Strangelove (song)

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"Strangelove" is Depeche Mode's eighteenth UK single, released on April 13, 1987, and the first single for the then upcoming album Music for the Masses. It reached #16 in the UK charts (Depeche Mode would fail to make the Top 10 of the UK singles chart throughout the second half of the 1980s), but hit #2 in West Germany and in South Africa, and was a Top 10 success in several other countries (Sweden, Switzerland, etc.).

The original version of "Strangelove" is a fast-paced poppy track. Though successful, this didn't seem to fit with the Music for the Masses's dark style, so Daniel Miller made a darker slower version of "Strangelove" which became the Album Version. It got its own single in the USA called "Strangelove '88".

There are two B-Sides for "Strangelove", both instrumental. "Pimpf" is a dark instrumental that's mostly piano, named after the members of one of the Hitler Youth organizations. It is famous for having strange unknown chanting that has caused speculation on what the chanting says. It turns out that the chanting is actually just well-done synths, even though it sounds a lot like Dave and Martin. Piano instrumentals would become more abundant with Depeche Mode for the next 3 years. "Pimpf" later shows up as the final track on the vinyl version of Music for the Masses.

The second instrumental is "Agent Orange", named after the herbicide used in the Vietnam War. It is also mostly piano but has an abundance of war-like atmosphere and is considered one of the finest DM instrumentals. At the end of the song, you can hear some morse code. Rumoured to mean "If anybody can hear this, please help me", it is actually just gibberish (LAXI ".-.. .- -..- ..", several times repeated). "Agent Orange" later shows up as the first bonus track on the CD/Cassette version of Music for the Masses.

The music video for "Strangelove" was directed by Anton Corbijn and appears on the Strange video and The Videos 86>98. It features two models posing in their underwear. In the USA, MTV objected to some of the more revealing footage of the models and the video was edited to replace them with images of the band.

There was also an Anton-directed video for "Pimpf", exclusive to the Strange video, which features David Gahan, Alan Wilder and Andrew Fletcher shouting at each other syncing with the synthetic chanting, while Martin Gore plays the song on a Piano. It is to note that while Martin plays the piano in the video, it is Alan Wilder who plays the piano in all Piano-instrumentals by the band from 1987-1990 as well as "Somebody".

In 1988, another video for "Strangelove" was released, set to the tune of the album version of "Strangelove". It was directed by Martyn Atkins who did photography for earlier DM albums. It was not publicly released until the The Videos 86>98+ DVD in 2002.

On September 7, 1988, the band played "Strangelove" on the MTV Video Music Awards in the US. You can view it on the official Depeche Mode website

"Strangelove" has been sampled in the songs "Life Ain't a Game" by Ja Rule, "I Won't Be Crying" by Infernal, and "Point of View" by Samantha Mumba.

[edit] Track listings

[edit] 7": Mute / 7Bong13 (UK)

1. "Strangelove" (3:45)
2. "Pimpf" (4:33)

[edit] 12": Mute / 12Bong13 (UK)

1. "Strangelove [Maxi Mix]" (6:32)
2. "Strangelove [Midi Mix]" (1:38)
3. "Fpmip" (5:21)

[edit] 12": Mute / L12Bong13 (UK)

1. "Strangelove [Blind Mix]" (6:31)
2. "Pimpf" (4:33)
3. "Strangelove [Pain Mix]" (7:19) (remixed by Phil Harding)
4. "Agent Orange" (5:05)

[edit] 12": Mute / DanceBong13 (UK)

1. "Strangelove [Blind Mix]" (6:31)
2. "Strangelove [The Fresh Ground Mix]" (8:14) (remixed by Phil Harding)

• Very rare promo release, with a white label. Though some bootlegs are available.

[edit] CD: Mute / CDBong13 (UK)

1. "Strangelove [Maxi Mix]" (6:32)
2. "Pimpf" (4:33)
3. "Strangelove [Midi Mix]" (1:38)
4. "Agent Orange" (5:05)
5. "Strangelove" (3:45)

[edit] CD: Mute / CDBong13 (UK)

1. "Strangelove" (3:45)
2. "Pimpf" (4:33)
3. "Strangelove [Maxi Mix]" (6:32)
4. "Agent Orange" (5:05)
5. "Strangelove [Blind Mix]" (6:31)
6. "Fpmip" (5:21)
7. "Strangelove [Pain Mix]" (7:19)
8. "Strangelove [Midi Mix]" (1:38)

• The second CD is the 1992 re-release

[edit] 7": Sire / 7-28366 (US)

1. "Strangelove" (3:45)
2. "Pimpf" (4:33)

• "Pimpf" is falsely titled the "Fpmip [US Edit]"

[edit] 12" Sire / 0-20696 (US)

1. "Strangelove [Maxi Mix]" (6:32)
2. "Strangelove [Midi Mix]" (1:38)
3. "Strangelove [Blind Mix Edit]" (6:10)
4. "Fpmip" (5:21)

[edit] 12" Sire / 0-20769 (US)

1. "Strangelove [Pain Mix]" (7:19)
2. "Strangelove [Pain Mix 7" Edit]" (3:29)
3. "Agent Orange" (5:05)

• "Fpmip" is "Pimpf" with a different intro that sounds like the song played backwards, afterwards it's the exact same song.

All songs written by Martin L. Gore

[edit] Strangelove '88

• Note that the name of the single is still officially "Strangelove", the "'88" is added in some materials sanctioned by the band (such as the "Videos 86>98 +" DVD and the release's page on the band's official website) to differentiate it from the original single. It was re-released because the label Sire Records did not think the first release did as well as it should have. It was released August 23, 1988

[edit] 3"CD Sire/Reprise / 2-27777 (US)

1. "Strangelove [Remix Edit]" (3:52) (remixed by Tim Simenon & Mark Saunders)
2. "Nothing [Remix Edit]" (3:58) (remixed by Justin Strauss)

[edit] 7" Sire / 7-27777 (US)

1. "Strangelove [Album Version 7" Edit]" (3:44)
2. "Nothing [Remix Edit]" (3:58)

• Also released on Cassette (Sire / 27991-4)

[edit] 12" Sire / 0-21022 (US)

1. "Strangelove [Highjack Mix]" (6:30) (remixed by Tim Simenon & Mark Saunders)
2. "Strangelove [Remix Edit]" (3:46)
3. "Nothing [Zip Hop Mix]" (7:06) (remixed by Justin Strauss)
4. "Nothing [Dub Mix]" (6:40) (remixed by Justin Strauss)

[edit] CD Sire / PRO-CD-3213 (US)

1. "Strangelove [Remix Edit]" (3:46)
2. "Strangelove [Album Version 7" Edit]" (3:44)
3. "Strangelove [Blind Mix 7" Edit]" (3:57)
4. "Strangelove [Highjack Mix]" (6:30)

• US promo CD

• All songs written by Martin L. Gore

[edit] External links

• Strangelove information from the official Depeche Mode web site
• Strangelove '88 information from the official Depeche Mode web site
• Video on YouTube