# Strangelove (song)

"Strangelove" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 27 April 1987 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Music for the Masses (1987).
It was an international success, reaching number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, number two in West Germany and South Africa, and the top 20 in several other countries, including Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. In the United States, it reached number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first of nine number ones on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, where it stayed for three weeks at the top.

## Background

The original single, though successful, didn't fit with Music for the Masses's darker sound, so Daniel Miller remixed the track for subsequent inclusion on the album. Alan Wilder, in the Q&A section of his Recoil website, wrote that the band felt the single version was "too cluttered" and was the reason Miller's remix was commissioned. Miller expounded on this in the Music for the Masses re-master documentary DVD, stating he felt the original single version was too complicated and would benefit from being simplified.
It was remixed by production team Bomb the Bass and released again as a single in the US, known informally as "Strangelove '88", this time reaching number 50 on the Hot 100.

## B-sides

There are two B-sides for "Strangelove". The first, "Pimpf", is a dark instrumental that is mostly piano, named after a magazine of the Hitler Youth organizations. "Pimpf" later shows up, somewhat shortened, as the final track on Music for the Masses.
The second instrumental, "Agent Orange", is named after the herbicide used in the Vietnam War. The end of the song contains a repeated pattern in Morse code, rumored to mean "if anyone can hear this, please help me", is actually just gibberish, it translates to "LAXI" repeated several times. "Agent Orange" was later included on the CD and cassette versions of Music for the Masses.
Note: There are 3 different versions of "Pimpf":
* "Pimpf" 4:33 – This version appears on the "Strangelove" single release.
* "Pimpf" 3:56 – This version appears on the Music for the Masses album release. If you include the hidden track "Interlude #1", which starts 23 seconds after "Pimpf" has ended, the total duration is 4:55.
* "Fpmip" 5:23 – This version appears on the regular "Strangelove" 12-inch single release. It adds a 48 second intro where some sounds are played backwards (hence the title), and then plays the single version.

## Music videos

The music video for "Strangelove" was directed by Anton Corbijn and appears on the Strange video and The Videos 86>98. Shot on Super 8 and monochrome, the video sees the band in various Paris locations, hotel rooms and in a studio posing in front of a rolling backdrop. The live action is combined with short stop-frame animation sequences. The video also stars two models in underwear (one of whom was Corbijn's partner), as well as passing pedestrians, featured in the closing 'out-takes' sequence of fast-edit shots. In the USA, MTV objected to some of the more revealing footage of the models and the video was edited to replace them with images of the band.
There was also a Corbijn-directed video for "Pimpf", exclusive to the Strange video, which features Dave Gahan, Andy Fletcher and Alan Wilder shouting at each other and syncing with the synthetic chanting, while Martin Gore plays the song on a piano. While Gore plays the piano in the video, it is Wilder who plays the piano on all piano-instrumentals by the band from 1987–1990 as well as "Somebody".
In 1988, another video for "Strangelove" was released for the album version. It was directed by Martyn Atkins, who did photography for earlier Depeche Mode albums. It was not publicly released on any videocassettes or DVDs until the Videos 86>98+ DVD in 2002. This video is much simpler than the original, and features the band performing inside a city-scape location (Senate House, the federal headquarters of the University of London).

## Other releases

Remixes of "Strangelove" have appeared on various best-of compilations such The Singles 86–98 (1998), Remixes 81–04 (2004), The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1 (2006), and Remixes 2: 81–11 (2011). Live versions appear on 101 (1989) and releases of Recording the Universe (2010).

## Track listings

All tracks are written by Martin L. Gore.