"Never Let Me Down Again" is a song by the English electronic band Depeche Mode. It was released as the second single from their sixth studio album, Music for the Masses (1987), on 24 August 1987. It reached No. 22 in the UK, No. 2 in West Germany, and the top-10 in several other European countries such as Sweden and Switzerland, topping the Danish charts. In the US, it entered the Billboard Hot 100.
Depeche Mode had released their album Black Celebration in early 1986,[6] followed up with a supporting tour which lasted through the middle of that year.[7] In late 1986, the band assembled at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris to record material for their new album.[8]Daniel Miller, citing growing tension in the studio during the recording of Black Celebration, had stepped away from producing Depeche Mode's music for the new songs,[9] and instead they worked with David Bascombe, who had just completed working as a recording engineer with Tears for Fears on their album Songs from the Big Chair (1985).[10]
Recording
Former member Alan Wilder and the other members of the band considered the track an "obvious single" with much potential,[10] with the song's writer, Martin Gore, calling it a "stand-out" track.[11] Although primarily known as an all-synth band, the song included a strong guitar riff, albeit "heavily treated and processed", played by Gore, as they had done as far back as 1982 when recording their single "Get the Balance Right!".[10][12] To make the song sound more dramatic, they mixed the Led Zeppelin-influenced drum patterns and Martin Gore's guitar riffs forward in the mix.[10] Gore's guitar work in the song was described in 2025 as "simple, repetitive riffs [that] just sit on a groove, adding another textural element and human grit into the mix."[13] Bascombe noted that both he and the band had brought a "library" of samples to the sessions, which they used for the song.[14] The Snare drum in the song was sampled from "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin, augmented in the studio because the original audio was too low-fidelity to use alone.[14] The tom-tom drum sound was a sample the band re-used from their earlier single, "Stripped" (1986).[14] A sample from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana was also incorporated into the track.[14] Gore's guitar part for the song was recorded at Puk Studios, filtered through an ARP 2600 synthesiser.[15]
The guitar intro of the song on the album was not originally intended, according to producer Bascombe, who said that "the sequencers we were using in those days, that guitar was sampled and it just ran on the count-in over the start of the track but it wasn't supposed to be. We all went, 'That's great' and so that was a happy accident."[16]
During recording, Wilder and Bascombe disagreed on how to edit the mix for the single version.[14] Wilder wanted to remove certain parts for the single mix, such as the piano bridge between the verse and chorus, but Bascombe overruled him.[14] Years later, Bascombe admitted the Wilder had probably been right.[14]
The main remix version of the track, known as the "Split Mix", was created with direct involvement of the band.[10] Years later, after remixes began being made by various hired producers, Wilder suggested that the band should have kept making their own mixes instead of farming them out to others.[10]
Lyrics
The lyrics of the song, starting with the strident vocals of "I'm taking a ride with my best friend", are generally regarded as reflecting drug use,[17][10] with the track being labelled by NME music journalist Jane Solanas as a "masterpiece" that well conveys the feeling of "drug euphoria".[10]
In a 1987 interview, Gore said that the song "has nothing to do with relationships. It's about the concept of fleeing from reality and the evil awakening afterwards. Any kind of fleeing. Drugs, alcohol, or whatever."[16]
Release
"Never Let Me Down Again" was released as a single on 24 August 1987.[18] In the UK, Mute Records released the single on 7", 12", and limited 12" vinyl with catalogue numbers 7BONG14, 12BONG14 and L12BONG14, respectively.[19] A 12" promotional vinyl release, P12BONG14, was made available as well.[19] In West Germany, Intercord Records released the same 3 single formats as well with catalogue numbers INT 111.850, INT 126.868 and INT 126.869.[20] Remixes of the b-side, "Pleasure, Little Treasure", were made by John Fryer and Paul Kendall,[20] which was described in a Smash Hits review as "quite a good disco belter".[21]
In 2017, Billboard magazine included "Never Let Me Down Again" on their list of Top 20 Depeche Mode songs, coming in at number 12.[22]
The song became permanent part of the band's live act.[18] Notable in the 101 video is when Dave Gahan waves his arms in the air toward the end of the song, and the sold-out crowd at the Rose Bowl mimics Gahan's movements, which the German magazine Music Express called a "wind in a cornfield" simulation.[24]
The Smashing Pumpkins recorded a cover of the song and released it as a B-side on their 1994 CD single "Rocket" as well as on the Depeche Mode tribute album For the Masses. Discussing the cover, Martin Gore said he had "always liked" the Pumpkins cover, while Dave Gahan said he "particularly liked it", and even thought it was "a lot better" than the Depeche Mode original.[25][26]
In popular culture
The song was featured in the HBO series Euphoria. It played during the third episode of the second season, "Ruminations: Big and Little Bullys".[27]
"Never Let Me Down Again" appeared two times on the TV show The Last of Us. Its first appearance came in the series premiere, "When You're Lost in the Darkness".[28]Craig Mazin, the co-creator of the series, chose the song due to its blend of upbeat sounds and dark lyrics. He felt its title referred to the relationship between Joel and Ellie, and noted it would recur later in the season in a different manner.[29]:40:25 In the wake of the song being featured on The Last of Us, the amount of streams of "Never Let Me Down Again" tripled overnight.[30] The song returned in the sixth episode of the first season, "Kin", where it is performed by Mazin's daughter Jessica, to demonstrate Ellie feeling let down by Joel.[31][32]
↑ Binder, Raffaela (22 June 2009). "Depeche Mode live in München". Musik Express (in German). Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
↑ McNeal, Bria (20 January 2023). "The Last of Us Just Made 'Never Let Me Down Again' The Latest '80s Revival". Esquire. Archived from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023. According to Billboard, the song is on track to continue the music world's '80s takeover. "Never Let Me Down Again" reportedly tripled its streams overnight, going from 26,000 streams when The Last of Us premiered, to 83,000 the next day. Depeche Mode caught wind of the revival, aided fans' interest by adding "Heard on Episode 1 of The Last of Us," to the song's description on YouTube.
↑ "European Hot 100 Singles"(PDF). Music & Media. Vol.4, no.38. 26 September 1987. p.14. OCLC29800226. Archived(PDF) from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2023– via World Radio History.
↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1sted.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
↑ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2022.Select "Singoli" in the "Tipo" field, type "Depeche Mode" in the "Artista" field and press "cerca".
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