Everything Counts

“Everything Counts” is the fourth track on the electronic English band Depeche Mode’s third studio album “Construction Time Again”, which was released in 1983. There are two releases of the song, one in 1983 and one in 1989. The first release of “Everything Counts” was on the tour for the album, and was used as the opening song as it quickly became a fan favourite. A recording from the song at a live show in Liverpool in 1984 appeared on the band double A-sided “Blasphemous Rumours/Somebody” single. In 1989, it was re-released as a single (in live form) for promotional use for Depeche Mode’s upcoming live album “101”.

In a 1985 interview with British magazine No.1, keyboardist Andy Fletcher spoke about the sound of “Everything Counts”: “…we were experimenting with various new technology that was available. We now had Emulators and Synclaviers and we wanted to move into a new area of sound.” The track discusses problems of corruption and corporate greed in the UK, and uses the metaphor of “grabbing hands” and “they grab what they can”.

The music video for “Everything Counts” was directed by Clive Richardson and filmed in West Berlin. Depeche Mode returned to Richardson after not being satisfied with their previous music video director Julian Temple, who directed their “A Broken Fram” singles. According to Alan Wilder from Depeche Mode, “It was felt that after the Julien Temple years, we needed to harden up not only our sound but also our image. Clive had lots of new ideas which didn’t involve stupid storyboards where we were required to act.” The music video features cinematic shots of Berlin, the band singing the track in increments, as well as playing instruments. The video was uploaded to YouTube in October 2009 by the band’s official channel. As of November 2019, the video has over 31.6 million views and almost 120 thousand likes.

Release Date: 13th February 1989

Songwriter: Martin Gore

Producer/s: Depeche Mode, Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones

Label: Mute

Music Video Upload Date: 26th October 2009

Music Video Director: Clive Richardson

Chart Rankings: The original release of “Everything Counts” ranked #26 in Austria, #15 in Ireland, #24 in Italy, #50 in the Netherlands, #27 in New Zealand, #18 in Sweden, #8 in Switzerland, #6 in the UK, #17 in the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play; and lastly, #23 in West Germany. In the year of its second release (1989), “Everything Counts” ranked in many charts across the globe; #26 in Austria, #17 in Ireland, #35 in Italy, #89 in the Netherlands, #27 in New Zealand, #20 in Spain, #18 in Switzerland, #22 in the UK Singles chart, #13 in the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, #16 in the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play, #18 in the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, and #12 in West Germany.

The full lyrics for “Everything Counts” can be found here: LINK