The musicians recorded the demos in their standard band configuration. According to Buck, the musicians recorded about 30 songs. Lead singer Michael Stipe was not present at these sessions; instead, the band gave him the finished demos at the start of 1992. Stipe described the music to Rolling Stone early that year as "[v]ery mid-tempo, pretty fucking weird [...] More acoustic, more organ-based, less drums". In February, R.E.M. recorded another set of demos at Daniel Lanois' Kingsway Studios in New Orleans.
Despite R.E.M.'s initial desire to make an album of rocking, guitar-dominated songs after Out of Time, music critic David Fricke noted that instead Automatic for the People "seems to move at an even more agonized crawl" than the band's previous release. Peter Buck took the lead in suggesting the new direction for the album. The album dealt with themes of loss and mourning inspired by "that sense of [...] turning 30", according to Buck. "The world that we'd been involved in had disappeared, the world of Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, all that had gone [...] We were just in a different place and that worked its way out musically and lyrically." "Sweetness Follows", "Drive", and "Monty Got a Raw Deal" in particular expressed much darker themes than any of the band's previous material and "Try Not to Breathe" is about Stipe's grandmother dying.
"Song by song [...] the whole album is referencing the 1970s," recalls Stipe. "Everybody Hurts" was inspired by Nazareth's cover of "Love Hurts". "Drive" was an homage to David Essex and "Rock On", especially that song's early glam rock production style.
The interior jacket shows a two–three story circular platform that was the sign for the old Bon Aire Motel on the former Motel Row on Miami Beach. The Bon Aire and other motel row establishments have mostly been demolished for new high-rise condominiums.
The back cover features a photograph of an old building with the track listing written over at the same angle from which the building is viewed. Other photographs, taken by Anton Corbijn, feature the band members on a beach.
The compact disc release was originally issued in a jewel case with a translucent yellow CD tray, traded out with a then-standard opaque black tray on later pressings; the cassette shell was also issued with the same color. The yellow was made to match the color of the CD. The band would later use a similar method for their 1994 album Monster, which was released with a metallic orange CD tray on early copies (though this matched the album cover).
The album received widespread acclaim from critics upon release. R.E.M. biographer David Buckley wrote, "Automatic for the People is regarded by Peter Buck and Mike Mills, and by most critics, as being the finest R.E.M. album ever recorded." Rolling Stone gave the album five stars. Reviewer Paul Evans wrote, "Despite its difficult concerns, most of Automatic is musically irresistible." Melody Maker reviewer Allan Jones commented, "It's almost impossible to write about the record without mentioning the recent grim rumours concerning Stipe's health", in reference to the rumors at the time that the singer was dying of AIDS or cancer. Jones concluded his review by noting, "Amazingly, initial reactions to Automatic for the People in this particular vicinity have been mixed. [...] Psshaw to them. Automatic for the People is R.E.M. at the very top of their form." Ann Powers, reviewing the album for The New York Times, noted that only three of the songs on the album went beyond mid-tempo and said, "Only 'Man on the Moon' shines with a wit that balances R.E.M.'s somber tendencies." Powers finished her review by saying, "Even in the midst of such disenchantment, R.E.M. can't resist its own talent for creating beautiful and moving sounds. [...] Buck, Mills and Berry can still conjure melodies that fall like summer sunlight. And Stipe still possesses a gorgeous voice that cannot shake its own gift for meaning." Guy Garcia, for Time, also noted the album's themes of "hopelessness, anger and loss". Garcia added that the album proves "that a so-called alternative band can keep its edge after conquering the musical mainstream" and that it "manages to dodge predictability without ever sounding aimless or unfocussed."
"I'm not so crazy about 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite'," Buck reflected in 2001, "but overall I think it sounds great." Buck added in 2003, in regard to the song, "We included this song on Automatic in order to break the prevailing mood of the album. Given that lyrically the record dealt with mortality, the passage of time, suicide and family, we felt that a light spot was needed. In retrospect, the consensus among the band is that this might be a little too lightweight."
R.E.M.
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Rosen, Craig (September 14, 2017). "R.E.M.'s Peter Buck Talks 'Automatic for the People' Before 25th Anniversary Reissue: 'I Didn't Expect It to Be a Huge Hit'". Billboard. Retrieved October 4, 2017. http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7965626/rem-automatic-for-the-people-reissue-peter-buck-interview
Goodman, William (October 6, 2017). "The Enduring Empathy & Beauty of R.E.M.'s 'Automatic for the People'". Billboard. Retrieved November 11, 2019. https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7990121/rem-automatic-for-the-people-anniversary-essay