As 1988 was coming to a close, R.E.M. had moved over to the Warner Brothers record label and released their sixth studio album
Green. This record also marked changes in how they put together an album - from the band members learning each other’s instruments so they could switch roles during recording to the way the songs were written (starting with lyrics first in some instances).
The record did very well commercially. In the US it went to number 12 on the Billboard album charts and went double-platinum in sales. In the UK, it peaked at number 27 on the charts and was their first album to achieve gold and then platinum sales status.
