Hidden Gems: R.E.M. Out of Time Turns 30

Today on hidden gems we are going to look at the seventh studio album from a famous band from Athens, Georgia and that band is R.E.M and the album is Out of Time.

After the release of their sixth album “Green” and an 11month tour, the band went to work to create the album that took them from underground darlings to international stardom. From the opening track “Radio Song” R.E.M came out with a track that was different, unique, and awesome. With KRS-One with them, it showed how open and different R.E.M is willing to take this album. From here the album had a lot of great songs with the like of “Near Wild Heaven,” “Belong,” Half a World Away,” and “Me in Honey” show how they as a whole see things differently in terms of what the music scene was going on back in 1991 and trust me the early 90s were wild, different and awesome.

While the album was an international hit two songs stood out the most and for two very different reasons and they were “Losing My Religion,” and “Shiny Happy People.” Losing My Religion was a very melancholic yet soulful song that is not about religion at all, it’s about one losing their composure to frustration and desperation to any kind of situation. Shiny Happy People is also not about happy people, it’s a satirical take on government propaganda that happened after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Out of Time is a good album that showed what the music scene was in the early 90s and how a small band created an international hit album.