Song · R.E.M.
“Imitation of Life” by R.E.M.
From the album Reveal (2001)
“Imitation of Life” by R.E.M. appears on 18 radio countdowns from 12 stations between 2001 and 2024. It was first released in 2001 on the album Reveal. Its best result is #10 on the Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 2001. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #93 alternative song of 2001 and #6,405 alternative song of all time.
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R.E.M. picked "Imitation of Life" to lead off Reveal, their 12th studio album, in 2001, betting on its commercial pull, and you can hear why: it's about as unabashedly pop as Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe ever let themselves get. The band produced it with Pat McCarthy. The title comes straight from Douglas Sirk's 1959 film, borrowed as a metaphor for the awkward passage from adolescence into adulthood.
Critics warmed more to the playing than to the words, and the song picked up a Grammy nomination in the pop vocal group category. Garth Jennings' video is a small marvel of its own: a single 20-second pool party shot in Calabasas, run forward and backward and panned across so every little mishap gets its moment.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 75 | 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON | 89X Top 89 Songs of 2001 | 89 |
| 2001 | 11 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2001 | 101 |
| 2001 | 114 (tie) | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2001 | 191 |
| 2001 | 71 | 102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany) | WEQX Top 102.7 of 2001 | 103 |
| 2001 | 77 | WHTG Monmouth-Ocean, NJ | G106.3 Top 106 Songs of 2001 | 106 |
| 2001 | 65 | 97X Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL | 97X Top 97 Songs of 2001 | 97 |
| 2001 | 10 | Virgin Radio United Kingdom | Virgin Radio Top 10 Songs of 2001 | 10 |
| 2001 | 88 | 99X Atlanta, GA | 99X Top 99 Songs of 2001 | 99 |
| 2001 | 79 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2001 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1972 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1955 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 1887 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2003 | 88 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio VR10x10 (April 2003) | 100 |
| 2004 | 1887 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1875 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2009 | 522 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2022 | 198 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 204 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
Also listed as: Imitation Of Life.
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