Shake the Disease

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“Shake the Disease”
Single by Depeche Mode from the album The Singles 81>85
B-side	"Flexible"
Released	April 29, 1985
Format	Vinyl record (7" and 12"), CD (1991 box set)
Recorded	1985
Genre	Synthpop
Length	7" - 4:48 12" - 8:46
Label	Mute Records
Writer(s)	Martin Gore
Producer	Depeche Mode, Daniel Miller, and Gareth Jones
Depeche Mode singles chronology
"Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody" (1984) "Shake the Disease" (1985) "It's Called a Heart" (1985)

"Shake the Disease" is Depeche Mode's thirteenth UK single (released on April 29, 1985), and was not released on an actual studio album but was released on the compilation The Singles (81-85) in the same year, along with "It's Called a Heart". The American version of The Singles 81-85, Catching Up with Depeche Mode, also includes "Shake the Disease"'s B-side, "Flexible".

The song was intended for the band's future album Black Celebration which was released a little less than a year later. However it was finished too soon and the band decided to make a Singles compilation in order to release the song early.

The music video is the first Depeche Mode video directed by Peter Care and features an innovative camera trick to make it appear as though the band members are falling.

[edit] Track listings

[edit] 7": Mute / 7Bong8 (UK)

1. "Shake the Disease" (4:48)
2. "Flexible" (3:11)

[edit] 7": Sire / 7-28835 (US)

1. "Shake the Disease [Fade]" (3:59)
2. "Flexible" (3:11)

[edit] 12": Mute / 12Bong8 (UK)

1. "Shake the Disease [Remixed Extended Version]" (8:43) (engineered by Flood)
2. "Flexible [Remixed Extended Version]" (6:15) (engineered by Flood)

[edit] 12": Mute / L12Bong8 (UK)

1. "Shake the Disease [Edit the Shake]" (7:08)
2. "Master and Servant [Live]" (5:38)
3. "Flexible [Pre-Deportation Mix]" (4:40) (remixed by Bert Bevins)
4. "Something to Do [Metal Mix]" (7:25) (remixed by Gareth Jones)

• "Master and Servant" was recorded at the Basel, Switzerland show on November 30, 1984.

[edit] CD: Mute / CDBong8 (UK)

1. "Shake the Disease" (4:48)
2. "Flexible" (3:11)
3. "Shake the Disease [Remixed Extended Version]" (8:43)
4. "Flexible [Remixed Extended Version]" (6:15)
5. "Shake the Disease [Edit the Shake]" (7:11)
6. "Something to Do [Metal Mix]" (7:26)

• The CD single was released in 1991 as part of the singles box set compilations

All songs written by Martin Gore.

[edit] Trivia

• The lyric "I've got things to do, and I've said before I know that you have too" is possibly a reference to the song "Stories Of Old" on the 1984 Depeche Mode album Some Great Reward, which contains the lyric "I've got things to do/You have too/And I've got to be me, you've got to be you."
• Los Angeles modern rock radio station KROQ named "Shake the Disease" as the number one song of 1985.
• The song was covered by the Belgian band Hooverphonic for the 1998 tribute album For the Masses.

[edit] External links

• Single information from the official Depeche Mode web site