On This Day, April 9, 1984: R.E.M. releases their second studio album, ‘Reckoning’

On This Day, April 9, 1984…

R.E.M. released their second studio album, Reckoning, which like their 1983 debut, Murmur, was produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon.

The album, which was first released in the U.K. and then the U.S., was recorded at Reflection Sound in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the producers attempting to capture the energy and sound of the band’s live performances.

Reckoning was a hit with critics and peaked at #27 in the U.S., although it topped college radio airplay charts.

Its first single, “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry),” peaked at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100, while its second single, “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville,” did not chart. Both went on to become R.E.M. fan favorites.

The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA.

In February, the members of R.E.M. – Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry – reunited on stage at Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s Athens, Georgia, concert celebrating the band’s third studio album Fables of the Reconstruction. They performed the Reckoning track “Pretty Persuasion.”