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Automatic for the People
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<p><i>Automatic for the People</i> is the eighth studio album by the American <a href="/facts/Alternative_rock/7xRALNsG">alternative rock</a> band <a href="/facts/R.E.M./vshQTmmg">R.E.M.</a>, released on October 5, 1992, in the United Kingdom and Europe, and on the following day in the United States, by <a href="/facts/Warner_Bros._Records/w5sRGtNj">Warner Bros. Records</a>. R.E.M. began production on the album while their previous album, <i><a href="/facts/Out_of_Time_(album)/rbXRLvh1">Out of Time</a></i> (1991), was still ascending charts and achieving global success. Several tracks include <a href="/facts/String_section/3ALVzGrG">strings</a> arranged by <a href="/facts/John_Paul_Jones_(musician)/gerHp49k">John Paul Jones</a> and conducted by George Hanson. </p><p>Yielding six singles, the album reached number two on the US <a href="/facts/Billboard_200/XtbnoFSM"><i>Billboard</i> 200</a> and received widespread acclaim from critics upon release. <i><a href="/facts/Rolling_Stone/HhCFoJ9F">Rolling Stone</a></i> reviewer Paul Evans concluded of the album, "This is the members of R.E.M. delving deeper than ever; grown sadder and wiser, the Athens subversives reveal a darker vision that shimmers with new, complex beauty." <i>Automatic for the People</i> has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. In 2020, <i>Rolling Stone</i> ranked the album number 96 on its list of the "<a href="/facts/Rolling_Stone%2527s_500_Greatest_Albums_of_All_Time/40CPshrf">500 Greatest Albums of All Time</a>". </p>