Enjoy the Silence (1990)

"Enjoy the Silence" is a song by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. Written by Martin Gore and recorded in 1989, it was released as the second single from their seventh studio album, Violator (1990), on 5 February 1990 by Mute Records. The song topped the charts of European Hit Radio, Denmark and Spain, and is the band's highest-charting single in the United States, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Cash Box Top 100.

Originally written as a ballad, band member Alan Wilder saw the potential for the song as a dance-floor hit, and re-arranged the song with producer Flood into the form it was released.

Their best-selling single, it is included in several "best of" lists, including coming in at number one on Billboard magazine's list of top Depeche Mode songs ever. It won Depeche Mode their first award in the category of Best British Single at the Brit Awards 1991. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Anton Corbijn and features singer Dave Gahan, dressed as a king, wandering the countryside with a deckchair.

"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".

Background

Following the successful releases of their previous album, Music for the Masses in 1987 and a live album 101 in early 1989, Depeche Mode reconvened in 1989 in a studio in Milan, Italy to record material for their new album. The band had invited Mark Ellis, known professionally as Flood, to be co-producer of the new album alongside the band. The sessions in Milan resulted in the song "Personal Jesus", which was released as a single in August 1989 before the rest of the album was completed. Following the Milan sessions, the band moved to Puk Recording Studios in Denmark to record the rest of their new material.

Recording

Initial demo

As songwriter for the band, Martin Gore typically brought in demos of new material for the band to listen to before they started official recording sessions. At the request of the rest of the band, for these sessions, Gore brought in very simple demos to allow the band more freedom to reimagine the tracks in the studio, one of which was a ballad called "Enjoy the Silence". The demo was performed on a Harmonium with just Gore's voice. Gore said that "it was clear to everyone that this was a good melody, but in some way we weren't going to get the best thing out of the song by re-creating that [demo]." Along with the band and Flood, Mute Records owner and former co-producer Daniel Miller heard the demo. Said Miller later, "In that [demo] form, I remember it, but not as something that made me think that it was going to be a key moment in their career."

Of the song's meaning, Gore said "It's just about a feeling of not wanting anything else, feeling totally satisfied, when even words are an intrusion. You just don't need anything else."

Studio version

When band member Alan Wilder first heard the demo, he heard the lyric "All I ever wanted" in his head in Neil Tennant's (of the Pet Shop Boys) voice. Said Wilder, "It occurred to me that it could work brilliantly as a sort of up-tempo dance track. ... I think the others were a little dubious, but after a little bit of persuasion they said, 'Well, why don't you and Flood put together something that you think will be appropriate for this track, and we'll go away and come back when you're ready to play it to us.'" Gore was especially resistant to the proposed change, saying "The song was called 'Enjoy the Silence' and you know that seemed to be in total contrast with [it being turned into] a disco track", adding later that "It's supposed to be about serenity, and serenity doesn't go with a disco beat." Flood and Wilder had established a working relationship in Italy that often required the rest of the band to be absent during their experimentation, and when it came time to try and work on "Enjoy the Silence", they asked singer Dave Gahan, Gore and Andy Fletcher to leave to give them the time and space to work on the track. Gahan remembers, years later, that Flood and Wilder "told Fletch[er], Martin [Gore] and me to go away." Gore said he sulked "for two days" when they asked him to give them time to work on the track.