Imitation of Life (song)

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For the song by Anthrax, see Among the Living.

"Imitation of Life"
Against a yellow-orange background is the band's italicized name in white text, with a red-orange circle over the top-right quarter of the "M". Below is written "IMITATION OF LIFE" in black text, with an image in both O's. The first O contains a dry environment while the second O display a person standing on a beach. To the top-right of the song name is black text that reads "Compact Disc Maxi-Single".
Single by R.E.M.
from the album Reveal
B-side
  • "The Lifting" (original)
  • "Beat a Drum" (Dalkey demo)
  • "2JN"
ReleasedApril 16, 2001 (2001-04-16)
Studio
Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Pat McCarthy
  • R.E.M.
R.E.M. singles chronology
"The Great Beyond"
(2000) 		"Imitation of Life"
(2001) 		"All the Way to Reno (You're Gonna Be a Star)"
(2001)
Music video
"Imitation of Life" on
YouTube

"Imitation of Life" is a song by American alternative rock band

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",[1]
as well as the enjoyment of love.

R.E.M. chose to release "Imitation of Life" as the first

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

A black-and-white picture of a man wearing dark glasses and a spotted tie. His head is facing toward the left.
The song's title was inspired by the film Imitation of Life, directed by German filmmaker Douglas Sirk (pictured).

In the booklet for

The Hit Factory Criteria in Miami, Florida.[6]

12-inch vinyl single were distributed on May 8, 2001.[19][20][21] Reveal was released on May 14, 2001, on which "Imitation of Life" is included as the eighth track.[22][23]

Composition

"Imitation of Life"
A 19-second sample of the chorus of "Imitation of Life", illustrating the song's "jangly" instrumentation. The drumming is the result of a machine rather than a session drummer.[4]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Featuring a

overdubbed them into the song. Stringfellow also added in the song's synthesizer solo. Stipe sings lead vocals and is backed by Mills.[4][6]

Set in

common time, "Imitation of Life" is composed in the key of G major with a tempo of 126 beats per minute.[27] Lyrically, Jordan Stepp of online magazine God Is in the TV described the track as "see[ing] through the puffed-up performance of a hopeful entertainer,"[1] while Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine wrote that the song is about "the pleasures of love and their aftermath."[28] The main chorus lyrics—"That sugarcane that tasted good / That's cinnamon, that's Hollywood / Come on, come on, no one can see you try"—are changed several times throughout the song, with Stipe repeating one variation until the track ends.[4]

Critical reception

Music critics praised "Imitation of Life".

goosebump-inducing instrumentation.[28] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the song one of the better tracks on Reveal, referring to it as a "windswept and sun-bleached beaut[y]".[23]

Miriam Hubner of

Far Out Magazine ranked the track at number three on its list of "The 10 Best Songs Based on Films", calling the track an "earworm" and noting its "pretty serious" theme.[34]

Commercial performance

On May 26, 2001, "Imitation of Life" debuted on the US Billboard

Modern Rock Tracks chart, where it reached number 22 and logged nine weeks on the listing.[40]

In Canada, "Imitation of Life" charted on the

UK Singles Chart, the song entered at its number-six peak on the week beginning May 6, 2001, giving R.E.M. their ninth top-10 hit and 25th top-40 hit in the United Kingdom. The single stayed in the top 100 for 13 weeks, giving R.E.M. their longest consecutive chart run on the UK chart and their second-longest run altogether, behind 1993's "Everybody Hurts".[43] "Imitation of Life" finished 2001 at number 176 on the UK year-end ranking.[44] In Ireland, the track appeared at its peak of number 12 on the Irish Singles Chart dated May 3, 2001, and it spent six weeks in the top 30.[45][46]

Across continental Europe, "Imitation of Life" made top-10 debuts in Italy, Norway, Spain, entering directly at numbers three, four, and three, respectively.

ARIA Singles Chart top 50.[59]

Music video

A picture of a pool party with many people scattered around, engaged in various activities.
A complete view of the music video's pool party setting. Throughout the video, the camera zooms in on various people. The members of R.E.M. can also be seen.[60]

The music video for "Imitation of Life", depicting a scene of an elaborate pool party, was shot in Calabasas, California, on February 28, 2001.[61] It was directed by Garth Jennings and produced by Nick Goldsmith.[16][62] Wanting to try something different, Stipe has described the video's format as a "dead, dead form", taking inspiration from Polish director Zbigniew Rybczyński's 1981 film Tango.[60] Jennings filmed the video using 12 Super 8 cameras, whose shots were subsequently merged to create one collective 20-second clip.[60] During these 20 seconds, which both proceed normally and rewind, various people lip sync different parts of the song. Via pan and scan, the video zooms in on various bits of action, including a man catching fire from a barbeque, a woman having a drink thrown in her face, Stipe dancing, Mills pouring wine, and Buck playing a ukulele with a monkey in his lap.[60][61][62]

At the

Rolling Stone magazine included the video in their list of R.E.M.'s 15 greatest music videos.[65] Technology website TNW noted that the video is one of the earliest precursors of a Vine clip.[66]

Accolades

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Accolades for "Imitation of Life"
2001 2001 MTV Video Music Awards Breakthrough Video Garth Jennings Nominated [63]
Best Direction Nominated [64]
2002 44th Annual Grammy Awards Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals "Imitation of Life" Nominated [32]

Track listings

All songs were written by Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe.

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from Medialoper, the Reveal booklet, and the Australian maxi-CD single liner notes.[4][6][10]

Studios

  • Recorded at The Warehouse Studio (Vancouver, British Columbia), John Keane Studios (Athens, Georgia), The Dalkey Lodge (Dublin, Ireland), and The Hit Factory Criteria (Miami, Florida)
  • Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine, US)

Personnel

Charts

Release history

Release dates and formats for "Imitation of Life"
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) ID Ref.
Europe March 23, 2001 Radio Warner Bros. — [5]
United States April 9, 2001
Hot adult contemporary
radio 		— [7]
April 10, 2001 Mainstream rock radio — [8]
Active rock radio —
Alternative radio
 —
Australia April 16, 2001 Maxi-CD 9362449942 [9]
Europe April 23, 2001[11] CD 5439 16754 2 [12]
Maxi-CD 9362 44994 2 [10]
United Kingdom April 30, 2001[13] CD
  • W559CD
  • 9362 44999 2
 [14]
Cassette
  • W559C
  • 5439 16754 4
 [15]
United States May 8, 2001[19] 12-inch vinyl 0-42363 [21]
Maxi-CD 9 42363-2 [20]
Japan May 9, 2001[75] WPCR-11011 [68]
July 11, 2001[76] DVD WPBR-90032 [18]
Canada 2001 Maxi-CD CD 42363 [67]
Australia DVD 7599385402 [17]
Europe
United Kingdom W559DVD [16]

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External links

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