Songoftheday 10/6/17 - Every whisper Of every waking hour I'm choosing my confessions, trying to keep an eye on you...

"Losing My Religion" - R.E.M.
from the album Out Of Time (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's song of the day is from alternative rock giants R.E.M., who had switched to big label Warner Brothers and hit the pop top ten for the second time with their bouncy single "Stand" in the spring of 1989. After taking a little time off to regroup, the band came back in 1991 with their seventh studio record Out of Time. The first single from the record would be the mandolin-enhanced strummer "Losing My Religion". Written by lead singer Michael Stipe and the band who co-produced the record with Scott Litt, the moody yet totally accessible rumination on life caught on just as the nineties were getting serious, and pointed rock radio in a different direction than the metalheads who dominated it before. The music video, which won a Grammy Award itself, had become one of the most iconic of the decade, and really a work of art in itself...

"Losing My Religion" was R.E.M. biggest pop hit to date, reaching the top five in June of 1991. The single spent two months at #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock radio chart, and three weeks atop their Mainstream Rock list as well. The record even crossed over to the magazine's Adult Contemporary radio tally at #28. Internationally, the song went to #1 in the Netherlands and Belgium, and reached the top ten in France (#3), Sweden (#3), Norway (#4), Ireland (#5), Canada (#6), Austria (#6), and Italy (#8). It made it to #11 in Australia and #19 in the UK as well. The track won a Grammy Award for Pop Group/Duo Vocal Performance, and was nominated for Record and Song of the Year, losing both to Natalie Cole's "Unforgettable". The Out Of Time album would win for Alternative Rock album, also losing out on Album Of The Year to Cole, the sentimental pick.

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R.E.M. performed the song on SNL in 1991...

...and later that year on MTV's 10th anniversary show with an orchestra backup...

In 1994, dance music singer Abigail released a club version of the song...

That same year, Tori Amos did a completely opposite version for the soundtrack to Higher Learning...

Back to R.E.M. with their first appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1991...

Now for bigger sound at a show in 1995...

Here's the band performing at the Freedom Concert in London in 2001..

German vocal group Preluders, who were brought together by the reality singing competition Popstars, performed "Losing My Religion" as their "winner's song" in 2003..