“Our version of rock music”: The R.E.M album Michael Stipe described as louder and more fun than the rest
The markers of success that influenced the making of Automatic for the People and Monster are among the most interesting observations in music history. “Very mid-tempo, pretty fucking weird,” Michael Stipe once explained, discussing the former. “More acoustic, more organ-based, less drums”. In some way, this explains the extroverted nature of Monster without further elaboration. On the other hand, it demonstrates the pivotal moment that occurred within their discography during the 1990s.
One of the main reasons why Monster ended up being the more overtly blazing sister to 1992’s Automatic for the People was a significant change in Stipe’s attitude towards touring—while working on the sessions for Automatic, the singer immersed himself in the glory of singing to a crowd, when oftentimes his voice was the only thing spotlighted.
For this reason, he explained to Rolling Stone that a following tour was more likely to be guided by simplicity, which meant they would “probably trim it down, lose the lights, lose all the shit, put on a white T-shirt and go onstage”. Recognising the power of his own “pipes”, he enjoyed performances that allowed the audience to appreciate his singing as well as the “good songs” they had to offer.
However, things looked a little different leading up to the creation of Monster. With unwavering plans to embark on another tour, the main focus was to craft songs that were slightly abrasive in manner but only in a way that served the audience—if the songs felt energetic and endearing, their goals would have succeeded. Of course, this was a far cry from the more considered and introspective tunes of Automatic.
Discussing this approach during an interview with Radio X just after the 25th-anniversary issue, Stipe explained the distinctive approach they took with the album, stating: “We wanted to write songs that would be loud and fun to play and would stand in contrast to the more sombre songs that were on Automatic for the People and to some extent Out Of Time.”
Expanding on the differences, he added: “We wanted to have something counterpoint to that, so that was the actual sound of the record and what we were looking for. And we got a lot of fun noise on there, Peter [Buck] was rediscovering the electric guitar, so that was fun for him to write these super loud songs.”
It doesn’t exactly require a keen ear to spot the differences when comparing other albums to Monster. Most of the songs seem delicately crafted to suit a large modern audience, with a lot of the melodies seemingly directed by guitar alone, thanks to Buck’s heavy focus on the contributions of the electric guitar.
“It was our version of rock music,” Stipe told The Guardian, describing the appeal of Monster. “U2 had come out with Achtung Baby, where they had allowed themselves to become theatrical; there was an element of that,” he continued. As a result, Monster became a discography staple and an enduring R.E.M collection, one which also allowed them to answer the question: “Who are we thin all this?”
