Video hit Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (live, 2006)

Enjoy the Silence is Depeche Mode's twenty-fourth UK single, recorded in 1989 and released on 5 February 1990, it was the second single from the then upcoming album Violator.

It is one of the best known Depeche Mode songs, along with "Just Can't Get Enough", "People Are People", "Strangelove" and "Personal Jesus".

It has been recorded by many other artists, including Tori Amos, Anberlin, Breaking Benjamin, Susan Boyle, The Brains, Failure, Hybrid, Keane, Lacuna Coil, Nada Surf, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, and Tanghetto. Today, many people consider this as Depeche Mode's signature song.

"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 "Reinterpreted" version was remixed by Mike Shinoda, the rapper and producer for the American band Linkin Park.

The single is Gold certificated in the US and Germany.

The song won Best British Single at the 1991 BRIT Awards.

Song versions

The original release of the single included a wide variety of remixes. The standard 12" version of the song is the "Hands and Feet Mix", while the B-side of the 12" version included a dub mix called the "Ecstatic Dub". The limited edition 12" release included three more remixes: the aforementioned "Harmonium" version which follows the structure of the original demo, the "Bass Line" version, and the "Ricki Tik Tik Mix". The latter one is actually an edit omitting a synth part in the middle because Mute had to fit everything on a 3" CD. The boxed rerelease finally had the full version. One of the more unusual mixes is "The Quad: Final Mix" which expands the song to over fifteen minutes in length, making it the longest commercially available Depeche Mode track.

In addition to the "reinterpretation" by Mike Shinoda, there were several more remixes of the song released in 2004. The 12" version of the release included remixes by Timo Maas and Ewan Pearson, while one of the limited edition CDs included a remix from Richard X.

"Enjoy the Silence 04" also included a variety of remixes of other Depeche Mode songs, including a Goldfrapp remix of the Violator track "Halo", a Black Strobe remix of the Some Great Reward track "Something to Do", a Cicada remix of the single "World in My Eyes", and a Rex the Dog remix of the Speak & Spell track "Photographic".

The album version on Violator contains a hidden track called "Crucified", which has Andrew Fletcher on vocals, albeit highly distorted.

World Trade Center Promo Video

In 1990, a promotional video for "Enjoy the Silence" was shot by French TV (for the TV Show "Champs-Élysées" with Michel Drucker) featuring Depeche Mode lip-syncing the song while standing atop the World Trade Center at the WTC rooftop World observatory.[6] In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, in which the towers were destroyed, this video gained special significance among New Yorkers and others as, now, functioning as an elegant tribute to the victims.

The lyrics:

Words like violence

Break the silence

Come crashing in

Into my little world

Painful to me

Pierce right through me

Can't you understand

Oh my little girl

All I ever wanted

All I ever needed

Is here in my arms

Words are very unnecessary

They can only do harm

Vows are spoken

To be broken

Feelings are intense

Words are trivial

Pleasures remain

So does the pain

Words are meaningless

And forgettable

All I ever wanted

All I ever needed

Is here in my arms

Words are very unnecessary

They can only do harm

Enjoy the silence