Album · R.E.M.
Reckoning by R.E.M.
Reckoning is an album by R.E.M., released in 1984. 5 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 92 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “(Don't Go Back To) Rockville”, on 39 lists with a best position of #2.
Reckoning, R.E.M.'s second album, came out on I.R.S. on April 9, 1984, and it's the sound of a band trying to bottle what they did on stage. Mitch Easter and Don Dixon produced it at Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, in just 16 days across December 1983 and January 1984, and they aimed to catch the band live, even using binaural recording on several tracks. The alternative title, File Under Water, hints at what's floating through Michael Stipe's lyrics: water turns up again and again, and the subject matter runs darker than before.
Peter Buck's guitar rings and chimes, Mike Mills's bass and harmonies push up from underneath, and Bill Berry drives it all forward with a lighter touch than you'd expect. "So. Central Rain" aches and pleads, "Pretty Persuasion" jangles in a rush, "Harborcoat" tumbles along, and "7 Chinese Bros." and "Camera" slow things down to a hush. "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" is the odd one out, a loose, twangy, ramshackle shuffle that sounds like it was cut after closing time.
Critics welcomed it warmly. It reached number 27 in America, where it went gold in 1991, and scraped into the British chart at number 91.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Reckoning on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (Don't Go Back To) Rockville | 39 | #2 | – | 1989–2026 | |
| 2 | Pretty Persuasion | 35 | #50 | – | 1984–2021 | |
| 3 | 7 Chinese Bros. | 10 | #673 | – | 2002–2021 | |
| 4 | Camera | 7 | #1775 | – | 1999–2011 | |
| 5 | Harborcoat | 1 | #725 | – | 2024 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.