To celebrate the 20 years anniversary from the release of the most famous and perhaps most heard and played song by REM "Losing my Religion", there is a review posted on their official site . The song was released on February 19, 1991 from Warner Bros. Records, as the first single from the album Out Of Time. The "Losing my Religion" became the most successful song of REM in the lists of U.S. and reached # 4 in Billboard Hot 100. The REM song was awarded with two Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Short Form Music Video.
In an interview in the magazine Rolling Stone (5/3/1992) the singer of REM Michael Stipes revealed the song's thematic intent: "I hate to make this comparison, but "Religion" is similar in theme to "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. It's just a classic obsession pop song. I've always felt the best kinds of songs are the ones where anybody can listen to it, put themselves in it and say, "Yeah, that's me."
The video of "Losing My Religion", which was directed by Tarsem Singh , was nominated in nine categories in MTV Video Music Awards 1991. Eventually, it won six of them: Video of the Year, Best Video from Group, Breakthrough Video, Best Art Direction, Best Director and Best Editing .
Guitarist of REM Peter Buck revealed to Guitar School (1993) that he knew beforehand that the band had something special in their hands: "I always thought this was the best song on Out of Time, even before it was a single. I really didn't expect it to be a hit; I just loved the song and the lyrics. "Losing My Religion" is another song that came together in about five minutes. A lot of the ideas were developed on mandolin. As I recall, it was the first song we wrote specifically for the album."
It's been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and "Losing My Religion" has taken its share with a lot of remakes from artists such as: Russell Brand, Nina Persson & Nathan Larson, Brooklyn Avenue (house remix), Colton Ford, Tori Amos, Gregorian, Anouk, Graveworm, Glee, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Matthew Mayfield .
REM release their 15th album titled Collapse Into Now on March 7, in which they work with Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Joel Gibb, Peaches, and Eddie Vedder .
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