Synopsis
Depeche Mode perform their buoyant synth-pop hit in a playful mix of staged band shots and nightlife scenes. Dave Gahan sings and dances with youthful confidence while Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke play their instruments amid colorful lighting and energetic editing. The group also appears socializing in a club surrounded by dancers, giving the video the atmosphere of an early-1980s night out. Its cheerful, uncomplicated presentation matches the song's infectious optimism and captures Depeche Mode before their later, darker visual identity emerged.
Factoids & Trivia
- Released in 1981, this was Depeche Mode's first music video and remains the only one to feature Vince Clarke, the band's original principal songwriter.
- The song was the group's third single, their first UK Top 10 hit, and the final Depeche Mode single written by Clarke before his departure in December 1981.
- The exterior footage was filmed around London's Southbank Centre, including the undercroft and a stairway near the Royal Festival Hall that has since been demolished.
- The video belongs to the band's early, deliberately accessible synth-pop period. Its bright lighting, club setting and straightforward performance style contrast sharply with the more atmospheric and image-conscious videos that became central to Depeche Mode's identity later in the decade.
- Clarke's presence gives the clip unusual archival importance: it documents the original four-piece lineup shortly before his exit led to the band's songwriting duties shifting primarily to Martin Gore.