“Man on the Moon” by R.E.M.

"Man on the Moon" is R.E.M.'s valentine to the comedian Andy Kaufman, and in 1992 Warner Bros. made it the follow-up single to "Drive" from Automatic for the People, the band's eighth album. Michael Stipe wrote the words, Bill Berry and Peter Buck wrote the music, and the result is a lazy, country-rocking stroll that suddenly swells into one of the biggest, most open-hearted choruses the band ever wrote.

Stipe packs the verses with nods to Kaufman's career: his Elvis impersonation, his wrestling stunts, the film My Breakfast with Blassie. The title and chorus play with the old rumor that the moon landing was staged, a sly, sideways joke about what's real and what's a put-on. Scott Litt produced it with the band, and he and Clif Norrell mixed it with a warm, airy touch that lets Buck's guitar ring.

It got as far as 30 on the Hot 100 and 18 in Britain, and it hit number one in Iceland. Peter Care shot the black-and-white video in California. The song later lent its name to Miloš Forman's 1999 Kaufman biopic, where it features prominently on the soundtrack, and it stands among R.E.M.'s best-loved songs.

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