Songoftheday 10/13/18 - Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life, Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match...

"Man On The Moon" - R.E.M.
from the album Automatic For The People (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 6

Today's song of the day comes from the alternative rock gods from Athens, Georgia, R.E.M., whose critically heralded album Automatic For The People had already scored a top-40 pop hit in the winter of 1992 with "Drive". Another track from the album, "Ignoreland", was serviced to rock radio, and reached the top-5 on both the Mainstream (#4) and Modern (#5) rock radio charts (it also hit #43 in Canada). The third offering from the record (and second physical single) would be the Andy Kaufman homage "Man On The Moon". Written by the band's Bill Berry, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills with lyrics from lead singer Michael Stipe, the song pulled different cues from Kaufman's life and work, then expanding to random questions on reality and reflections on memories of his youth, at one point blurting out board games in the mix...

"Man On The Moon" became the second top-40 pop hit from Automatic For The People in March of 1993. The single spent a week at #2 on Billboard magazine's Modern Rock chart, and hit #4 on the Mainstream rock tally. It even crossed over to the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list, landing at #46. Internationally, the single peaked at #3 in Canada, and #8 in New Zealand, and reached the top-40 in Ireland (#17), the UK (#18), Belgium (#20), Austria (#24), Germany (#34), and Australia (#39).

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Here's the band live in concert in 1996...