After piecing together two slow-paced albums in a row in the studio, 1994's Monster was, as Buck said, "a 'rock' record, with the rock in quotation marks." Though the result was conceived as a back-to-basics album, the recording was difficult and plagued with tension. Like Out of Time, Monster topped the charts in both the US and UK. The singles "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Bang and Blame" were the band's last American Top 40 hits, although all the singles from Monster—including the UK-only singles "Crush With Eyeliner" and "Tongue"—reached the Top 30 on the British charts.
In January of 1995 R.E.M. set out on their first tour in six years, beginning several collaborations with prominent  stage and lighting designer Willie Williams. On March 1, two months into the tour, Berry collapsed on stage during a performance in Lausanne, Switzerland. It transpired that he had suffered a brain aneurysm. He had surgery immediately and had fully recovered within a month. Berry's aneurysm was only the beginning of a series of health problems that plagued the Monster Tour. Mills had to undergo abdominal surgery to remove an intestinal adhesion in July; a month later, Stipe had to have an emergency surgery to repair a hernia. Despite all the problems, the group had recorded the bulk of a new album while on the road. The band brought along eight-track recorders to capture their shows, and used the recordings as the base elements for the album. After the tour was complete, the band entered the studio and recorded the rest of the album.
R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1996 for a reported $80 million, the largest recording contract in history at that point. 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi was their longest album to date. The album featured the seven-minute "Leave," the band's longest song to date, which was composed by Berry. Another notable track on the record was its lead single "E-Bow the Letter," a collaboration with Patti Smith, who had been one of Michael Stipe's earliest influences. Critical reaction to the album was mostly favorable; however, in light of such a huge contract sum, the album marked a considerable downfall of the band's commercial success. Though it debuted at number two in the US and number one in the UK, the album failed to generate the sales of their previous three albums'. Also in 1996, R.E.M. parted ways with their long-time manager Jefferson Holt, allegedly due to sexual harassment charges levied against Holt by a member of the band's home office in Athens. The group's lawyer, Bertis Downs, assumed managerial duties.
In April 1997, the band convened at Buck's Hawaii holiday home to record demos of material intended for the next album. The band sought to reinvent its sound and intended to incorporate drum loops and percussion experiments. Just as the sessions were due to begin in October, Berry decided, after months of contemplation and discussions with Downs and Mills, to tell the rest of the band that he was quitting. Berry publicly announced his departure three weeks  later in October 1997. Berry told the press, "I'm just not as enthusiastic as I have been in the past about doing this anymore . . . I have the best job in the world. But I'm kind of ready to sit back and reflect and maybe not be a pop star anymore." Stipe admitted that the band would be different without a major contributor: "For me, Mike, and Peter, as R.E.M., are we still R.E.M.? I guess a three-legged dog is still a dog. It just has to learn to run differently."
Having taken time off to gather their thoughts, rest, and travel, the remaining members of R.E.M. returned to the drawing board at Toast Studios in San Francisco to work on their next album. They ended their decade-long collaboration with Litt and the hired Pat McCarthy to produce the record. Nigel Godrich was taken on as assistant producer, while the band decided to use drum machines, and drafted in ex-Screaming Trees Barrett Martin, and Beck's touring drummer Joey Waronker. The recording process was plagued with tension, and the group came close to disbanding. Also, Mills played guitar and keyboards more often than his typical bass duties, which are more often than not played by lead guitarist Buck. Led off by the single "Daysleeper", Up (1998) debuted in the top ten in the US and UK. However, the album was a relative failure, selling 900,000 copies in the US by mid-1999 and eventually selling just over two million copies worldwide. While R.E.M.'s American sales were declining, their commercial base was shifting to the UK, where more R.E.M. records were sold per capita than any other country and the band's singles regularly entered the Top 20.
A year after Up's release, R.E.M. contributed the track "The Great Beyond" to the soundtrack of the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon The band also wrote the instrumental score for the movie, a first for the group. "The Great Beyond" only reached number 57 on the American pop charts, but was R.E.M. highest-charting single ever in the UK, reaching number three in 2000. Salehoo
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