“It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M.

"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" is the breathless centerpiece of Document, R.E.M.'s 1987 album, and I.R.S. Records sent it out as the album's second single that November. The song is credited to all four members, Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, and Scott Litt produced it with the band and engineered it, with extra recording by Gary Laney and an additional mix by Steve Catania.

Stipe turns auctioneer here, spitting out a torrent of words so fast you'd swear he never inhales, while Buck's guitar chugs and jangles, Mills holds down the bass and Berry drives it all like a runaway truck. Then the chorus arrives and everybody just shrugs and grins at the apocalypse. It's a tongue-twister, a party song and a nervous joke at once, and that gang-shout refrain was made for bellowing.

The charts barely noticed at first: it stopped at 69 on the Hot 100. But the song wouldn't go away, and a re-release in December 1991 took it to 39 in Britain.

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