| "Never Let Me Down Again" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Depeche Mode | ||||
| from the album Music for the Masses | ||||
| B-side | "Pleasure, Little Treasure" | |||
| Released | August 24, 1987 | |||
| Format | Vinyl record (7" and 12"), CD (1992 box set) | |||
| Recorded | 1987 | |||
| Genre | Alternative dance | |||
| Length | 4:47 (Album Version) 4:18 (7"/Single Version) 9:34 (12" Version) |
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| Label | Mute Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Martin Gore | |||
| Producer | Depeche Mode, Daniel Miller, and David Bascombe | |||
| Depeche Mode singles chronology | ||||
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"Never Let Me Down Again" is Depeche Mode's nineteenth UK single, released on August 24, 1987, and the second single for the then upcoming album Music for the Masses. A relatively moderate hit in the UK, at #22, it was a smash in West Germany, where it hit #2, and a Top 10 success in several other European countries (Sweden, Switzerland, etc.). The cover art features fragments of a Soviet map of Russia and Europe, with different fragments used for the different editions of the single.
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The song became a favourite among fans, especially live. Shows during Depeche Mode's 1988 tour were often closed with this song. Notable in the 101 video is when Dave Gahan waves his arms in the air during the end of the song, and the sold out crowd of 60,000 mimicked Gahan's movements. It is now a tradition at Depeche Mode shows for fans to wave their arms in the air during the end of "Never Let Me Down Again."
On November 8, 2001, shortly after their final Exciter Tour concert in Mannheim, Germany, the band played "Never Let Me Down Again" during the MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt, which aired in the US on MTV2. It can be viewed at the official Depeche Mode website.
The main 12" remix of "Never Let Me Down Again" is the "Split Mix", a nine minute track which features the regular song, an added intro plus a techno arrangement appended at the end. The arrangement was expanded to the "Aggro Mix" on the 12" B-side, also available as a bonus track on the CD/Cassette version of Music for the Masses. The "Split Mix" appears on Remixes 81 - 04.
Another remix of the track, by German group Digitalism was released in 2006 as one of the Digital Deluxe Bonus Tracks of The Best Of, Volume 1 (also released as a limited double vinyl 12").
Eric Prydz remixed the song for the band's remix compilation album Remixes 2: 81–11
There are two music videos for "Never Let Me Down Again". The original version, from Strange uses the "Split Mix", minus the intro and outro, and during the EBM portion, Gahan's pair of dancing shoes are shown walking without anyone wearing them, before someone puts them on and wears them to dance. There is also a shortened one with just the Single version of the song, without the dancing shoes. It appears on The Videos 86>98. They are directed by Anton Corbijn.
There are two b-sides. "Pleasure, Little Treasure" is a short dance track. An extended version called the "Glitter Mix" ends with fragments of vocal recordings that have been reversed and treated with delay effects. Notably, some of these sounds can be heard in the track "Mothers Talk" from the 1985 Tears for Fears album Songs from the Big Chair, which was engineered by Dave Bascombe. The "Glitter Mix" showed up as a bonus track on the CD/Cassette versions of Music for the Masses and in remastered form on the 2006 CD/DVD release.
The rarer b-side is "To Have and To Hold (Spanish Taster)". Martin Gore's original plan for the song sounded a lot like this upbeat electropop, but Alan Wilder turned it into the dark wave track it eventually became. While Alan's version was always set to be the final version, Martin wanted his version to be recorded as well. However, not all of the lyrics are sung in the song. It shows up as one of the bonus tracks on the CD/Cassette version of Music for the Masses and is on the CD versions of "Never Let Me Down Again". The regular version of "To Have and To Hold" is one of the main tracks on the Music for the Masses LP.
All songs written by Martin L. Gore.