Ben Wyatt: “Get this — I just asked the DJ what REM album he has. It has Monsterbut no Automatic for people.”
Leslie Knope: “Wow.”
Ben: “I know. It's like, “What is this, a party in the mid-90s?” No, it's an early 90s party.'
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In a 2013 episode of NBC Parks and RecreationLeslie and Ben attend a party in the early 1990s, in the domain of, as Ben correctly notes, REM's 1992 LP Automatic for people.
If only DJ had been more up-to-date on the timeline of REM's discography — and Bulletin board map history — he would know that Monster made his mark on surveys in 1994-95. The set debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated October 15, 1994, with 344,000 copies sold in the United States, according to Luminate. (No figures were available on how many were sold in Pawnee, Ind.) The frame marks the band's best since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991, up 57% to 218,000 Automatic for people moved in its first week in October 1992, when it opened at its peak No. 2 spot.
Monster became the second of two Billboard 200 No. 1 of REM, then Out of time he also led for two weeks in May and June 1991.
“It's obvious that this album has been eagerly awaited by REM fans,” then-Bulletin board wrote deputy director of charts/retail Geoff Mayfield Monstermap arc. (In that pre-Halloween issue's Chart Beat column, Fred Bronson titled his recap of the arrival “Monster' Mash.”)
Bulletin boardhis criticism Monster on October 1, 1994, the issue praised REM's crispest turn in the set: “After a gloriously acoustic phase, the band returns to the power-pop sound of the late '80s, now with an industrial edge . Monster will live up to its name in rock, pop, college and alternative formats, confirming the band's position as one of the most exciting and uncompromising in America.”
Monster yielded the two most recent of REM's six No. 1s on the Alternative Airplay chart: “What's the Frequency, Kenneth?” for two weeks starting in September 1994 — as it became the first song to debut at the top of the chart — and “Bang and Blame” (three weeks in December). The former also reached No. 10 on Pop Airplay, while three other tracks from the set reached Alternative Airplay in 1995: “Star 69” (No. 8), “Strange Currencies” (No. 14) and “Crush With Eyeliner”. (no. 33).
Warner Records re-signed REM (who had joined the label for 1988 Green) to a reported $80 million contract in August 1996. The deal signified how high the band had risen since releasing its first single, the eventual classic “Radio Free Europe,” on indie Hib-Tone in 1981. ( The band signed with IRS in 1982.)
In 1997, drummer Bill Berry left REM, which continued as a trio with singer Michael Stipe, bassist Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and increased its tally to 10 Billboard 200 top 10s through its latest LP of brand new music, Collapse to nowin 2011. That September, Stipe, Mills and Buck announced their amicable split on REM's website.
On June 13, REM – including Berry – reunited to perform their highest-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Losing My Religion,” which peaked at No. 4 in 1991, at the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame celebration in New York, where The group was among the registered 2024.
“Writing songs and having a back catalog that we're all proud of that's out there for the rest of the world forever is the most important aspect of what we've done,” Stipe told the audience. “Second to that is that we've managed to do it all these decades and remain friends. And not just friends, dear friends.” He added, “We're four people who decided very early on that we're going to own our own bosses and share our rights and songs equally. All for one and one for all.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/rem-monster-chart-rewind-1994-6281379/
