When REM started work on their 1992 album, Automatic for the People, drummer Bill Berry brought in a song that had a definite country twang to it. He wrote it after hearing a story about adolescent suicide, which was turning into a full-blown mental health crisis.
His version was about a minute long. There were no chorus and no bridge, just a looping guitar part. It had potential, but no one was sure where it should go. Four different approaches were tried. In the end, they took cues from the hit “Love Hurts” by Nazareth. Bill didn’t play live drums but programmed the drum machine. And John Paul Jones was brought in to arrange the string section.
The result was “Everybody Hurts,” which became one of REM’s biggest singles ever.
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