Where's the Revolution

Where's the Revolution
"Where's the Revolution" is a song by English electronic band Depeche Mode from their fourteenth studio album Spirit. It was released as the album's first single on 3 February 2017, on the 20th anniversary of "Barrel of a Gun". The cover art was designed by Anton Corbijn. The single was premiered on the Polish radio Trójka at midnight on 3 February. This single is notable for being the first Depeche Mode lead single to not chart on the UK Singles Chart, a trend that would continue with Spirit's following singles.
Background
It was one of the first songs written for the album, according to the songwriter Martin Gore, it was written at least two years before the release of album. The song is written from the perspective of Martin's view of the issues that were occurring in the world at the time. He discusses in an interview that "there was a sense of things going wrong and the world wasn’t in a great place." He further goes. "The Syrian crisis had been dragging on for years... I live in America, and around that time there were blacks getting shot on a kind of weekly basis by the police and rioting, you know—the whole Middle East, is just a big mess."
In many interviews, the band have also stated that producer James Ford taught himself to play Gore's pedal steel guitar within one day while in the studio, and thus this guitar was used in "Where's the Revolution" and other tracks on the album.
Promotion
The song was premiered audio-only on YouTube. A dystopian-themed black-and-white music video was released a week later, on 9 February. The music video, as well as the animated visuals with flying flags and marching boots for the audio-only video, were directed and designed by Anton Corbijn.
Releases
The song is available as digital download from Amazon, HMV, Google Play Music and iTunes. It is also available as a 5-track CD single, as a double vinyl (containing 9 remixes, released on 28 April 2017) and as an exclusive 7" vinyl promotional release in the April edition of the German music magazine Musik Express, with a live version of a Delta Machine song "Should Be Higher" as B-side.
Track listing
CD single / digital download
"Where's the Revolution" – 4:59
"Where's the Revolution" (Ewan Pearson Remix) – 8:36
"Where's the Revolution" (Algiers Remix) – 4:55
"Where's the Revolution" (Terence Fixmer Remix) – 6:23
"Where's the Revolution" (Autolux Remix) – 4:17
Double LP vinyl single
"Where's the Revolution" (Autolux Remix) – 4:17
"Where's the Revolution" (Pearson Sound Remix) – 6:28
"Where's the Revolution" (Algiers Click Farm Remix) – 3:28
"Where's the Revolution" (Simian Mobile Disco Remix) – 8:46
"Where's the Revolution" (Pearson Sound Beatless Remix) – 4:20
"Where's the Revolution" (Simian Mobile Disco Dub) – 8:45
"Where's the Revolution" (Terence Fixmer Spatial Mix) – 6:34
"Where's the Revolution" (Patrice Bäumel Remix) – 6:57
"Where's the Revolution" (Ewan Pearson Kompromat Dub) – 8:20
Credits and personnel
Martin Gore – composer, lyrics
James Ford – drums, mixer, producer
Matrixxman – programming
Kurt Uenala – programming
Jimmy Robertson – engineer, mixer
Connor Long – assistant engineer
Oscar Munoz – assistant engineer
David Schaeman – assistant engineer
Brendan Morawski – assistant engineer, mix assistant
Brian Lucey – mastering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
External links
Single information from the official Depeche Mode website
2017 singles
2016 songs
Depeche Mode songs
Black-and-white music videos
Music videos directed by Anton Corbijn
Songs written by Martin Gore
Song recordings produced by James Ford (musician)
Columbia Records singles
Protest songs