SONG OF THE DAY
“Enjoy The Silence” by Depeche Mode (Violator, Mute Records, 1990). Written by Martin Gore.
INTERESTING FACTS (from wikipedia)
– “Enjoy the Silence” is Depeche Mode’s 24th UK single, released on January 16, 1990, and the 2nd single from the album Violator.
– “Enjoy the Silence” was re-released as a single in 2004 for the Depeche Mode remix project Remixes 81 – 04, and was titled “Enjoy the Silence (Reinterpreted)” or, more simply, “Enjoy the Silence 04”.
– The song won Best British Single at the 1991 Brit Awards.
– When “Enjoy the Silence” was written by Martin Gore, it was intended to be a slow-paced ballad in C minor; the demo featured a harmonium with Gore singing. Alan Wilder saw hit potential in the track, and composed an upbeat tempo and structure for the song. Despite initial resistance from songwriter Gore, who felt the spirit of the song was not suited to an upbeat track, the rest of the group liked it. After some self-described “sulking”, Gore came around and added more to the embryonic fast version together with producer Mark “Flood” Ellis, notably the guitar riff heard throughout. Depeche Mode lead singer David Gahan contributed his distinctive lead vocals to the track and within hours the band was convinced they had a hit single on their hands.
– “Enjoy the Silence” became one of the band’s most successful singles, and its first UK Top 10 hit since 1984. The single rocketed up the UK Singles Chart to #6, remaining there for three weeks. This was the band’s highest-charting single since “People Are People” peaked at #4 in 1984. On top of this, the song reached #8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, to date the only Depeche Mode single to achieve top 10 status. Italso topped the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, another first for the band (as this chart had been created in 1988).
– The Anton Corbijn-directed music video for “Enjoy the Silence” references the themes and storyline of the philosophical children’s book The Little Prince. Footage of Gahan dressed as a stereotypical king wandering the hillsides of New Zealand with a deck chair is intercut with black-and-white footage of the band posing. Brief flashes of a single rose (which is also on the album cover of Violator) appear throughout the scenes. When Corbijn presented the concept of the video to the band, which at the time was simply “Dave dressed up as a king, walking around with a deck chair”, they initially rejected it. They changed their minds, when he explained that the idea was that the King (Dave) was represented “a man with everything in the world, just looking for a quiet place to sit”. Andy Fletcher jokes that he favored the video because “[he] only had to do about an hour’s worth of work”.
– One of the two videos for Coldplay’s 2008 song “Viva La Vida” is a homage/tribute to the “Enjoy the Silence” video (it was also directed by Corbijn and features Coldplay singer Chris Martin walking around dressed as a king).
– A lip-sync performance of the song was filmed for a French TV show atop the former World Trade Center in the Top of the World observatory.
NOTABLE COVERS
- The Academy Is… with Cobra Starship released a cover of “Enjoy The Silence” as a single from The Academy Is…’
- Bell X1 covered the song on The Ray D’Arcy Show on Today FM and occasionally incorporate it into their song “I’ll See Your Heart And I’ll Raise You Mine”.
- The Bloodhound Gang covered the song at Rock am Ring festival.
- Gregorian, German Gregorian chant band, covered the song in their album Masters of Chant Chapter VII.
- HIM, Finnish Love Metal band, used to cover the song on their early tours.
- It Dies Today, American metalcore band, has also covered the song which was featured on the soundtrack for the Showtime horror series Masters of Horror.
- Janita, a Finnish native, recorded a melodic jazz/soul version of the song on the 2006 re-release of her fifth album, 2005’s Seasons of Life
- Keane covered this song.
- Kim Wilde released her live version of “Enjoy the Silence” on the single “Baby Obey Me” in 2007.
- Matthew Good Band, a Canadian alternative band, covered the song for their 1998 limited EP, Lo-Fi B-Sides. It was later re-released for the lead singer’s solo compilation release In A Coma, on the Deluxe Edition’s second CD, in 2005.
- Alternative rock band The Posies covered the song as well.
- Ryan Star, a contestant on the CBS television show Rockstar: Supernova, performed his own arrangement during his elimination night performance, which aided in saving him from being kicked-off.
- The Spirit That Guides Us has covered this song on tours for years, and has recently included it on their We Are Under Reconstruction CD (2006) and DVD (2007). Before that it could be found on a Sally Forth Records sampler called Hits of the Eighties.
- Susanna and the Magical Orchestra recorded a slow, stripped down version of the song on the record Melody Mountain in 2006.
- Tori Amos recorded a sparse-sounding cover of the song for her Strange Little Girls album.
- Vitamin String Quartet also covered the song for their album ‘String Quartet Tribute to Depeche Mode’.
- It is the second single by Lacuna Coil from their album Karmacode. It made the New York Post’s Top 100 Cover Songs list.