Enjoy the Silence

“Enjoy the Silence” was the second single from British electronic band Depeche Mode and their seventh studio album “Violator” (1990).

Depeche Mode originated from Essex in the United Kingdom, and consisted of Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main song writing), Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-song writing) and Andy Fletcher (keyboards). In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in March 2017, Dave Gahan spoke about “Enjoy the Silence”: “Funny enough, when Martin first came up with a demo for ‘Silence,’ it was kind of half a song. Just a piano and these very slow, ballad-y couple of verses. And Alan [Wilder] and Flood, who was producing the album, had this idea to put a beat to it. They said, ‘Get out of the studio and come back in two days.’ When we came back, Flood said to Martin, ‘I need you to come up with a guitar line,’ so Martin started to play this riff, and that was it. Then he said ‘Dave, go sing,’ and I did. We literally recorded it in a couple of days. Then we started messing with the song, trying to make it more than it was, and it never needed more. We put it out like that, and I think we knew between us that there was something very special about it, but we had no idea what a huge hit it was going to be.” As the title suggests, the song warns about the harm of words and encourages listeners to “enjoy the silence”. The song is also listed on Pitchfork’s 2010 list “Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s” at #15.

The music video for the track was directed by Anton Corbijn, and Gahan also speaks about the band’s experience filming the video in the Entertainment Weekly interview. “Anton (Corbijn) came to me — he’s Dutch you know — and said, ‘So Dave, I have an idea. You’re gonna wear a crown. You’re this king walking everywhere, and you’re gonna carry a deck chair…’ And I didn’t get it at all. But once we started and he showed me the footage I got what he was doing: The man who has everything, but really feels nothing. And we were in such remote places — like, five miles up in the Alps walking in the snow, in the Algarve in Portugal on these remote beaches, at Balmoral in Scotland, where we could walk for days and days and not see anyone.” The video was uploaded to YouTube in February 2009 and as of November 2019, the music video has over 167 million views and almost 787 thousand likes.

Release Date: 5th February 1990

Songwriter: Martin Gore

Producer/s: Depeche Mode & Flood

Label: Mute

Music Video Upload Date: 25th February 2009

Music Video Director: Anton Corbijn

Chart Rankings, Certifications and Awards: “Enjoy the Silence” hit multiple chart positions worldwide – ranking at #71 in Australia, #13 in Austria, #4 in Belgium, #5 in Canada (and #14), Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden; #1 in Denmark, Spain and the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart; #3 in Finland and Ireland: #2 in Switzerland and Germany. The track also hit #6 in the UK, #40 in New Zealand and #9 in France. “Enjoy the Silence” is certified Gold in Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the US and the UK – but Platinum in Italy. “Enjoy the Silence” was also awarded a Brit Award in 1991 for “Best British Single”.

The lyrics to “Enjoy the Silence” can be found here: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/depechemode/enjoythesilence.html