Monster by R.E.M.

Monster, R.E.M.'s ninth studio album, hit the racks on Warner Bros. in late September 1994, and it sounds like a band that deliberately kicked the string section out of the room. After the hushed, autumnal grace of Out of Time and Automatic for the People, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry went looking for volume on purpose: loud, fuzzed-out, distorted guitar, blunt riffs and words stripped down until they're closer to a leer than a riddle. Buck, whose chiming jangle was the band's trademark, spends most of the record grinding and buzzing instead. The band produced it with Scott Litt, their trusted partner through the big years, and spread the sessions across four studios.

"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" kicked the door in as the lead single, and the album went straight in at number one in America and in at least seven other countries. Four more singles followed it out, with "Bang and Blame", "Strange Currencies" and "Tongue" all landing in the UK top 20, while "Crush with Eyeliner" struts and preens with a glam sleaze nobody expected from these college-radio lifers. Reviews were mostly warm, and it picked up a SNEP double gold certification along the way.

In 1995 they took it on the road, their first tour since 1989. The shows sold, but the road took its toll, with three of the four members hit by medical emergencies. At the 37th Grammys it was up for Best Rock Album and came up short against the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge. The tour wasn't wasted, either: most of the follow-up, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, was cut during it, much of it at soundchecks.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.