R.E.M.

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R.E.M. is a rock and roll band and a major figure in the sub-genre "alternative" rock. The band was a mainstay on college radio throughout the 1980s, and by virtue of its increasing popularity during that decade and early in the 90s, became credited as one of the major forces in bringing alternative rock into some mainstream acceptance.

Rolling Stones cover 1992 featuring members of R.E.M. From left to right, Peter Buck, Michael Stipe, Bill Berry, Mike Mills.

Members

Bill Berry, drums (1980-1997)

Born July 31, 1958, Duluth, Minnesota Berry’s family moved to Macon, Georgia, in 1972. In high school, Berry met Mike Mills, who would later become R.E.M.’s bassist.

In addition to his duties as a drummer, Berry contributed greatly to the musical composition of several of the band’s most well-known songs, such as “Perfect Circle,” "Driver 8" and “Nightswimming.” He also birthed the idea of using twelve music boxes for the middle section of “Get Up.”

Berry suffered an aneurysm on stage during the Monster tour, on March 1, 1995. Two years later, he announced he was leaving the band.

Peter Buck, lead guitar

Born December 6, 1956, Berkeley, California.

Buck saw his first rock concert in 1965, performed by a band called the Postmen, playing covers of hit songs. A year later, he moved with his family to Indiana, and in 1969, to Atlanta. He attended high school there, hit the open road for some adventure, and returned to Atlanta around 1977 and took a job at the esteemed used record store, Wuxtry's. A year later, he would re-locate to work at the Athens branch of the store. There he would meet frequent customer Michael Stipe. Buck is responsible for much of the band's signature sound in the early days, the springy, jangling notes of his Rickenbacker.

Mike Mills, bass

Born December 17, 1958, Orange County, California

Like Bill Berry, Mills moved with his family to Macon, Georgia, just before the start of high school. There, he played the sousaphone in the marching band, before switching to electric bass, which was actually used in the marching band.

Mills made a bad first impression on both Berry, whom he met in high school, and Stipe, who he'd meet in Athens a few years later. Berry says "he was everything I despised: great student, got along with teachers, didn't smoke cigarettes or smoke pot." Stipe's more blunt reaction on first meeting: "I'm not going to be in a band with this guy, there's no way on earth.”

Because Buck's guitar was very rhythmic, Mills, particularly on the debut album Murmur, played a distinctive, very melodic style of bass, a minor trademark of the band's early work.

Michael Stipe, lead vocals

Born John Michael Stipe on January 4, 1960, Decatur, Georgia

In a band of men who moved from state-to-state as children, Stipe was the most itinerant. His father served in the United States Air Force, and the family moved from base to base, settling just outside East St. Louis, Illinois (U.S. state) in the early 70s. Stipe describes himself in high school as a "complete nebbish Woody Allen type who wore glasses." However, he was extroverted enough to join a punk band named Bad Habits, and then, after moving to Athens, Georgia, a covers band, Gangster.

Early in the band's career, Stipe became noted for his clenched vocal style, though the description of his singing as hopelessly hard to understand has been grossly overblown over the years. However, his other stylistic calling card, the obscurity of his impressionistic, associative lyrics comes with ample evidence. Stipe became the band's—and indeed alternative rock's—major demagogue: his rabid fans were called "distiples." He became known and adored for his shyness, awkwardness, and his anachronistic ways. Not only did he dress in a wide array of second-hand outfits that evoked days gone by, but he claimed to not own a refrigerator.

In the mid-90s, Stipe would adopt a more modern aesthetic with a shaved head and frequent appearances in bulging sun glasses and baggy t-shirts; and in 2001, would appear in concert wearing a thick stripe of dark blue makeup above and under his eyes.

Origin: The Athens Scene

Mills and Berry became friends in high school and went from Macon to Athens together for college. Buck and Stipe, after meeting and talking records in Wuxtry, became part of an Athens art and music scene. The two of them moved into an abandoned church which contained a large empty space for gatherings, as well as a stage. Buck and Stipe began jamming and writing songs. In the autumn of 1979, they were introduced to Mills and Berry by Kathleen O’Brien, a mutual friend who worked at the University of Georgia’s radio station.

The band was initially pensive about Buck’s lack of technical skill on guitar. They considered replacing him with Mills, but decided against this, since Mills and Berry had already developed a rapport as a rhythm section in various Macon bands.

The band put as much energy into writing originals as it did learning covers. Its early compositions were fast and jaunty, with lyrics about breakups, partying, and youthful alienation. Some of the first covers it played live were “Hippy-Hippy Shake” by the Swinging Blue Jeans, “Honky Tonk Women,” by the Rolling Stones, “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols, and “Gloria” by Them.

Their first live show was at a party for O’Brien, at the church, on April 5, 1980. They played nascent originals in equal quantity as their sixties covers, and by all accounts the music was sloppy, drunken and enthusiastic, just like the party-goers. Paying gigs followed very quickly, the band was favorably reviewed by the university’s newspaper, and before long they began playing regularly at the popular local venue, the 40 Watt Club.

R.E.M. entered a dynamic, yet laid-back and accessible music scene in the small college town that was Athens. While The B-52s are well-known alums of that scene, they were gone by R.E.M.’s inception, and had never really developed in Athens, heading to New York City upon releasing their first single “Rock Lobster,” in 1979. Instead, the scene burgeoning in Athens in 1980 revolved around guitar-oriented bands who performed in baggy second-hand clothes and who weren’t very careerist. Foremost were Pylon, Love Tractor, and the Method Actors; the two bands that played at O’Brien’s birthday in addition to R.E.M. were The Side Effects and Men In Trees. (Bill Berry played drums in Love Tractor for a few months while simultaneously in R.E.M.)

Members of these bands regularly attended each other’s gigs at places such as Tyrone's and the 40 Watt, and formed a network through which the various acts could scout out and book gigs at venues in South Carolina, North Carolina, and in some cases, New York City.

R.E.M. chose its name in the Spring of 1980, just before its first paid gig. The oft-repeated story is that the members sat around getting drunk and playing with language, producing such gems as Slut Bank, Slug Bait, Negro Eyes, Cans of Piss, and Twisted Kites. They took R.E.M. from the dictionary. It stands for Rapid Eye Movement, the stage in sleep in which dreams occur. While this is thematically rich, the band adamantly denies an affinity for the significance of dreaming. “We just wanted something that was short and concise and wouldn’t typecast us as any particular type of group,” Mike Mills told an interviewer in 1984. However, they often spelled out the phrase, and according to Gray, “all the band’s early advertising posters used eyes as their central motif” .

Influences

The Velvet Underground influenced and inspired hundreds of future alternative rock musicians with its D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) aesthetic that privileged artistry over technical mastery, and R.E.M. is no exception. Fragments of the Velvets’ sometimes gentle, sometimes rickety, chiming guitar sound can be heard on R.E.M.’s first three full-length albums and on its debut e.p. Chronic Town. The band has woven Velvet covers into its concerts throughout its career: not only the regular “There She Goes Again,” but “Pale Blue Eyes” and “Femme Fatale,” first played in 1983, “After Hours” added in 1984, “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “Sunday Morning.” “Pale Blue Eyes,” Femme Fatale” and “There She Goes Again” were all recorded, used as single B-sides, and included on the compilation Dead Letter Office in 1987. “After Hours” capped every show of the Green World Tour, 1989, and appears over the credits in the longform video Tour film.

Stipe as a lyricist and concert performer is profoundly influenced by Patti Smith, the poet and songwriter who began releasing now-legendary records in the mid 70s. Other key influences include Television and Gang of Four, both with angular, jaunty guitar sounds.

Significance

Along with U2, The Cure, The Replacements, and perhaps to a lesser degree Depeche Mode, R.E.M. is credited with being one of the creators of, and leading figures in, the sub-genre “alternative rock”, or “college rock”. In 1986, Spin magazine called the band “The Beatles of college rock”.

Prior to the band’s existence, college radio stations played a very diffuse array of artists. Marcus Gray's assessment is, “throughout the 70s... college radio was a bit of a joke, often being left-field and obscure for the sake of it, with jazz being particularly dominant.” However, the early 80s saw the emergence of an army of bands playing guitar-oriented rock much more subtle than what was available on commercial FM radio, with lyrics that were intelligent, poetic, often socially conscious. This gave college radio DJ's a stable of artists with which they could create programs with a particular sound to cultivate a “scene” for like-minded listeners.

Similarly, R.E.M. is credited as being the foremost pioneer in the practice of visiting college radio stations while on tour, giving interviews and performing on air, a now-ubiquitous practice.

The band has been cited as an influence, covered by, or can be heard in the music of such acts as Pavement, The Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra, Hootie and the Blowfish, Dashboard Confessional, and Toad the Wet Sprocket.

In 2007, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder gave the induction speech, saying that when the band’s debut album Murmur came out in 1984, he listened to it constantly for months, quipping that he was largely trying to decipher the often-slurred lyrics.

Distinctive traits

Aside from their distinctive “jangly” guitar sound, R.E.M. is known for many unique traits. Chief among these is the reputation of Stipe’s vocals as being rather unintelligible, particularly on the band’s first three albums. Murmur was nicknamed “mumble,” and the notion of great unintelligibility became propagated by media and fans alike. But a listen to the early work in question reveals that almost all of the phrases in the songs are decipherable.

However, once one identifies various phrases, it is nearly impossible to ascribe a literal meaning to many of the lyrics, which is another of the band's defining traits. Rarely do R.E.M. songs flesh out any narrative, and the phrases are often not linked with conjunctions or other means of establishing a logical link from one to the next. From 1982's "Carnival of Sorts" (Boxcars): "Secret, stigma, reaping wheel/stranger, stranger to these parts/chronic town, poster torn, reaping wheel/diminish, stranger”. Largely a string of nouns, this passage creates a sense of persecution, a stranger in a "chronic town" stigmatized or harboring a secret (unless the secret belongs to the town) and perhaps falling prey to the metaphorical blades of the town's "reaping wheel." One has to reap one's own significance--it is more emotional or suggestive than limned out. Another example comes from 1983's "Laughing": "lighted/in a room/ lock the door/latch the room/lighted/lighted/laughing." This haunting passage resists interpretation, particularly if one is unfamiliar with explanations of the song's overall themes, given by Stipe over the years. However, it creates an ecstatic image of someone locking him or herself in a room and laughing, though at whom or what? An earlier line is "martyred/misconstrued" so the person treated thusly must be laughing at her persecutors. "Lighted" can spur a listener to a lengthy process of literary interpretation, but the immediate emotional response it creates is one of some positive feeling within the character, though there is an interesting juxtaposition of the room being sunny or "lighted" while also "latched." It is as though the persecution from without has closed this person in a room, but that light is coming from another source, perhaps within, since we know the character is "laughing."

Another trait that defined the band's overall aesthetic was its style of live shows. In a way that would define the "alternative" style, the band gave stripped-down concerts, free of smoke or lasers, without much theatricality. Gray describes 1984's Little America tour, in support of Reckoning: "for those at the back of the hall, Michael was a near-silhouette at the microphone, Bill practically indiscernible behind his drum kit, and Mike and Peter reduced to vague shapes moving around in the onstage murk.

This anti-showbiz attitude extended to the band's approach to music videos. Stipe refused to lip synch in early clips, at least after doing so in the first one, for 1982's "Wolves, Lower." Not until 1992's "Losing My Religion" would he change this policy, and continue miming lyrics for the rest of the band's career. Buck also reacted negatively to the conventions of music video. Of MTV, he said, "they sell images, and we're not a band that takes to the selling of images.” The band didn't mime performing to songs on most of its earliest videos. Instead, "Driver 8" (1985) is composed almost entirely of black and white footage of trains, and "Fall on Me" (1986), shot by Michael Stipe, is a montage of black and white shots of rubble and power lines and the sky, turning upside down, the song's lyrics written across in red. However, from the 90's on, most of the band's videos contained performance and traditional music video aesthetics.

Early years

In 1981, while paying its dues playing in small clubs across the country, R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe" on Hib-Tone records. The record was named Single of the Year by Robert Christgau of the Village Voice and put R.E.M. on the path of conquering the college radio world. In 1982, R.E.M. released its debut e.p. Chronic Town, made up of five songs. This got good critical attention and paved the way for its debut album Murmur, released on April 12, 1983. This now-legendary album sold approximately 125,000 copies in the months after release but earned a cult following and garnered raves from critics. Rolling Stone named it the best album of the year, one ahead of Michael Jackson's Thriller. It made best of the year lists in The Los Angeles Times and the Village Voice, and would later be named 58 in Rolling Stone's 1987 list of Top 100 albums of the last 20 years. Murmur is at atmospheric album of mid-tempo guitar numbers with dusky, softened undertones, along with ghostly wisps of backing vocals moving about like shadows. Rolling Stone's review says, "Mike Mills' rumbling bass and Bill Berry's often sharp, slashing drums cast a cloudy, post punk aura that is lightened by Peter Buck's folk-flavored guitar playing. Many of the songs have vague, ominous settings…” An Athens publication, Classic Scene, gives us some insight into how the album differs from the band's live shows of the time, saying that the songs "slip the dance rhythm into the background, slow up the tempo and push up the melody and vocals.” The album includes a new version of the 1981 single "Radio Free Europe," as well as the up-tempo "Sitting Still," "Shaking Through," with its soaring harmonizing between Stipe and Mills in the choruses, the chilling "Perfect Circle" and the eccentric "We Walk" with it loopy guitar doodles.

The follow-up was 1984's Reckoning, which is more straightforward, with less studio effects. It contains tracks that define R.E.M's jangly guitar sound, such as "Pretty Persuasion" and "7 Chinese Bros." as well as the single "So. Central Rain," in which the refrain finds Stipe shouting "I'm sorrrrr-y." over and over.

In early 1985, R.E.M. stepped into a London recording studio as a cult icon with a growing and adoring group of fans. They had been universally praised by critics, even if they weren't getting airplay on mainstream FM radio. However, the band, weary from nearly two years of frequent touring, with another eight months on the road scheduled, were depressed and gloomy during the sessions. The result is Fables of the Reconstruction, a moody, tempestuous album that band members have criticized over the years. However, writing about the album more than a decade after its release, Troy Carpenter, co-director of the website nudeasthenews.com, ventures, "Fables was as essential as R.E.M.'s first two albums in creating an alternative to the mainstream airwaves and establishing a benchmark of quality for the American underground.”

Middle years

In 1986, the band released its fourth album, Lifes Rich Pageant. This was produced by Don Gehman, a long-time producer of John Mellencamp. Gehman convinced the band to put Stipe's vocals higher in the mix, and the album had a clearer, more direct sound than previous ones. "Fall On Me," "These Days," and "I Believe" have become members of the band's canon, while "Cuyahoga" became a near-staple of live shows in the aughts. Also notable is "Superman," a jaunty, organ-enhanced cover of an obscure song by an obscure sixties band, The Clique.

During this time, Stipe became romantically involved with Natalie Merchant, lead vocalist of the band, 10,000 Maniacs. Merchant would later tell Q Magazine that she and Stipe were "lovers" "for a couple of years”. 10,000 Maniacs opened for R.E.M. on the first leg of R.E.M.’s 1987 North American tour.

The band’s fifth album was Document, released in the fall of 1987. Stipe’s lyrics contained much more political content than ever before, decrying the conservatism of the decade in “Exhuming McCarthy,” and protesting the presence of the United States of America in El Salvador in “Welcome To the Occupation.” “Finest Worksong” seems to urge listeners to rise above American consumerism with the phrases “What we want/and what we need/have been confused,” and “your better-best/to re-arrange.”

The album marked a commercial breakthrough for R.E.M., since the first single, “The One I Love” saw frequent airplay and became a Top 10 hit on the Billboard singles chart. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was a lesser hit. The album made it to number 10 on the Billboard album chart and sold more than half a million copies to earn Platinum certification.

In 1988, R.E.M. left its record label, I.R.S., and became a major-label act by signing with Warner Brothers. The first release on the new label was Green, which hit stores on November 9, the day of the U.S. presidential election. Green departed from Document by featuring less hard guitars and by presenting a more varied sound. “Hairshirt” and “You Are the Everything” use a mandolin as the main instrument, “Eleventh Untitled Song” is based on ringing organ riffs, while “The Wrong Child” is piano-based. The single “Stand,” much more poppy and accessible than many of the album’s songs, became R.E.M.’s second Top 10 hit, while the album was certified double platinum. The band spent eight months of 1989 on its “Green World Tour,” producing from their live set, the longform video Tour film.

1991 was a watershed for R.E.M. Out of Time, released in March, while in some ways a natural progression from Green, also marked a clear advance in style. The band had by now completely shed its jangly guitars and oblique lyrics. Out of Time is instead slower than previous releases, more mature, resourceful, folksy, laden with strings, harpsichords, dulcimers, and the famous mandolin of “Losing My Religion.” This song, released as a single prior to the album’s release, became the band’s first international megahit, and would forever change its place in the world of music. After years of progressively selling more copies of albums and seeming too big for the “college rock” world, R.E.M. became, by the Summer of 1991, universally recognized, heavily covered by the media, and part of the rock and roll establishment.

Aside from the landmark single, Out of Time contained “Country Feedback,” which over the years would grow to be a favorite of Stipe’s and a mainstay in the band’s live shows; “Radio Song,” a treatise on the lack of imagination on FM radio, which featured a rap from KRS-1 of Boogie Down Productions; “Belong,” with spoken-word lyrics and a chorus of haunting moans; and “Shiny Happy People,” featuring Kate Pierson on backing vocals. This song would become nearly infamous as a major misstep of the band’s, and members would soundly condemn it over the years. The album, overall, as had all of the band’s albums, to varying degrees, received critical adulation.

Later Years

R.E.M.’s transition into the realm of super-stardom continued in 1992 with the release of its much-adored album ''Automatic For the People''. The album was well-awaited, was released to thunderous critical praise, and was nearly as commercially successful as Out of Time, without the aid of a hit of the magnitude of “Losing My Religion.”

Automatic ensconced the band in the realm of mature, folksy, slow music, but went well beyond Out of Time it this regard. This time, the strings were even more prominent, the songs more haunting, and in a few cases, somewhat ethereal.

Signature tracks include “Try Not To Breathe,” a bracing ballad from the point-of-view of a dying man; “Sweetness Follows,” a blistering torch song concerning an emotionally fragmented family encountering the death of both parents; “Drive,” a nod to David Essex’s “Rock On,” though ominous instead of celebratory. Standouts include “Everybody Hurts,” with its shimmering, soulful organ and Stipe’s stunning vocal delivery, “Man On The Moon,” a paean to eccentric comedian Andy Kaufman, “Find the River,” a hymn to self-discovery, and “Nightswimming,” a stately piano and French horn piece with another breathtaking vocal take.

Though successful and well-respected, the band seemed to want to cease being what Q associate editor Gareth Grundy would later describe as “an avuncular presence”. They abandoned the strings, dulcimers, harpsichords and mandolins for their follow-up, 1994’s Monster. This striking album was described by the press as an ode to early 70s glam rock, with its thick guitars and thicker drum beats. The songs were almost all noisy, often menacing. Noted tracks are “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” “Crush With Eyeliner” and “Star 69.”

The band hadn’t toured since the grueling campaign in support of Green, and in early ’95, armed with a roster of hard rock tunes, it began circling the globe. This tour would be marred by the collapse of Bill Berry, from an aneurysm, on March 1. He would recover, and continue the rest of the tour.

The long, tumultuous tour proved a time of productivity for the band—it wrote more than a dozen songs, many worked up at sound checks. Realizing it had so much material, R.E.M. considered a live album for its next release. Instead, it took some tracks recorded in sound checks or shows, tidied them up in the studio, and released a unique hybrid of a live and studio album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi. This hour-long extravaganza featured “E-Bow, the Letter,” with Stipe idol Patti Smith contributing backing vocals. Stipe considered this one of his best lyrical achievements. “Electrolite,” “New Test Leper” and “So Fast So Numb” would see frequent rotation in future R.E.M. set lists.

In Fall of 1997, the band saw a cataclysm when drummer Bill Berry told them he was leaving the band. The news was announced on October 2914. The band decided to move ahead as a threesome, and began experimenting with synthesized drums. It would take on Joey Waronker as a side musician for live shows, and then Bill Rieflin, who would also play on albums, but not become an official fourth member.

In June of 1998, Buck, Mills, and Stipe, along with band manager Bertis Downs, met in Idaho to resolve conflicts and to discuss the band's future. While Mills says he and Stipe were worried that the meeting would be the occasion of the band breaking up, they ultimately made a commitment to communicate better, collaborate more closely in the recording process, and forge ahead.

They released Up in October of '98. It's a slow, languorous album laden with keyboards and having a generally dreamy feel. It is often thought to have continued an alienation of many longtime fans that had been started with Monster.

The follow-up was 2001's Reveal. This album is also less guitar-oriented than previous ones, with a few flowing, mellow songs like "Summer Turns To High," "Beat a Drum" and the slow, spacey "I've Been High." Peter Buck says of the album, "Reveal will be one of the three or four that they'll pick out of our work and say, 'oh yeah, that's what the group were about. ' "

Not long after the album's release, Buck was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct aboard a British Airways flight from Seattle to London. He consumed "an estimated 15 glasses of red wine" and his defense was that he was also on a sleeping medication, Zolpidem, and thus "not criminally responsible for his actions". In Spring of '02 he was cleared of all charges.

In 2004, R.E.M. released Around the Sun to poor sales and negative reviews. Writing for ShakingThrough.net, Kevin Forest Moreau says, " Its sporadic pockets of accessibility aside, it's difficult to listen to Around the Sun without hearing it as a holding pattern, or worse, a piece of product released simply to keep the R.E.M. brand out among the public."

Pitchfork Media’s Stephen M. Deusner concludes “(the album’s) chief problem is that every word, every note, and every instrument sounds dry, sapped of most of their personality.”

After being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, the band went about the project of regaining some of its vitality and relevance, writing a set of urgent, loud songs for what would become its next album, Accelerate. “Living Well is the Best Revenge,” “Mr. Richards” “Until the Day is Done” and “Houston” are all political protests, while “Hollow Man” and “Supernatural Superserious” seem to be more about self-exploration.

The album received strong reviews overall, with some raves. Rolling Stone judged it “one of the best records R.E.M. have ever made.”

Discography

LP Album Cover: In Time-1988-2003 The Best of R.E.M.

Chronic Town; 8/82; IRS ; Producer: Mitch Easter

Murmur; 4/83; IRS; Producer: Mitch Easter

Reckoning; 4/84 ; IRS; Producer: Mitch Easter

Fables of the Reconstruction; 6/85; IRS; Producer: Joe Boyd

Lifes Rich Pageant; 7/86; IRS; Producer: Don Gehman

Dead Letter Office (a collection of b-sides and rarities); 4/87; IRS

Document; 9/87; IRS; Producer: Scott Litt

Eponymous (a collection of songs from the IRS years); IRS; 10/88

Green; 11/88; Warner Bros.; Producer: Scott Litt

Out of Time; 3/91; Warner Bros.; Producer: Scott Litt

Automatic For the People; 9/92; Warner Bros.; Producer: Scott Litt

Monster; 9/94; Warner Bros.; Producer: Scott Litt

New Adventures in Hi-Fi; 9/96; Warner Bros.; Producer: R.E.M.

Up; 10/98; Warner Bros.; Producer: Pat McCarthy, R.E.M.

Reveal; 5/01; Warner Bros.; Producer: Pat McCarthy

In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003; 10/03; Warner Bros.

Around the Sun; 10/04; Warner Bros.

And I Feel Fine…: The Best of the IRS Years 1982-87; 9/06; IRS

R.E.M. Live; 10/07; Warner Bros.

Accelerate; 4/08; Warner Bros.; Producer: R.E.M.

Awards and recognition

1981: Single of the Year, Robert Christgau's Critics Poll, Village Voice: "Radio Free Europe"

1983: Best Album, Rolling Stone: Murmur

1983: Best New Artist, Rolling Stone

1985: Album of the Year, College Music Journalists Awards

1986: Top Album, Creem Readers' Poll: Lifes Rich Pageant

1986: Top Single, Creem Readers' Poll: "Fall On Me"

1986: Top Band, Creem Readers' Poll

1991: MTV Video Music Awards:

• Video of the Year, "Losing My Religion"
• Best Group Video, "Losing My Religion"
• Breakthrough Video, "Losing My Religion"
• Best Direction, "Losing My Religion"
• Best Art Direction, "Losing My Religion"
• Best Editing, "Losing My Religion"

1992: Grammy Awards:

• Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal, "Losing My Religion"
• Best Alternative Music Album, Out of Time
• Best Music Video, Short Form, "Losing My Religion"

1994: Rock the Vote Patrick Lippert Award

MTV Video Music Awards:

• Breakthrough Video, "Everybody Hurts"
• Best Direction (Jake Scott), "Everybody Hurts"
• Best Editing (Pat Sheffield), "Everybody Hurts"
• Best Cinematography (Harris Savides), "Everybody Hurts"

1995: Best Band, Rolling Stone Critic's Choice

1996: Best Band, Rolling Stone Critic's Choice

2007: Induction, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame