S T A T S

A B O U T

Facts: Monster is R.E.M.'s ninth album, and their fourth major label release for Warner Bros., released in 1994. It is their most guitar-heavy album to this day.

Monster became a multi-platinum seller, reaching #1 worldwide, and the #1 album on the Billboard charts in the US. Six singles were released from the album, and four charted. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", which takes its name from the phrase repeated by two men who assaulted newsman Dan Rather in the 1980's, reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts and reached #21 on the hot 100. "Bang and Blame." reached #19 on the hot 100 and #1 on the Modern Rock charts. "Crush With Eyeliner" reached #33 on the Modern Rock charts, and "Star 69" reached #8. "Strange Currencies" reached #14 on the Hot 100. "Tongue" failed to chart.

Videos did similarly well - the iconic performance video of the band in "What's The Frequency Kenneth" launched a fad for the red-star-on-army-green teeshirt Stipe wears - it was a heavy-rotation hit on MTV. "Bang and Blame"'s video is more ellusive and ghostly, almost trippy; "Strange Currencies" takes us to a house party back in the '70's, befitting the Girl-Group/Spector tinged wall of sound that is the song (it was shot on the first anniversery of River Pheonix's death). "Crush With Eyeliner" shows a group of Asian youths dancing and miming to the track at a party. The band is shown briefly, looking on. "Tongue"'s video, shot during soundcheck prior to the band's June 1995 performance at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York, shows a group of teenagers in a living room watching the band perform on TV.

In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued an expanded two-disc edition of Monster which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes. The CD (as with all in this series) is not remastered.

Trivia:

* The song "Let Me In" was written for Kurt Cobain, who died shortly before the sessions for Monster finished. Michael Stipe said that the lyrics of the song were basically what he would tell Kurt over the phone.

* In an article in Rolling Stone magazine, Courtney Love was quoted as saying that she "knew (Crush With Eyeliner) was about her" because Michael Stipe would sometimes amicably refer to her as "eyeliner."

* "King of Comedy" is a heavily processed, electronic-sounding track; Peter Buck called it a "Leonard Cohen rip-off." It had started out as a song called "Yes I Am F--king With You".

* "Star 69" is named after the access number for Last Call Return in North America, as indicated by its chorus.

* The caption in the liner notes reading "For River" is a dedication to late actor River Phoenix, a friend of Michael Stipe's, who died of an overdose of cocaine and heroin on 31 October 1993.

Lyrics And Track Listing:
1: What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
2: Crush With Eyeliner
3: King of Comedy
4: I Don't Sleep, I Dream
5: Star 69
6: Strange Currencies
7: Tongue
8: Bang and Blame
9: I Took Your Name
10: Let Me In
11: Circus Envy
12: You

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