10 Greatest Ever Depeche Mode Songs
3. Never Let Me Down Again (1987)
Never Let Me Down Again turns thirty this year, yet remains to this day one of the band's most popular songs to perform live. Often the highlight of their tremendous live shows, the song's rapturous conclusion coincides with Dave Gahan leading a stadium of avid fans in waving their arms for several minutes at a time. This is most prominently featured at the band's famous 101 show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in 1988.
However, the track was also important in catapulting the band in their process of worldwide success. In a similar to vein to Everything Counts five years earlier, Never Let Me Down Again illustrated the nuanced development of Martin Gore's songwriting. It was the first to truly transcend the sound of the record and translate as a stadium anthem across the world.
As the second single from their breakthrough album, Music For The Masses, Never Let Me Down Again surprisingly did not chart as well as either Strangelove or Behind The Wheel, the first and third singles from the album respectively. But in the wider context of the band's success, it is one of the most important singles they ever released.