Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Depeche Mode and "I Feel You"
Depeche Mode (mostly) sheds their '80s synth-driven sound and emerges with a rock-oriented focus on "I Feel You"
Depeche Mode - “I Feel You”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 5 weeks (March 27 to April 24, 1993)
Previous Modern Rock Tracks chart #1 hit: Belly - “Feed The Tree”
Next Modern Rock Tracks chart #1 hit: New Order - “Regret”
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
Snow - “Informer” (7 total weeks, 3/13/93 to 4/24/93)
The first time I heard Depeche Mode’s “I Feel You,” I’m pretty sure it was a Placebo cover.
Right around the time Placebo launched its album “Black Market Music,” upon which the U.S. release featured a cover of “I Feel You,” I was a college-radio disc jockey, and I’m almost positive we played that song as part of an early push for that album. We’d played a lot of Placebo’s biggest U.S. hit, “Pure Morning,” which was in reasonably heavy rotation at our station in 1998, so I think our radio programming directors were trying to stay on top of the groove built by the band’s earlier success by putting “I Feel You” into our play mix.
It was a bit of surprise later when, in 2003, Placebo released an album called “Covers” that explicitly noted their version of “I Feel You” was a Depeche Mode cover. This was before I dove into Depeche Mode’s entire catalog — I was purely a “Violator” fan up to this point, and hadn’t mustered the time or interest in learning more about the band. I liked the Placebo version fine, but this led me down the path of exploring some of DM’s other music.
Long story short, even though the Depeche Mode original came out before my 1994 Musical Awakening™️, I was well aware of it long before today, when I get to review it as part of Depeche Mode’s dominance of the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart in the late spring of 1993.
It’s not really dominance, per se, but it’s impressive on its own merits that Depeche Mode will be the subject of this newsletter again in two weeks for a completely different #1 hit. People were *hungry* for more DM after “Violator,” and who could blame them? “Violator” was a global juggernaut, spawning a pair of Modern Rock Tracks #1 hits along with substantial crossover success in the pop music realm. The album was certified triple platinum by the RIAA and sold millions more worldwide.
When I wrote about one of DM’s chart-topping hits, the perfect “Enjoy The Silence,” I said this about the band’s aesthetic:
Surely you all thought [“Enjoy The Silence”] was a song plucked right out of the new wave peak of the early to mid ‘80s, right? Everything about that style is laid out in full glory in “Enjoy The Silence”: percussive synth drums, droning keyboard riffs, laser beam sounds, smooth guitar accompaniment, haunting lyrics musing loudly about the power of silence, etc. This is an ‘80s song, one that I could easily classify as the best ‘80s song from the 1990s, or ‘best ‘80s ‘90s song.’
With “I Feel You,” the band completely sheds its ‘80s aesthetic, and runs full-steam ahead into the 1990s with a completely revitalized sound. It’s different, to be sure; after all, Depeche Mode doesn’t just stop Depeche Mode-ing because it’s a new decade. But the band was purposeful in its decision to move away from a purely synth-driven electronic sound into something that sounded more like alternative rock, emphasis on *rock*. In an interview with the hilariously named Bong magazine in 1998, Martin Gore talks about their transition away from their unique ‘80s-leaning sound when they produced their “Songs of Faith and Devotion” album:
“That whole album turned out to be the rockiest that we've ever wanted to achieve. 'I Feel You' is probably the pinnacle of that and it's about the closest we're going to come to sounding like a real authentic rock band."
Without a doubt, this song is the “rockiest” of songs from Depeche Mode, and yet it still maintains the aesthetic of “Violator” in its own way. There’s still an electronic vibe present throughout, and the sonic reverberations of the percussion and background vocals still give this song that unique mark that defines Depeche Mode, but this is definitely a band who outgrew its ‘80s roots and is attempting to expand that sound.
Unlike the virtually unlistenable attempt at metamorphosis by Jesus Jones, Depeche Mode’s attempt to modify their sound works wonderfully well. It’s not my favorite track from the band, to be sure; I don’t think any song of theirs will ever top “Enjoy The Silence” in my mind. Yet what I appreciate the most about this song, especially with 30 years of hindsight, is how much it presaged the sounds of newer bands in the late ‘90s, bands like Placebo or Filter, who effectively merged an electronic vibe with pure instrumental alternative rock. (I get big-time Filter vibes from this song, probably because I just listened to “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do” off the “Spawn” soundtrack, and that rock/electronic mish-mash with assistance from The Crystal Method is just terrific.) The mark of a great band is knowing how to change up their sound to meet the needs of a changing audience, and DM absolutely stood up to the challenge with this track.
And then, of course, there’s the music video, which was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 1993. It’s soft, black-and-white aesthetic apparently appealed to folks who vote on music videos to win MTV awards, but it doesn’t strike me as particularly visionary or interesting, outside of the sultry performance by actress Lysette Anthony and the focus on the band in sunglasses playing all the instruments.
Sometimes I like to scour Reddit and get impressions from others about what they think songs are all about. Interpretations vary wildly from song to song, but I thought this particular review of the lyrical meaning behind “I Feel You” was pretty spot on:
I feel you, your sun it shines
I feel you within my mind
You take me there, you take me where the kingdom comes
And….
I feel you, each move you make
I feel you, each breath you take
Where angels sing and spread their wings, my love’s on high
You take me home, to glory’s throne, by and by
I’m hardly a poet, but even someone with my level of poetic acumen can probably read between the lines and determine what he means by “kingdom” and “glory’s throne,” but needless to say, Dave Gahan is definitely feeling a certain kind of way about his loving experience with another.
I really like this track. I’m surprised that it’s fallen off my list of ‘90s alt-rock favorites, and when I queued it up again this week in advance of this writeup, I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it. It’s not the most memorable single in the band’s catalog, and even at the time, it only managed a #37 peak on the Hot 100 in 1993. That said, the album it came from was the first from Depeche Mode to top the Billboard 200 Album Chart, and it really won’t be long before we discuss the second single from the album to top the MRT charts.
Rating: 8/10
Chart Check
Other notable MRT chart songs from this time period
Pretty top-heavy lineup in this week’s Chart Check section, including some absolutely rock bangers from Lenny Kravitz and Dinosaur Jr., the final appearances on the MRT chart from Duran Duran and School of Fish, a rare David Bowie sighting, and probably my favorite Sting solo track.
“Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz (#2): I feel like this is the moment when future Modern Rock Tracks #1 artist Lenny Kravitz became a phenomenon in both the alt-rock and pop spheres. This song was everywhere in 1993 and beyond. The video is iconic, as is the song, which peaked at #2 behind Depeche Mode. Unlike Depeche Mode’s video, this one actually won an MTV Video Music Award, for Best Male Artist. It also was nominated for a couple of Grammy Awards, but fell short in that contest. Nevertheless, this song is an all-time classic, and a good stepping stone for anyone looking to dive into Kravitz’s back catalog.
“Start Choppin” by Dinosaur Jr. (#3): Dinosaur Jr. is a band I’ve been curious about for years, but I’ve yet to dive into their back catalog. This is one of the two hit songs that I know from the band, and I still dig it after all these years. “Start Choppin” peaked at #3 behind Depeche Mode, and would be the high-water mark for the band on the U.S. charts. We’ll be talking about their other big hit in the not-too-distant future.
“If I Ever Lose My Faith In You” by Sting (#4): Former Modern Rock Tracks #1 artist Sting gets back into the top 5 of the MRT charts with a crossover pop hit. “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You” was the first single from Sting’s solo catalog I can remember hearing as a young teenager, and I’ve always really loved it. It strikes a nice balance of rock and pop flourishes, along with a message about love and the certainty of one’s relationship against the backdrop of so much societal and religious uncertainty. And it has just the right amount of harmonica — Midnight Oil could learn a thing or two from Sting here. “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You” topped out at #4 on the MRT chart and #17 on the Hot 100.
“Jump They Say” by David Bowie (#4): David Bowie was not a mainstay on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. This makes sense, as the vast majority of Bowie’s most popular output came before the launch of the MRT chart in September 1988. That said, it speaks to Bowie’s appeal across genres that he managed to get a track in the top 5 of the MRT chart with “Jump They Say,” a solid electronic/rock amalgam that topped out at #4 behind Depeche Mode. What can I say about Bowie that you don’t already know? Not much, but I can say that this single is pretty solid, and fits in well on a chart that’s led by Depeche Mode.
“Take Me Anywhere” by School of Fish (#5): It’s been a little while since we talked about School of Fish, a band that peaked at #6 behind R.E.M. in 1991 with “3 Strange Days.” The first single off of their second (and ultimately final) album, “Take Me Anywhere,” managed to finish a notch above their initial effort, peaking at #5 behind “I Feel You.” It’s a pretty great track, actually, which makes it all the more unfortunate that the album did not catch on commercially and ultimately led to the band’s break up soon after.
“Come Undone” by Duran Duran (#12): Blurring the lines between rock and pop in the early ‘90s, Duran Duran makes their way back into the top 20 of the Modern Rock Tracks chart with “Come Undone,” the second single off their self-titled album and the second in a row (along with “Ordinary World”) to chart in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, finishing at #7 on the flagship pop chart. “Come Undone” would finish at #12 on the MRT chart and would mark the end of their dominance in the U.S. charts.
YES, this is one of my fave Depeche Mode tracks. 🤓 The Filter comparison is definitely apt, I love that it dips a toe in the alt-rock pool. I saw DM live in concert last year for the first time, and it was on the setlist. (You're right, though, it's hard to compare anything to "Enjoy the Silence." No one prepared me for what a transcendental experience it is, hearing that in person.)
Oddly, my fave DM song is a single from 'Delta Machine,' which gets very little love from fans: "Should Be Higher." 🙌🏼
I don't remember this song at all! It is pretty different from most of what they were doing at the time. I might have been listening a bit too heavily to the other big tracks that week by Lenny Kravitz, Sting, and Duran Duran!