You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
REM was formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe,
bassist Mike Mills, guitarist Peter Buck, and drummer Bill Berry.
They've won three Grammys and have sold over 85 million records.
In 1992, the band released their eighth album, Automatic for the People.
And in honor of the 25th anniversary of its release, in this episode,
Michael Stipe and Mike Mills take part in the song Try Not to Breathe.
I will try not to breathe This decision is mine I have lived it for life These are the eyes that I want you to remember I'm Michael Stipe.
Having worked together for at this point 11 years as a band.
The guys were trying really hard to throw roadblocks in front of themselves to not write on the same instruments.
This is Mike Mills.
The genesis of this song was Peter's desire to experiment with different stringed instruments.
He was working a lot with anything he could get his hands on that wasn't an electric guitar.
And this started on the dulcimer.
The dulcimer was something Peter was really enjoying playing at that point,
and we liked the gothic southern quality of that sound.
Then he adds some steel string acoustic guitar.
That's where you get that beautiful quasi-western sound.