Personal Jesus

When Depeche Mode set out to record Violator, their seventh studio album, they sought a new way of working. Songwriter Martin Gore brought a very basic idea for a song called Personal Jesus, which consisted of little more than him tapping out a rhythm with his foot while playing a melody on acoustic guitar. The intention was for the rest of the band to have more room to improvise in the studio. This piece, which fuses the spiritual with the earthly, was inspired by Priscilla Presley's book Elvis and Me. Gore explained that the song is about how people can become a kind of "Jesus" for others, someone who offers hope and care, and how in romantic relationships we often assume divine roles, even though no one is perfect.

The band felt that Personal Jesus was a perfect calling card for their new sound, a sign that Depeche Mode was evolving. Although they had already experimented with guitars on tracks like Get the Balance Right! in 1982, this was the first time a guitar led a single. The main recording of this song took place in Milan, Italy, in 1989, under the production of Flood and the band itself. After this stage, they moved to Denmark to continue with the rest of the album. The track was released as the first single from Violator in August 1989 and reached number 13 on the UK singles chart and number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In Germany, it remained on the charts for 23 weeks. The music video accompanying the song was directed by Anton Corbijn and filmed in Spain. Over time, Personal Jesus has been covered by artists such as Johnny Cash and was included in the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.