R.E.M. - Monster


Monster is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released 
in 1994 on Warner Bros. Records. Co-produced by the band and Scott Litt, Monster was an intentional stylistic shift from the group's preceding albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), consisting of loud, distorted guitar tones and simple 
song arrangements.
Singer Michael Stipe's lyrics dealt with the nature of celebrity, which he sang while 
assuming various characters. Led by the single "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", Monster debuted at number one in the US. The band promoted the record with its first concert tour since 1989.


Album Info:

Artist : R.E.M.
Album : Monster
Genre : Alternative Rock
Year : 1994
Label : Warner Bros. Records
Tracks : 12
Playtime : 00:49:11
Size : 113.05 MB
Codec : MPEG 1 Layer III / Lame 3.97 / 320 kbps 


Track List:

01. What's The Frequency, Kenneth? (04:00)
02. Crush With Eyeliner (04:38)
03. King Of Comedy (03:41)
04. I Don't Sleep, I Dream (03:28)
05. Star 69 (03:08)
06. Strange Currencies (03:53)
07. Tongue (04:13)
08. Bang And Blame (05:30)
09. I Took Your Name (04:03)
10. Let Me In (03:27)
11. Circus Envy (04:15)
12. You (04:53)



The Music:

In contrast to the sound of R.E.M.'s previous two records, the music of Monster 
consisted of distorted guitar tones, minimal overdubs, and touches of 1970s glam 
rock. Peter Buck described Monster as "a 'rock' record, with the rock in quotation 
marks." He explained,"That's not what we started out to make, but that's certainly 
how it turned out to be.
There's a nudge, nudge, wink, wink feel to the whole record. Like, it's a rock 
record,but is it really? "Mike Mills told Time, "On past albums we had been exploring 
acoustic instruments, trying to use the piano and mandolin, and we did it about all we 
wanted to do it. And you come back to the fact that playing loud electric-guitar music 
is about as fun as music can be."Stipe's vocals were pushed back in the mix.

Stipe wrote the lyrics of Monster in character. This, according to biographer Dan 
Buckley, "set the real Stipe at a distance from the mask adopted for each song." The 
album dealt with the nature of celebrity and "the creepiness of fandom as pathology".
Buck said the album was a reaction to the band's popularity. He added, "When I read the 
lyrics I thought, all these guys are totally fucked up. I don't know who they are, 
because they're not Michael. I would say that this was the only time where he's done characters that are creepy, and I don't know if anyone got that. He was getting out 
his things by acting out these parts that are not him."
The band noted that at the end of certain songs, they left blank choruses where Mills 
and Berry would traditionally sing harmonies so fans could sing along