Drive (R.E.M. song)

"Drive"
Single by R.E.M.
from the album Automatic for the People
B-side
  • "Winged Mammal Theme"
  • "World Leader Pretend"
ReleasedSeptember 21, 1992 (1992-09-21)[1]
Length4:25
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
R.E.M. singles chronology
"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
(1991)
"Drive"
(1992)
"Man on the Moon"
(1992)

"Drive" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It is the first track on and the lead single from their eighth studio album, Automatic for the People (1992), and was the first song lead singer Michael Stipe wrote on a computer.[2] "Drive" peaked at number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and number two on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. Internationally, "Drive" became R.E.M.'s then-second-biggest hit on the UK Singles Charts, peaking at number 11, and their biggest hit in Norway until "Supernatural Superserious" in 2008, reaching number three. Elsewhere, the song reached the top 10 in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

Despite the success and popularity of the song, it was left out of the band's Warner Bros. Records "best of" compilations In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 and Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011; however, a live version of the song was included in the special edition two-disc set of In Time that included rarities, live versions, and B-sides. The version featured was the "funk" version, which has never been studio-recorded. The song is also included on the 2003 live DVD Perfect Square, the 2007 live CD/DVD R.E.M. Live, and the 2009 live CD Live at the Olympia (and its accompanying DVD This Is Not a Show). This song was also sampled in the song "Space Bound" by Eminem on his 2010 album Recovery.

The B-side, "Winged Mammal Theme", is a re-working of the "Batman Theme" originally intended to appear in Batman Returns; the song went unused in the film's final version.

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. September 19, 1992. p. 19. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference hour was invoked but never defined (see the help page).