R.E.M.'s New Adventures In Hi-Fi, released on 9 September 1996, marks its 30th anniversary today, with frontman Michael Stipe having previously named it his favourite album by the band. The record holds particular significance as the last R.E.M. album to feature founding drummer Bill Berry, who left the group in 1997 after collapsing on stage in Switzerland in March 1995 due to a brain aneurysm, making it a poignant marker of the end of the band's original lineup.

Stipe has said the album, written and partly recorded while touring in support of Monster, captured the band performing as a tight, confident four-piece, and called it "close as we came to being a four-piece rock band". He also named 2001's Reveal as a joint favourite for his own contribution, while bassist Mike Mills rated New Adventures In Hi-Fi third behind Murmur and Automatic For The People, adding that relief over Berry's recovery brought the band closer during recording. R.E.M. disbanded in 2011 after 17 studio albums, and Stipe is now working on his debut solo album.