7. Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough (Mute)

 

Number one for two weeks from 26th September 1981

“I can, you will” – Patrick Humphries, Melody Maker

I can’t think of many other groups whose opening shots were such red herrings. With “Photographic”, “Dreaming Of Me” and “New Life”, Depeche Mode had presented themselves as a synth-pop act with sharp melodies, but with cryptic, creepy and occasionally dystopian elements tacked on.

“Photographic” (which appeared on the Some Bizarre sampler LP) was a hushed, pulsing meditation on either criminal espionage or stalking an unfortunate woman – you decide which – whereas “Dreaming Of Me” is a series of filmic, cinematic images which all add up to apparently mean nothing much in particular but sound, like “Photographic”, in love with the idea of the machinery behind the art, the projectionist's filter through which the activity is made possible. We’ve already discussed “New Life” and what the hell might be going on there, but then…

“Just Can’t Get Enough” eschews all this for a boy/girl (or boy/boy or girl/girl if you prefer) love story of almost inane simplicity. And once “Just Can’t Get Enough” happened, neither Depeche Mode or Vince Clarke were ever quite the same again. It was to be Clarke’s last single for them - shortly after it was released he stated that he no longer wanted to suffer the trappings of being in a band; but despite this, he would never return to his word salad of bright lights, dark rooms, rising casts or red shadows, and nor would the remaining band try to emulate it. He would write more straightforward songs about love and interpersonal relationships, occasionally making the odd political statement, whereas the group he left behind eventually found their natural home writing about the big universal subjects – religion, human relationships (romantic and inter-personal) human failings, sex and love (Yes, this is an over-simplification if we're talking about their earlier LPs, and we'll have plenty of opportunities to see how as this blog progresses).

It’s not as if “Just Can’t Get Enough” shot in from the sidelines and turned everyone’s creative practice around. Anyone who has heard their debut album “Speak And Spell” knows that there are even more straightforward songs on offer (“Nodisco” and “What's Your Name” anyone? Let's not link to them, it seems kindest) but in terms of the broader public perception of the band, it may have proved to be a bit of a curse as well as a blessing. While it only reached number eight in the national charts, it remains one of their best known and most played songs to this day, soundtracking adverts, popping up on oldies radio, covered by kids on TikTok and YouTube in a variety of unlikely ways, all of which fail to ever escape the simple joy of the song. If the band weren’t already thought of by some critics as being cute, gleeful teens with candyfloss melodies, they were now.

My wife recently mentioned that in her mind, “Just Can’t Get Enough” and The Beatles “She Loves You” share a similar space, and I get her point. Both are unapologetically effervescent songs about young love. “She Loves You” has a bit more of a narrative to it, and it’s clear that the biggest enthusiast for the individual’s relationship is the singer who is addressing his daft mate (an interesting way of delivering the song’s central message) but the principle remains the same. Both songs are not unduly weighed down by doubt, mixed emotions or past experiences like most love songs are. They’re not ballads either – they’re boppy, excited, rowdy, the thrilling noise of a 15 or 16 year old realising they’re actually wanted and desired by somebody.

The facile lyrical nature of some of Vince Clarke’s later work for Depeche Mode can be painful to listen to at times, but it also partly contributes to the strengths of “Just Can’t Get Enough”. Dave Gahan sounds uncharacteristically chipper throughout, as if he can’t believe his luck and is almost deliriously senseless – “We walk together, we’re walking down the street!” he sings, barely able to believe such a simple act could be possible. Mostly though, the lyrics just repeat the title, chanting it as well as hollering it, until it becomes almost a meta comment on the hooky, addictive nature of the song itself as well as the relationship.

Musically too, there are lots of deft touches to keep the momentum going – the upwards synthetic elevation before the line “And when it rains/ you’re shining down for me” which is accompanied only by the metronomic drum machine and human voices. Clarke seems to understand that he’s got a very simple and very powerful idea here, but he’s going to need to channel it through a multitude of filters to stop it becoming a repetitive drag. By the end, towards the fade-out, the song is so busy that it’s actually hard to make out what’s going on. There appears to be a CB radio voice or tannoy buried deep in the mix uttering something repetitively as the record comes to an end, but nobody has ever successfully explained to me what it’s saying.

It’s not my favourite Depeche Mode song, but it’s almost certainly the favourite Depeche Mode song of a number of people I know, and a number of people you know too – the one your sister-in-law turns up when it comes on the radio, the only Depeche song your Dad knows, both of them feeling it defines the group. That’s unfortunate, as it’s probably their least representative single, but also it’s not as if anything else in their bag of songs would have given their career an equivalent lift at this point. “Speak And Spell” is hardly replete with further hit singles, and the one which comes closest – “Puppets” – is another slightly creepy effort which would hardly have had the same galvanising effect the group needed after their first hit.

The music press had been reasonably kind to Depeche Mode up to this point, but the relationship was beginning to cool, and with Clarke’s departure they were regarded by most as a spent force, an interesting blip on the pop radar whose moment had passed. Either the main talent behind the band (Clarke) would manage a few more hits, or nobody would. This, surely, is all any sensible person could expect.

Trivia

Despite only reaching number eight in the charts, "Just Can't Get Enough" is only one of two Platinum certified Depeche Mode singles in the UK. The other is "Enjoy The Silence". 

Oldies radio seldom seems to remember that there are actually other Depeche Mode hits out there besides those two, but hey ho. 

Away From The Number One Spot

Marc Bolan climbs to number two with “You Scare Me To Death”, a posthumous release pushed out by Cherry Red using backing musicians to add weight to some of his unused demos. This release wasn’t without controversy at the time, with some fans regarding it to be a tasteless cash-in which was unrepresentative of the man’s talents. “You Scare Me To Death” was originally recorded as a possible advertising jingle for Ampex breath fresheners, so it’s possible to understand their point of view, but others loved it. Me? I have no dog in this fight.




The Dead Kennedys “Holiday In Cambodia” peaks at number six, failing to scale the heights that “Too Drunk To Fuck” managed, with South Wales punks The Partisans scaling higher towards number four with “Police Story”, a largely forgotten single about a largely forgotten incident – namely the alleged police murder of a drunken man by the name of James Kelly in Liverpool who “mysteriously” died following an arrest.




Mick Hucknall’s Frantic Elevators also put in a brief appearance at number 30 with “Searching For the Only One”, but he cannot outsell Thomas Leer’s “4 Movements” EP which rose all the way to number 21. The days when such angular electronic grooves would outsell him would not last forever.

Go to the UKMix Forums to see the charts in full. 

Number One In The National Charts

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