The R.E.M. guitarist,Peter Buck, wrote the main riff and chorus for "Losing My Religion" on amandolin. He had recently bought it and was learning how to play, recording as he practiced while watching television. Buck said that "when I listened back to it the next day, there was a bunch of stuff that was really just me learning how to play mandolin, and then there's what became 'Losing My Religion', and then a whole bunch more of me learning to play the mandolin".[4] He said he likely would not have written the chord progression in the same way had he not played it on mandolin.[5]
Finding the song lacked midrange between the bass and mandolin, R.E.M. enlisted the touring guitaristPeter Holsapple onacoustic guitar.[7] Buck said, "It was really cool: Peter and I would be in our little booth, sweating away, andBill and Mike would be out there in the other room going at it. It just had a really magical feel."[7]Michael Stipe recorded his vocals in a single take.[8] The strings, arranged by Mark Bingham, were performed by members of theAtlanta Symphony Orchestra at Soundscape Studios inAtlanta, Georgia, in October 1990.[9]
"Losing My Religion" is based on Buck's mandolin part. Buck said, "The verses are the kinds of things R.E.M. uses a lot, going from one minor to another, kind [of] like those 'Driver 8' chords. You can't really say anything bad about E minor, A minor, D, and G ... We are trying to get away from those kind of songs, but like I said before, those are some good chords."[7] He felt "Losing My Religion" was the most "typical" R.E.M. song on the album.[7] The song is innatural minor.[10]
The title phrase is an expression from the Southern United States that means "losing one's temper or civility" or "feeling frustrated and desperate".[11] Stipe said the song was about romantic expression andunrequited love.[12][13] The lines "That's me in the corner / That's me in the spotlight" were originally "That's me in the corner / That's me in the kitchen", describing a person at a social event too shy to approach the person they like.[14] Stipe compared the theme to "Every Breath You Take" (1983) bythe Police, saying, "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.'"[15]
The music video for "Losing My Religion" was directed by the Indian filmmakerTarsem Singh. Unlike previous R.E.M. videos, Stipe agreed tolip-sync the lyrics.[16] The video begins inside a dark room where water drips from an open window. Recreating a scene from theAndrei Tarkovsky filmThe Sacrifice, Buck, Berry, and Mills run across the room while Stipe remains seated as a pitcher of milk drops from the windowsill and shatters.
The video originated as a combination of ideas envisioned by Stipe and Singh. Stipe wanted a straightforward performance video, akin toSinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U". Singh wanted to create a video in the style of a certain type of Indian filmmaking, where everything would be "melodramatic and very dreamlike", according to Stipe.[17] Singh said the video was modeled after theGabriel García Márquez short story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings", in which an angel crashes into a town and the villagers have varied reactions to him.[18] He also drew inspiration from the Italian painterCaravaggio, and the video uses religious imagery such asSaint Sebastian, the Biblical episode of theIncredulity of Thomas, and Hindu deities, portrayed in a series oftableaux.[19] The actorWade Dominguez appears in the video.[20]
"Losing My Religion" was released on February 19, 1991, in the United States as the lead single from R.E.M.'s albumOut of Time.[15] Their record label,Warner Bros., was wary of the choice of lead single. Steven Baker, then the vice president of product management., said there were "long, drawn-out discussions" about releasing such an "unconventional track" as the single until the label agreed.[24]
R.E.M. did not tour to promoteOut of Time, but visited radio stations, gave press interviews and made television appearances.[24] On November 10, 1991, R.E.M. performed "Losing My Religion" with members of theAtlanta Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the tenth anniversary of MTV. It was recorded at the Madison Morgan Cultural Centre inMadison, Georgia, about 20 miles south ofAthens.[25]
Warner Bros. worked to establish "Losing My Religion" atcampus,modern rock, andalbum-oriented rock radio stations before promoting it to AmericanTop 40 stations, where it became a success. According to one program director, "Losing My Religion" was "a hard record to program; you can't playL.L. Cool J behind it. But it's a real pop record—you can dance to it." He said it "crosses the boundaries of just being an alternative record".[24]
"Losing My Religion" became R.E.M.'s biggest hit in the US, reaching No. 4 on theBillboardHot 100.[26] It stayed on the chart for 21 weeks.[27] It topped theBillboardAlbum Rock Tracks chart for three weeks and theModern Rock Tracks chart for eight weeks, the best performance of any R.E.M. song on either chart. It reached number 19 on the UK singles chart, No. 16 in Canada and No. 11 in Australia.[26]
With "Losing My Religion", R.E.M. crossed over into mainstream pop culture.[28] Asked if he was worried the success might alienate older fans, Buck toldRolling Stone, "The people that changed their minds because of 'Losing My Religion' can just kiss my ass."[29] Mills said R.E.M. understood they had a worldwide hit when they heard it on local radio in the jungle ofParaguay.[30] Years later,[when?] Mills said: "Without 'Losing My Religion',Out of Time would have sold two or three million [copies], instead of the ten [million copies] or so it did. But the phenomenon that is a worldwide hit is an odd thing to behold. Basically that record was a hit in almost every civilised country in the world."[8]
Caren Myers fromMelody Maker named the song "Single of the Week", writing that it "occupies a smaller, more intimate space, delicately picking a path with mandolins and acoustic guitars, soothed by the mournful sweep of a string section. Deceptive echoes of 'World Leader Pretend' dissolve on second listen as the song wraps itself around the impossibility of communication with glancing but painful accuracy. Stipe's writing is getting sparser and more intense, riddled with oblique insights but unwilling to point out where. This is R.E.M. at their most tender and unsettling, Stipe's careworn voice filled with inexplicable sadness, but as warm and familiar as ever."[31] A reviewer fromMusic & Media wrote: "Hearing such a beautiful song with a striking mandolin arrangement, provides an ample religious substitute."[32] Terry Staunton fromNME found that it "is likely to be read as self-reflection on R.E.M.'s position in the worldwide musical scheme of things, doubt and discomfort at the prospect of unwanted disciples".[33]
Parry Gettelman fromOrlando Sentinel wrote that R.E.M. had returned to its "trademark jangle", and that "Stipe touches again on what seems to be ambivalence about his role as a pop star, and about the need to communicate with an audience".[34]David Fricke fromRolling Stone felt that "there is melancholy in the air: in the doleful strings and teardrop mandolin".[35]Celia Farber fromSpin praised it as "a gorgeous, gorgeous song" and said "I actually get a hot/cold flash and have to play the song about 30 more times" when she hears the opening lyrics.[36]
^"Eurochart Hot 100 Singles"(PDF).Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 33. August 17, 1991. p. 21.Archived(PDF) from the original on July 18, 2020. RetrievedApril 27, 2020.
^"Top 10 Sales in Europe"(PDF).Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 30. July 27, 1991. p. 20.Archived(PDF) from the original on July 13, 2020. RetrievedNovember 22, 2019.
^"מדיה פורסט – המצעד הבינלאומי השבועי – Week 22 – 25/05 – 31/05/2025" [Media Forest – International Weekly Chart – Week 22 – 25/05 – 31/05/2025] (Select the year 2025 and the option "22 25-05-25 31-05-25" from the stretched lists, then click "שירים מובילים - רדיו - בינלאומי" to see the chart.) (in Hebrew).Media Forest. June 1, 2025. RetrievedJune 1, 2025.
^"Eurochart Hot 100 1991"(PDF).Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 51–52. December 21, 1991. p. 21.Archived(PDF) from the original on December 31, 2020. RetrievedJanuary 17, 2020 – via World Radio History.
