Songoftheday 10/17/20 - I'm going to take my time I have all the time in the world, to make you mine tt is written in the stars above...

"It's No Good" - Depeche Mode

from the album Ultra (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 3

Today's song of the day comes from British new wave veterans Depeche Mode, whose left-turn into the grunge sound on their Songs Of Faith And Devotion album landed them their sole #1 album in the U.S. so far as well as a top-40 pop hit with "I Feel You" in the spring of 1993. However, that success, as success does, fractured the band as they toured behind the album, with lead singer Dave Gahan spinning into a life-threatening drug problem, key songwriter Martin Gore drowning in alcohol, and Martin Fletcher sinking into depression (he had usually been the band's "glue"). Alan Wilder, who had been originally brought in on their second album when Vince Clarke departed, left the band in frustration to concentrate on his own new group Recoil.

It would be years before the remaining trio would reunite, during which Gahan almost died from his addiction, leading him into rehab. They re-emerged in the beginning of 1997 with the lead single from their ninth studio album Ultra, "Barrel Of A Gun". Continuing on the rock vein from their previous set, the edgy single was a big international hit, reaching #4 in their native Britain and #1 in Sweden and Spain, but it stalled under the American pop top-40 at #47, while missing the Alternative Rock radio top ten by a notch at #11. The second release, though, was more moody and electric, in line with their earlier work. "It's No Good", written by Martin Gore and produced by Tim Simenon, got mainstream and rock radio back on board, and landed their most recent top-40 success...

"It's No Good" became Depeche Mode's sixth, and so far last, top-40 pop hit in America in June of 1997. The single went up to #4 on Billboard magazine's Alternative Rock radio chart, and placed on their Adult Top-40 format list at #31. The remixes of the track helped them top the Dance Club Play tally for the second time in a decade, after "Strangelove" in 1987. Internationally, the single again topped the charts in Sweden and Spain as well as in Denmark, and reached the top ten in the UK (#5), Germany (#5), Italy (#5), Finland (#5), and Iceland (#6). It also made the top-40 in Norway (#11), Ireland (#13), Belgium (#14W/#43F), Austria (#28), Switzerland (#30), and Canada (#36). The Ultra album peaked at #5 in the States, going on to sell over a half-million copies.

The next single from the record was the Gore-sung ballad "Home", which landed in the top ten in Italy and Spain, and getting to #23 in the UK, but only spent a few weeks on the American Hot 100, stalling at #88. That was followed by "Useless", which scored a fourth British top-40 hit at #28, but missed the American charts altogether. A year later, the band released a singles compilation, including new track "Only When I Lose Myself", which topped the Spanish chart, got to #2 in Germany and #17 in the UK, while stopping at #61 in the U.S. pop and #36 on the Alternative Rock lists.

After another long break, Depeche Mode returned with their next studio effort, Exciter, which brought them back to their electronica roots while still keeping acoustic instruments in the mix. Lead single "Dream On" was particularly success at Adult Top-40 radio format, climbing to #15, while reaching #12 on the Alternative Rock list and #85 on the pop Hot 100 in Billboard. The song also topped the dance club play tally. Internationally, the single hit #1 in Germany, Italy, and Spain, and returned them to the British top ten at #6. Two more songs from the record, "I Feel Loved" and "Freelove", also made it to #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart, and both made the top-20 in the UK. The former was nominated for their first musical Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, losing out to Janet Jackson's "All For You". Another four-year break came between that and their next album, a break that would see both Gahan and Gore releasing solo albums. Gahan's first solo disc, Paper Monsters, included the single "Dirty Sticky Floors", which went to #18 in England and #3 on the American dance chart in 2003. The following year, a reworked version of their early hit "Enjoy The Silence" with neo-metal band Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, got them back in the British top 10 at #7. In 2005, the next Mode set, Playing The Angel, emerged, and first single "Precious" was their most recent Hot 100 appearance at #71, and got to #32 on the Adult Top-40 format and #23 at Alternative Rock radio. It continued their streak of #1 hits on the Dance Club Play chart as well, and is their most recent top ten hit in their native Britain at #4. Also on that disc was "Suffer Well", which was written by Gahan and landed a second Grammy nod for Best Dance Recording, again losing to a sugary pop confection in Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback". Another four years traversed again, during which Gahan released another solo album, Hourglass, which saw him topping the American dance chart with "Kingdom" in 2007. Their next album, Sounds Of The Universe, spun off the rock radio hit "Wrong" (#12 Alternative), that also topped the dance chart, while the album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alterantive Rock Album, which went that year to French upstarts Phoenix for Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Since then the band has released two more studio records, the most recent being Spirit in 2017 (still going by their one-every-four-years plan). From that disc, which made it to #5 in the US and the UK, their single "Where's The Revolution" nicked the Alternative Rock radio chart at #40. Meanwhile, the band is about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November of this year.

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Here's the "Club 69" promo remix from the late Peter Rauhofer, which helped the song top Billboard's Dance Club Play chart...