Personal Jesus

"Personal Jesus" is Depeche Mode's 23rd UK single, released on August 29, 1989, and the first single from the album Violator. The single reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart^[1] and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] Since then, the title song has been covered by numerous artists including Gravity Kills, Marilyn Manson, Jerry Williams, Lollipop Lust Kill, Nina Hagen, and Johnny Cash.

In 2004, "Personal Jesus" was ranked #368 in Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time",^[3] and in September 2006 it was voted as one of the "100 Greatest Songs Ever" in Q magazine.

"Personal Jesus" was re-released as a single on May 30, 2011 for the new Depeche Mode remix album Remixes 2: 81–11, with the leading remix by the production team Stargate.

In Germany, the single is the band's longest charting one, staying on the country's Singles Chart for 27 weeks.^[4]

Inspiration

The song was inspired by the book Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley. According to songwriter Martin Gore:

It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?^[5]

Background

In mid-1989, the band began recording in Milan with record producer Flood. The result of this session was the single "Personal Jesus", which featured a catchy bluesy riff and drum-based sound, radically different from anything the band had released thus far. The song became a big hit across the world, and is one of Depeche Mode's most successful songs, along with the following single, "Enjoy the Silence". Whilst not the first Depeche Mode song to feature guitar parts (Behind the Wheel and their cover of Route 66 featured a guitar; Love in Itself from Construction Time Again featured an acoustic guitar), it was the first time a guitar was used as a dominant instrument in a Depeche Mode song.

Prior to its release, advertisements were placed in the personal columns of regional newspapers in the UK with the words “Your own personal Jesus.” Later, the ads included a phone number one could dial to hear the song.^[6] The ensuing controversy helped propel the single to number 13 on the UK charts, becoming one of Depeche Mode’s biggest sellers. The single was particularly successful commercially thanks to the fact that it was released six months prior to the album it would later appear on. Up to that point, it was the best selling 12" single in Warner Brothers history.^[7]

"Personal Jesus" has a plethora of remixes, almost unprecedented for Depeche Mode at the time. While most other Depeche Mode singles prior to "Personal Jesus" usually had band-made extended mixes, Depeche Mode started to invite more DJs and mixers to the fold, which would become the mainstay for all future Depeche Mode singles. François Kevorkian (who did the mixing for the Violator album, in general) mixed the single version, the "Holier Than Thou Approach", the "Pump Mix", and the lesser-known "Kazan Cathedral Mix" (which was not available on any of the singles), while producer Flood mixed the "Acoustic" version and the "Telephone Stomp Mix" as well as the single version and "Sensual Mix" of the single's B-side "Dangerous", a more disco-electronic track. The "Hazchemix" and "Hazchemix Edit" of "Dangerous" were mixed by Daniel Miller.

The back-cover of "Personal Jesus" features one of the band members and the back-side of a naked woman. The band member she is with depends on whether it is the 7" Vinyl (Martin Gore), the 12" Vinyl (David Gahan), the Cassette (Andrew Fletcher), or the original CD (Alan Wilder). On some copies she does not appear at all, such as the 2004 CD re-release, and on promo copies. On some limited releases, like the GBong17, all four pictures are available. The Anton Corbijn-directed music video for "Personal Jesus" is his first Depeche Mode video in colour, and features the band in a ranch, placed in the Tabernas Desert of Almería, in Spain. MTV edited out some suggestive mouth movements of Martin Gore during the bridge and replaced it with some other footage from the video.

Track listings

All songs written by Martin L. Gore

Mixes

Francois Kevorkian (Personal Jesus)

• Single/7" Version
• Holier Than Thou Approach (12" version)
• Pump Mix (instrumental)
• Kazan Cathedral Mix (instrumental)(only available on the limited 4-disc edition of Remixes 81-04)
• Album Version

Flood (Dangerous)

• Single Version
• Sensual Mix

Charts

Personal Jesus 2011

"Personal Jesus 2011" is the remixed version of the single, released May 30, 2011. The digital single was released in the UK on April 18, 2011. It was released a day later in the US.

Tracklistings

CD (Bong43)

1. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) - 3:56
2. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix) - 5:54
3. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) - 7:25
4. "Personal Jesus" (M.A.N. Remix) - 5:22
5. "Personal Jesus" (Sie Medway-Smith Remix) - 6:25

12" vinyl

1. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix) - 5:54
2. "Personal Jesus" (M.A.N. Remix) - 5:22
3. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) - 3:56
4. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) - 7:25
5. "Personal Jesus" (Sie Medway-Smith Remix) - 6:25

Digital Download

1. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) - 3:56
2. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix Edit) - 3:27

Beatport Exclusive Digital Download

1. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) - 7:26
2. "Never Let Me Down Again" (Eric Prydz Remix) - 7:01

Promo CD (PCDBong43)

1. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) - 3:56
2. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix Edit) - 3:27
3. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix) - 5:54
4. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) - 7:25
5. "Personal Jesus" (M.A.N. Remix) - 5:22
6. "Personal Jesus" (Sie Medway-Smith Remix) - 6:25

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Charts

Cover versions

Johnny Cash cover

Johnny Cash recorded "Personal Jesus" for his 2002 album American IV. Producer Rick Rubin asked Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante to re-work an acoustic version of Martin Gore's song, which featured a simple acoustic riff that stripped down the song to a blues style. Frusciante plays guitar on the track, along with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell.

Marilyn Manson cover

Marilyn Manson's 2004 cover version of "Personal Jesus" appears on the band's best-of compilation, Lest We Forget: The Best of, and was that album's lead single. It was recorded by Marilyn Manson with instrumentation and arrangement by Tim Skold at Manson's studio, Doppelherz Blood Treatment Facility, and mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent, a veteran producer who had also frequently worked with Depeche Mode.

The cover does not deviate in any large degree from Depeche Mode's original version, apart from additional guitar distortion. The single was accompanied by a music video directed by Manson and Nathan "Karma" Cox, which features the band members in tableaux vivants accompanied by rear-projection images depicting various images of political figures such as John F. Kennedy, Joseph Stalin, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, George W. Bush and Fidel Castro.

Like the original version, this 2004 cover was also remixed by other artists. The "Personal Jesus Rude Photo Motor Mix" was produced by Felix Da Housecat, Brian Black and Olivier Grasset, and appears as a b-side on the vinyl versions of the single.

Manson's version of the song is also used as the theme song for professional wrestlers Austin Aries, "Miracle" Mike James and Necro Butcher

This version was featured in the trailer to promote the sixth season of Dexter.

Track listings

Enhanced CD single

1. Personal Jesus - 4:06
2. mOBSCENE Replet (Mea Culpa Remix by Bitteren Ende) - 4:35
3. Personal Jesus (Rude Photo Motor Remix) - 5:50
4. "Personal Jesus" video

German 3" CD single

1. Personal Jesus
2. This Is the New Shit (remix by Sergio Galoyan)

UK 10" and UK 7"

1. Personal Jesus (LP version)
2. Personal Jesus (Rude Photo Motor Remix)

UK Enhanced CD single

1. Personal Jesus - 4:06
2. This is the New Shit (Invective remix by Obiter Dictum) - 4:25
3. mOBSCENE Replet (Mea Culpa Remix by Bitteren Ende) - 4:35
4. "Personal Jesus" video

Jamelia sample

Singer-songwriter Jamelia recorded "Beware of the Dog" in 2006. The song was based upon a sample of "Personal Jesus". "Beware of the Dog" peaked at No. 10 on the UK charts.

Hilary Duff sample

Actress and singer Hilary Duff recorded "Reach Out" in 2008. The song was also based upon a sample of "Personal Jesus". "Reach Out" later became No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Other covers

• Lollipop Lust Kill - from the 2002 album My So Called Knife.
• Gravity Kills - from the 2002 album Superstarved.
• David Gogo - from the 2002 album Skeleton Key.
• Toy Division - from the 2003 album Budapest Resonance.
• Nina Hagen - from her 2010 album Personal Jesus.
• Tori Amos - various live performances, notably on 2005's Original Sinsuality / Summer Of Sin Tour and more recently on 2010's currently untitled tour.
• Makke - from the 2005 album It's Binary, Baby!.
• Jerry Williams - from the 2002 album Sweet Sixty
• Thomas Di Leva - from the 2002 album "Lovestar"

References

External links

• Single information from the official Depeche Mode web site
• "Personal Jesus" lyrics
• Marilyn Manson single information from Discogs
• Personal Jesus tribute T-shirt design