Personal Jesus

Inspiration

The song 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 Presley 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?

Composition

"Personal Jesus" is written in the key of F♯ minor with a tempo of 130 beats per minute in 12
8 time.

Background

In mid-1989, the band began recording in Milan with record producer Flood. The result of this session was the single "Personal Jesus", which featured a catchy bluesy riff and drum-based sound, radically different from anything the band had released thus far. The song became a big hit across the world, and is one of Depeche Mode's most successful songs, along with the single "Enjoy the Silence". Although not the first Depeche Mode song to feature guitar parts ("Behind the Wheel" and their cover of "Route 66" featured a guitar; "Love, in Itself" from Construction Time Again featured an acoustic guitar), it was the first time a guitar was used as a dominant instrument in a Depeche Mode song.

Prior to its release, advertisements were placed in the personal columns of regional newspapers in the UK with the words "Your own personal Jesus." Later, the ads included a phone number one could dial to hear the song. The ensuing controversy helped propel the single to No. 13 on the UK charts, becoming one of Depeche Mode’s biggest sellers. 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 the best selling 12" single in Warner Brothers history.

"Personal Jesus" had 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", the "Pump Mix", and the lesser-known "Kazan Cathedral Mix" (which was not available on any of the singles), 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 woman. The band member she is with depends on whether it is the 7" Vinyl (Martin Gore), the 12" Vinyl (Dave Gahan), the Cassette (Andy 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 photos are available plus one photo of the full group (Martin is hugging the woman).

The Anton Corbijn-directed music video for "Personal Jesus" is his first Depeche Mode video in colour, and features the band in a ranch (suggested to appear as a brothel), placed in the Tabernas Desert of Almería, in Spain. MTV edited out some suggestive mouth movements of Martin Gore during the bridge and replaced it with some other footage from the video.

Track listings

All songs written by Martin Gore.

Mixes

Francois Kevorkian

Flood

Daniel Miller

Personal Jesus 2011

"Personal Jesus 2011" is the remixed version of the single, released on 30 May 2011. The digital single was released in the UK on 18 April 2011. It was released a day later in the US.

Track listings

CD (Bong43)

1. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) – 3:57
2. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix) – 5:57
3. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) – 7:26
4. "Personal Jesus" (M.A.N. Remix) – 5:24
5. "Personal Jesus" (Sie Medway-Smith Remix) – 6:25

12" vinyl

1. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix) – 5:54
2. "Personal Jesus" (M.A.N. Remix) – 5:22
3. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) – 3:56
4. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) – 7:25
5. "Personal Jesus" (Sie Medway-Smith Remix) – 6:25

Digital Download

1. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) – 3:56
2. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix Edit) – 3:27

Beatport Exclusive Digital Download

1. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) – 7:26
2. "Never Let Me Down Again" (Eric Prydz Remix) – 7:01

Promo CD (PCDBong43)

1. "Personal Jesus" (The Stargate Mix) – 3:57
2. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix Edit) – 3:27
3. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix) – 5:57
4. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) – 7:26
5. "Personal Jesus" (M.A.N. Remix) – 5:24
6. "Personal Jesus" (Sie Medway-Smith Remix) – 6:25

iTunes Store

1. "Personal Jesus" (Alex Metric Remix) – 5:57
2. "Personal Jesus" (Eric Prydz Remix) – 7:26
3. "Personal Jesus" (M.A.N. Remix) – 5:24
4. "Personal Jesus" (Sie Medway-Smith Remix) – 5:56

Johnny Cash cover

Johnny Cash recorded "Personal Jesus" for his 2002 album American IV. Producer Rick Rubin asked Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante to re-work an acoustic version of Martin Gore's song, which featured a simple acoustic riff that stripped down the song to a blues style. Frusciante plays guitar on the track, along with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. It appears as the B-side to another cover, Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt".

Marilyn Manson cover

Marilyn Manson's 2004 cover version of "Personal Jesus" appears on the band's best-of compilation, Lest We Forget: The Best Of, and was that album's lead single. It was recorded by Marilyn Manson with instrumentation and arrangement by Tim Sköld 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 images of political figures such as Benito Mussolini, John F. Kennedy, Joseph Stalin, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, George W. Bush and Fidel Castro.

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. It has been a staple of the band's live shows as well.

Track listing

1. "Personal Jesus" – 4:06
2. "Mobscenereplet" (Mea Culpa Mix By Bitteren Ende) – 4:35
3. "Personal Jesus" (Rude Photo Motor Remix) – 5:50
4. "Personal Jesus" music video

1. "Personal Jesus" – 4:06
2. "This Is the New Shit" (remix by Sergio Galoyan) – 4:28

1. "Personal Jesus" (LP version)
2. "Personal Jesus" (Rude Photo Motor Remix)

1. "Personal Jesus" – 4:06
2. "Newshitinvective" (Obiter Dictum Mix By Bitteren Ende) – 4:25
3. "Mobscenereplet" (Mea Culpa Mix By Bitteren Ende) – 4:35
4. "Personal Jesus" music video

Jamelia sample

Singer-songwriter Jamelia recorded the song "Beware of the Dog" in 2006, which sampled "Personal Jesus". "Beware of the Dog" peaked at No. 10 on the UK charts.

Hilary Duff sample

Actress and singer Hilary Duff recorded "Reach Out" in 2008. The song was also based upon a sample of "Personal Jesus". "Reach Out" later became No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Other covers