Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence has easily become one of the band’s most recognisable songs, but it didn’t begin its musical journey in the form we know today.
Depeche Mode were one of the early synth-pop pioneers. Original member Vince Clarke was responsible for penning much of the band’s best-known early output, along with the production stylings of groundbreaking producer, Daniel Miller.
Clarke’s departure, after their first album, resulted in Martin Gore taking over lead songwriting duties, and with this subtle change in personnel, so came a change in sound. Their output became darker and more industrially-tinged, with less use of pop-oriented sounds and harmonies. Yet it was a sound that found mass appeal, and provides us with some excellent points for analysis. Enjoy the Silence exemplifies this balance perfectly.
Martin Gore composed the song, originally demoing it as a form of ballad. Upon playing the demo to the band in the studio, fellow band member Alan Wilder and producer Flood persuaded Gore to raise the tempo of the song, to the speed that we now recognise.
“Strangely, the thing that immediately came to mind was that I could hear [Pet Shop Boys’ vocalist] Neil Tennant singing it in my head - something about the line ‘All I ever wanted’ sounded very hamster… er, Pet Shop to me!” said Wilder in the book Stripped: Depeche Mode. “It occurred to me that it could work brilliantly as a sort of up-tempo dance track.”
