| "Martyr" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Depeche Mode | ||||
| from the album The Best Of, Volume 1 |
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| Released | October 30, 2006 | |||
| Format | CD, Maxi-CD, DVD, Digital download | |||
| Recorded | 2005 | |||
| Genre | Alternative dance | |||
| Length | 3:23 (Album/Single Version) 3:07 (Radio Version) |
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| Label | Mute - BONG39 | |||
| Writer(s) | Martin Gore | |||
| Producer | Ben Hillier | |||
| Depeche Mode singles chronology | ||||
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"Martyr" is the 45th UK single by Depeche Mode. It was released as a non-album single intended to promote the new compilation, The Best Of, Volume 1, that was released on November 13, 2006. [1] The single was released on October 30, 2006 in three formats: CD single, CD maxi and DVD single. There was also a limited edition double-12" single (L12BONG39) featuring four remixes of previous Depeche Mode tracks.
The song, originally titled "Martyr for Love", is a well-known missing track from the Playing the Angel sessions. The song was mentioned on one of the FletchCam videos (where it can faintly be heard playing in the background), and was mentioned in interviews. Playing the Angel programmer Dave McCracken has said that it was considered by the band as the first single from Playing the Angel but it did not make the album due to its poppier sound, when compared with other album tracks.[2]
There are no other new songs on the single; the B-sides are remixes of Martyr and previous releases.
The single became Depeche Mode's 35th to hit the UK Top 20.
A video was being directed by Andreas Nilsson, who was reportedly hired because Dave Gahan was impressed by his video for The Knife's "Silent Shout".[3] The video was made in Gothenburg, Sweden, and members of the group do not appear in it.[4] The band subsequently rejected this video, which was replaced with a video montage released on 8 October 2006 and directed by Robert Chandler, in which Dave Gahan seemingly sings the song, this being achieved by the succession of short clips of Depeche Mode's videos in which Dave either says the words featured in the lyrics of "Martyr", or he lip-syncs the lyrics, meaning that his lips move in a similar fashion of that when the words in the lyrics are being said. Oddly, it does not appear on their Best Of DVD compilation.
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Martyr"
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| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart[5] | 31 |
| Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[6] | 48 |
| Danish Singles Chart[7] | 3 |
| Finnish Singles Chart[8] | 18 |
| French Singles Chart[9] | 64 |
| German Singles Chart[10] | 2 |
| Hungarian Singles Chart[11] | 2 |
| Italian Singles Chart[12] | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[13] | 74 |
| Spanish Singles Chart[14] | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart[15] | 10 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[16] | 17 |
| UK Singles Chart[17] | 13 |
| US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[18] | 22 |