"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.
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.
Flood and Wilder spent time putting the up-tempo version of the song together, with Wilder later saying that "most [Depeche Mode] songs changed tempo to some degree from the original demo, although none I can think of have been that extreme." When they were ready, they invited Gore back into the studio to record the guitar riff. Gahan remembered that once Gore had the riff down, it inspired him to sing the lyrics, saying "I sang the song, and everyone was surprised that I sang it so well – including myself!" Fletcher later said that the whole thing came together in about an hour, and once it did, he said "we knew we had a massive hit record!" He later called the moment they put the song together in its final form "one of the most magical moments I've ever had with Depeche Mode." Gore later said that recording this song "was the only time ever in the studio when we thought we had a hit single."
After the initial recording, the band spent some time trying to make it better. Said Gahan, "We spent a week trying to make it into something ... and in the end, of course, we came right round, full circle, and it was like, 'Well, it sounded really good the first day that we recorded it. The song was originally mixed by François Kevorkian, who mixed the rest of Violator. Although the band were happy with the original mix, they gave final mixing to Miller at his behest. Wilder thought the original mix was superior, saying, "Funnily enough, our most successful single ever was one of the flattest, dullest-sounding mixes".
Release and promotion "Enjoy the Silence" was released as a single on 5 February 1990. In the UK, the release was handled by Mute Records. The single was released as a Cassingle, on 7-inch vinyl with catalogue number 7BONG18, 12-inch vinyl (12BONG18) and limited 12-inch vinyl (L12BONG18), and, for the first time, an "extremely limited" 12-inch vinyl single, given catalogue number XL12BONG18. Remixes were created by Miller, Phil Legg, and Kevorkian, and on the extremely limited 12-inch vinyl release, the Quad mix was created with input from four remixers: Tim Simenon, Holger Hiller, Gareth Jones and Mimi Izumi Kobayashi; this vinyl single had the remix pressed one side, and on the other, a laser etching of the single's cover art, which was not playable. The single was also supported by two promotional releases: the band's first, albeit promotional-only CD-format single (CDBONG18R); and a 12-inch vinyl single (P12BONG18).
B-sides to the single were original, new instrumentals "Sibeling" and "Memphisto." The title of "Sibeling" refers to Finnish classical composer Jean Sibelius. According to Martin Gore, "Memphisto is the name of an imaginary film about Elvis as a Devil, that I created in my mind", and is a portmanteau of "Memphis" (where Elvis lived at Graceland) and "Mephisto".
Within a week of its release, "Enjoy the Silence" was number six on the UK singles chart. It became Depeche Mode's highest charting single ever in the United States, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1990.
On the album, the song was slotted in as the first song on the second side of the album, and the sixth song overall. Between "Enjoy the Silence" and the next album track "Policy of Truth" is a hidden song, "Interlude #2 (Crucified)", for which Gahan provided guitar, a first for the singer on a Depeche Mode album.
Starting in December 1989 and through the first three months of 1990, Depeche Mode performed "Enjoy the Silence" on European music shows such as Countdown in the Netherlands, Rock 'o' Pop in Spain, Surprise Surprise in France, and Peter's Pop Show in Germany. 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-synching the song while standing on the observation deck atop the South Tower of the original World Trade Center in New York City.
The song won the award for Best British Single at the Brit Awards 1991, the first such award for the band in their history. In 2006, the band described the song as "the most successful single in [Depeche Mode's] history."
Critical reception
In a retrospective review, Andy Healy from Albumism wrote that the song "combined much loved elements of lush synth beds, haunting melodies, and aching lyrics, which coalesced with house beats and slick guitar lines." He added, "Gahan's vocals are intimate and seductive as they draw you in, with lyrics that examine the quiet satisfaction of a relationship, those tender moments when silence fills the void and your lover is in your arms and the world ceases to exist. There was something inviting. Something powerful in those declarations. Something that you could latch on to and feel a part of." AllMusic editor Tim DiGravina stated that it is one of Depeche Mode's "greatest songs", with a "pristine and lush yet punishing musical environment", and "lyrics of violence and darkness". Upon the release, Bill Coleman from Billboard magazine called it an "engaging charmer" and a "more radio-viable effort" than the group's last hit, "Personal Jesus". He noted further that the track "blends [the] quintet's recognizable techno-pop melodies with trendy house grooves."
Simon Reynolds from Melody Maker wrote, "Depeche studiously keep their finger on the pulse of contemporaneity (the choral synths nod to the New Age thang, the guitars to New Order), but somehow the glum, earnest vibrato in the singer's gullet make this feel very dated: New Romanticism infected with C86 miserablism." David Giles from Music Week commented, "The best Depeche Mode single in years heralds a return to the classic pop approach of their early Eighties hits like 'Everything Counts' in contrast to the electro beat obsession of recent recordings. The song itself is heavily to the fore here, and strong enough, perhaps to furnish the band with their first number one hit." A reviewer from People Magazine said the song is "enriched", "with a strong bass and percussive bottom overwhelming the band’s penchant for thin, ethereal synthesizer motifs." Stephen Gore from Sputnik Music noted the juxtaposition on Violator between "Enjoy the Silence" – where the narrator wants silence from the world as words are "like violence" – and the next song "Policy of Truth", which argues that a successful relationship can only be based on lies.
Pitchfork Media ranked "Enjoy the Silence" number 15 in their list of "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s". Rolling Stone included it in their list of the "500 Best Songs of All Time" in 2021 at No. 415. In 2017, Billboard magazine included "Enjoy the Silence" on their list of Top 20 Depeche Mode songs, coming in at number 1.
Music video