Personal Jesus
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| "Personal Jesus" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Depeche Mode | ||
| from the album Violator | ||
| B-side(s) | "Dangerous" | |
| Released | August 29, 1989 | |
| Format | Vinyl record 7", 12", CD | |
| Recorded | 1989 | |
| Genre | Synthpop | |
| Length | 7" - 3:23 12" - 5:51 |
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| Label | Mute Records | |
| Writer(s) | Martin Gore | |
| Producer(s) | Depeche Mode and Flood | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Depeche Mode singles chronology | ||
| "Everything Counts (Live)" (1989) |
"Personal Jesus" (1989) |
"Enjoy the Silence" (1990) |
"Personal Jesus" is Depeche Mode's twenty-third UK single, released on August 29, 1989, and the first single from the then upcoming album Violator. The song was covered by Johnny Cash, Lollipop Lust Kill and Gravity Kills in 2002, Marilyn Manson, Richard Cheese, Tori Amos in 2005, the Dixie Hummingbirds, and David Gogo in 2006. A Spanish version, titled "Tu único Dios (Personal Jesus)" was recorded by Acusicas for a Depeche Mode tribute album in 2006.
The song itself was inspired by the book "Elvis and Me" by Priscilla Presley. According to songwriter Martin Gore, "It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?" [1]
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[edit] Depeche Mode recording
The song became a big hit across the world, and is one of Depeche Mode's most successful songs, along with the following single, "Enjoy the Silence". It was the first time the guitar was used as the main instrument on a Depeche Mode song. The single took the world by storm and featured more advertising than usual with Depeche Mode, with magazine ads and a telephone campaign (people could call a number seen on magazine ads that would play the song). In addition, the single was particularly successful commercially thanks to the fact that it was released six months prior to the album it would later appear on. Up to that point, it was best selling 12" single in Warner Brothers history. [2]
"Personal Jesus" has a plethora of remixes, almost unprecedented for Depeche Mode at the time. While most other Depeche Mode singles prior to "Personal Jesus" usually had band-made extended mixes, Depeche Mode started to invite more DJs and mixers to the fold, which would become the mainstay for all future Depeche Mode singles. François Kevorkian (who did the mixing for the Violator album, in general) mixed the single version, the "Holier Than Thou Approach" and the "Pump Mix," while producer Flood mixed the "Acoustic" version and the "Telephone Stomp Mix" as well as the single version and "Sensual Mix" of the single's B-side "Dangerous," a more disco-electronic track. The "Hazchemix" and "Hazchemix Edit" of "Dangerous" were mixed by Daniel Miller.
The back-cover of "Personal Jesus" features one of the band members and the back-side of a naked girl. The band member she is with depends on whether you have the 7" Vinyl (Martin Gore), the 12" Vinyl (David Gahan), the Cassette (Andrew Fletcher), or the original CD (Alan Wilder). On some copies she does not appear at all, such as the 2004 CD re-release, and on promo copies. On some limited releases, like the GBong17, all four pictures are available.
The Anton Corbijn-directed music video for "Personal Jesus" is his first Depeche Mode video in color, and features the band in a ranch. MTV edited out some suggestive mouth movements of Martin Gore during the bridge and replaced it with some other footage from the video.
In 2004, the song was listed at #368 in Rolling Stone magazine's "List of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time," and in September 2006 it was voted as one of the "100 Greatest Songs Ever" in Q magazine. In 2002, Johnny Cash chose to cover "Personal Jesus" on what would be the last album he released during his lifetime American IV: The Man Comes Around.
[edit] Track listings
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This CD is the 2004 re-release
US single released September 19, 1989 |
All songs written by Martin L. Gore
[edit] Marilyn Manson recording
| "Personal Jesus" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Marilyn Manson | ||
| from the album Lest We Forget | ||
| Released | October 4, 2004 | |
| Format | Vinyl record 7", 10", CD | |
| Recorded | 2004 | |
| Genre | Alternative metal | |
| Length | 4:06 | |
| Label | Interscope Records | |
| Producer(s) | Marilyn Manson and Tim Skold | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Marilyn Manson singles chronology | ||
| "This Is the New Shit" (2003) |
"Personal Jesus" (2004) |
"Putting Holes in Happiness" (2007) |
Marilyn Manson's 2004 cover version of "Personal Jesus" appears on the band's best-of compilation, Lest We Forget, and was that album's lead single. It was recorded by Marilyn Manson with instrumentation and arrangement by Tim Skold at Manson's studio, Doppelherz Blood Treatment Facility, and mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent, a veteran producer who had also frequently worked with Depeche Mode.
The cover does not deviate in any large degree from Depeche Mode's original version, apart from additional guitar distortion. The single was accompanied by a music video directed by Manson and Nathan "Karma" Cox, which features the band members in Tableaux Vivants accompanied by rear-projection images depicting various scenes of American and international political nature.
Like the original version, this 2004 cover was also remixed by other artists. The "Personal Jesus Rude Photo Motor Mix" was produced by Felix Da Housecat, Brian Black and Olivier Grasset, and appears as a b-side on the vinyl versions of the single.
[edit] Track listings
- UK Enhanced CD single
- Personal Jesus
- New Shit Invective – Obiter Dictum Mix by Bitteren Ende
- mOBSCENE Replet – Mea Culpa Mix by Bitterne Ende
- "Personal Jesus" video
- Australian Enhanced CD single
- Personal Jesus
- mOBSCENE Replet – Mea Culpa Mix by Bitterne Ende
- Personal Jesus (Rude Photo Motor Remix)
- "Personal Jesus" video
- German 3" CD single
- Personal Jesus
- This Is the New Shit (remix by Sergio Golayan)
- UK 10" and UK 7"
- Personal Jesus (LP version)
- Personal Jesus (Rude Photo Motor Remix)
[edit] Trivia
- Manson's version of the song is used as the theme song for professional wrestlers Austin Aries and Necro Butcher.
- In October 2004, "Personal Jesus" appeared on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack, playing on alternative station Radio X.
- There is a Christmas episode in the first season of the sitcom Scrubs entitled "My Own Personal Jesus".
- The Christian Goth-Shock-Rock band Rackets and Drapes has covered the song on their album Trick or Treat.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Single information from the official Depeche Mode web site
- Single information from MansonUSA.com
- "Personal Jesus" lyrics
- Reel Reviews-Personal Jesus
