musical turns keep it moving. Lots of harmonica and mandolin. Also, one of the best closing songs of all time.