"Imitation of Life" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was written by band members Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe and produced by the band with Pat McCarthy for their 12th studio album, Reveal (2001). The track's title comes from Douglas Sirk's 1959 film of the same name and is used as a metaphor for adolescence and adulthood. One of R.E.M.'s most pop-influenced tracks, "Imitation of Life" has been described lyrically as "see[ing] through the puffed-up performance of a hopeful entertainer", as well as the enjoyment of love.
R.E.M. chose to release "Imitation of Life" as the first single from Reveal due to its commercial potential. The song was serviced to European radio in March 2001 and was issued worldwide commercially throughout April and May 2001. Upon its release, the song received positive reviews from music critics, who were more complimentary toward the instrumentation than the lyrical content. Commercially, the single peaked at number 83 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart for three weeks. Internationally, "Imitation of Life" reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, giving R.E.M. their ninth top-10 single in Britain. It was also successful in Italy, Norway, and Spain, reaching the top five in these counties, and it charted within the top 40 throughout Europe and Australia.
At the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in 2002, the song was nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, losing to U2's "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". A music video directed by Garth Jennings was made to promote the song. Filmed in Calabasas, California, in February 2001, the video uses a series of cameras and pan and scan techniques to create a 20-second clip of a pool party scene in which various incidents occur in both forward and reverse time. Critics praised the video for its concept, and it was nominated for two awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, losing in both categories to Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice".
Background and release
In the booklet for R.E.M.'s 2003 "best of" album, In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003, the band states that the song's title comes from Douglas Sirk's 1959 film of the same name, which none of the band members had ever watched, and that the title is a metaphor for adolescence and adulthood. The notes also say that after the release of the song, the band realized that it follows roughly the same chord progression as "Driver 8" from their third studio album, Fables of the Reconstruction (1985). The song was almost excluded from Reveal because it was too much like the rest of the album, but during the mixing process, the band decided to set it apart by turning it into an up-tempo track. R.E.M. chose to release "Imitation of Life" as the first single from Reveal because it was the "poppiest" track on the album and possessed their "classic" sound. Along with the rest of the album, R.E.M. recorded the song at four locations: The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia; John Keane Studios in Athens, Georgia; The Dalkey Lodge in Dublin, Ireland; and The Hit Factory Criteria in Miami, Florida.
Warner Bros. Records first serviced the song to European radio on March 23, 2001. Two weeks later, on April 9 and 10, the label sent the song to several American radio formats, including hot adult contemporary, mainstream rock, active rock, and alternative. The single received its first commercial release on April 16, 2001, when a maxi-CD single was issued in Australia containing three additional tracks: the original version of "The Lifting", a demo of "Beat a Drum" recorded at The Dalkey Lodge, and "2JN". Seven days later, another CD single was distributed across continental Europe—this one containing only "2JN" as an additional track—and a maxi-CD with the same track listing as the Australian format was also released. The single then went on sale in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2001, as a CD and cassette single; the CD omits "2JN" while the cassette contains the same tracks as the European CD. A DVD single was also issued in the UK, Europe, Australia, and Japan, featuring the "Imitation of Life" video plus audio of "2JN" and "The Lifting". In the United States, an enhanced version of the maxi-CD that includes the video and a limited-edition orange-colored 12-inch vinyl single were distributed on May 8, 2001. Reveal was released on May 14, 2001, on which "Imitation of Life" is included as the eighth track.