R.E.M. “The One I Love” released

The One I Love R.E.M.

Writer(s): Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe (see lyrics here) Released: August 24, 1987 First Charted: September 5, 1987 Peak: 9 US, 10 CB, 14 GR, 13 RR, 2 AR, 1 CO, 16 UK, 11 CN, 84 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 28.0 video, 132.07 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: R.E.M. formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 and immediately established themselves as one of the foundational bands for college rock radio. They were widely acclaimed through four albums which all found their way into the top 40 on the Billboard album chart in the U.S. Their big leap into the mainstream came in 1987 with their fifth album, Document. The top-10 album was their first platinum seller, thanks to the success of top-10 hit “The One I Love.” The band was on the cusp of “becoming one of the biggest groups of the subsequent decade.” TB Prior to “The One I Love,” R.E.M. had only charted on the Billboard Hot 100 with three minor hits. They developed a very “identifiable, special sound” PW with “Byrds-type guitars and rhythm section” PW with those earlier songs, but here “the guitar sound is full and surprisingly loud.” BC “The One I Love” is more of a tribute to Neil Young PW with its “feverish, amped-up electric guitar-bass-drum arrangement.” SS “T Because of its refrain, “This one goes out to the one I love,” this song has become popular for loved ones to dedicate to each other on the radio. WK However, this “intense, driving rock ballad…takes a decidedly dark look at love.” SS It contains lyrics which “suggest a…more manipulative theme” WK as demonstrated by lines like “a simple prop to occupy my time.” Lead singer Michael Stipe said, “It’s very clear that it’s about using people over and over again.” WK He initially thought the song was too brutal to record. SF Bassist Mike Mills said, “It was strange to see couples mooning into each other’s eyes when we were playing this spiteful number.” SS Critic Paul Williams says the song is “absolutely drenched in…the sounds and colors and textures of dissatisfied longing.” PW He says the lyrics reveal “the songer or persona’s discomfort with himself” PW as he rages “regarding his own inability to love; on some further level he is also expressing and despairing at his inability to really rage.” PW It “feels and sounds like a love song even as the content of words and vocal try to make clear that it isn’t.” PW Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for R.E.M. BC Brad Carl (2015). 50 Songs from the 70s and 80s That Still Hold Up. Page 41. SF Songfacts SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 719. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 230. WK Wikipedia PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.: New York, NY Pages 227-9. Related Links: First posted 10/2/2022; last updated 6/19/2024.