Everything Counts

is a song from the 1983 album Construction Time Again by Depeche Mode. It was released as a lead single on 11 July 1983.
== Notes ==
 was quoted in the 1983-09-17 issue of NME:
I think ['Everything Counts'] was partly [inspired by] going to Thailand as well [as the song ] — that's where the oriental flavour comes in, like Korea 'n' all that. But you go over there and all the hotels are full of, like, businessmen and basically they tend to treat people as though they're nothing. All they're interested in is their business — that's what I really hate about big business, people just don't seem to matter. Just money. You see all the women over there 'n' they're all prostitutes — that's the only way they can make any money. 'Course, the businessmen love it. Work [will "remove the stains"]. It's no good just sitting back and hoping things'll change, you've got to actually work together. The material's there; it's like, there's enough food in the world to feed everybody and then half the world's eating three quarters of it and the rest of the world's starving. But the food is there. There is a solution. The thing is, the people in power don't care about someone with a low wage, they only care about their own power. But I think people should care about other people, y'know, cos from the moment we're born we're put into competition with everybody else. I really don't understand why people go into politics — what makes someone at 16 or 17 decide to go into parliament? It's got to be people themselves. People's attitudes have got to be changed. For instance, when I wrote "All we need's universal revolution", I didn't mean, like, everyone to take up arms, but more a total change of attitude. That's what's needed. People's attitudes have got to be changed. You've got to look at the world to change things. Attitudes in the world, poverty in the world. The thing is when we talk about socialism, we don't mean "English Socialism" we mean "International Socialism".
When Depeche Mode was interviewed about the songs on the 101 CD for the April 1989 issue of French magazine Best, Dave Gahan said (translated from French):
It's one of my favourite songs. It's taken from the Construction Time Again album, which was an important step in our career. That's when we started becoming successful in Europe. At the time, in England, 'Everything Counts' went into the Top 10, but elsewhere, it did not work. That's why we wanted it to be on the live album. The lyrics are timeless. They talk of money, power and corruption.
They said the same in the 1985-10-26 issue of Melody Maker:
Dave: "This was a real turning point, probably one of our favourites, and very powerful lyrically."
Martin: "Its about things getting out of hand, business getting to the point where individuals don't count and you'll thread on anybody."
When Will Arnett asked the band in the Smartless podcast in 2023 what the strange sound at the beginning of the song is, Martin replied: "That was a Chinese violin that we badly sampled, I think", and Dave continued in jest, "Yeah, that we couldn't play. It was an instrument that we couldn't play."
== Music video ==
== Live performances ==
== Live versions ==
This section provides an example of a live version of Everything Counts from each tour that it was played. 
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1983-12-06.fm.rework.dimenew+Jerommeke.flac1644/01.m4a</sm2> 1983-1984 Construction Time Again Tour (Without additional synth line): 1983-12-06 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1984-02-03.sbd-tv.unknown.unknown.mp2384/01.m4a</sm2> 1983-1984 Construction Time Again Tour (With additional synth line): 1984-02-03 Odeon, Birmingham, England, UK
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1984-12-09.preFM.WXXP.0.flac1644/10.m4a</sm2> 1984-1985 Some Great Reward Tour: 1984-12-09 Alsterdorf Sporthalle, Hamburg, Germany
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1986-04-10.FM.rework-RevB.flac1648/05.m4a</sm2> 1986 Black Celebration Tour: 1986-04-10 N.E.C., Birmingham, England, UK
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1988-01-11.aud.Gary.0.flac1644/CD2/09.m4a</sm2> 1987-1988 Music For The Masses Tour: 1988-01-11 Wembley Arena, London, England, UK
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1990-08-04.sbd.violatorlive.0.flac1644/05.m4a</sm2> 1990 World Violation Tour: 1990-08-04 Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1993-07-31.FM.BBC2-gadget242-Stealth71.0.flac1648/14.m4a</sm2> 1993 Devotional Tour: 1993-07-31 Crystal Palace Sports Ground, London, England, UK
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1994-03-26.sbd.Jon.1.flac1648/02.m4a</sm2> 1994 Exotic Tour: 1994-03-26 Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2005-11-18.IEM.Slickmode.0.flac1644/CD2/06.m4a</sm2> 2005-2006 Touring The Angel: 2005-11-18 HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/sunroof2010-03-19.ECM-TS125.Ronny.0.flac1644/05.m4a</sm2> 2010-2011 Selected Events Tour: 2010-03-19 Meistersaal, Hansa Tonstudios, Berlin, Germany
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2018-06-26.sbd.VoltFestival.0.m4a128/10.m4a</sm2> 2017-2018 Global Spirit Tour: 2018-06-26 Volt Festival, Sopron, Hungary
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2023-03-30.matrix.ryanj-anonymous.0.flac1644/08.m4a</sm2> 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour: 2023-03-30 T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA
== In the media ==
"Everything Counts" is featured in the 2006 video game on the fictional new wave in-game radio station . The same station also features "Don't Go" by Yazoo, while other stations also feature "Never Never" by The Assembly and "Love Resurrection" by Alison Moyet.
Category:Singles
Category:Depeche Mode songs
Category:Depeche Mode singles
Category:Construction Time Again songs
Category:Construction Time Again singles
Category:Songs in C Major
Category:Songs between 110-114 BPM
Category:Songs written by Martin L. Gore
Category:Songs with official music videos
Category:Depeche Mode lead singles
Category:Lead singles
<metadesc>"Everything Counts" is a song from the 1983 album Construction Time Again by Depeche Mode. It was released as a lead single on 11 July 1983.</metadesc>