Clean

is a song from the 1990 album Violator by Depeche Mode.
== Quotes ==
I just write about things that affect me. I find it very unappealing to write songs that are safe, that go nowhere, that do nothing. I know that 'Clean' has a lot of holy imagery, and that intertwines with the sex theme, which are two ideas I find interesting to mix together. But I don't try to analyze things.Source: Faith, Hope and Depravity, Select, December 1990.
— – Select, December 1990
Q&A from Alan Wilder's Shunt:
Michel Jouveaux: The opening of 'Clean' sounds exactly like that of Pink Floyd's 'One Of These Days' on 'Meddle'. Was that conscious / unconscious, sampled or programmed? (I've checked in the archives and couldn't see any mention of that, ;-))
A: I recognise the similarity but [it's] not a Floyd sample. It was programmed using a combination of analogue synth and sampled bass [guitar].
Wilder also says on Shunt:
With 'Clean', we never had the delay bass line until the very end.
In 2022, Nils Tuxen revealed his memory to the book Halo2022-09-22 - Halo: The Story Behind Depeche Mode's Classic Album Violator, ISBN: 9781803812250 of providing the pedal steel guitar sound:
The session took place in this way: I brought my steel guitar and an amp over to their studio, and it was hooked up to a DAT recorder. I was asked to record anything that came to my mind on the DAT tape, without any other musical signals – no melody, no chords, and no timing. So in a way, it was a very experimental way of making music that I had never tried, before or after. I was free to play anything I wanted. There was, as I recall it, no instruction whatsoever.
As I recall it, only Alan and the engineer Peter Iversen were present as I was recording. Martin and Dave were around but not in the studio, whereas Andy was in London and, as I recall, Flood, too, was absent the day I was working.
When I bought the album and listened to it, I had no idea where my instrument had been used, and I didn't recognize it anywhere on any of the titles on the album until years later, when my daughter found the information that it was on the title 'Clean' that Alan had used samples of the steel guitar. But still I don't know where and what parts were used. I'm still honored that they asked me.
As I try to do in any recording situation, I tried to give my best.
I'm glad and grateful that Alan obviously found something he could use. Otherwise, I would not have been credited on the cover, I guess. But the aspect of using samples is still foreign to the way I make music. Depeche Mode are the biggest name for whom I've so far worked as a studio musician.
However, as the above quote by Nils was being shared on Facebook, Alan Wilder replied to it:
I recall Nils as a very affable bloke (suggested to us by engineer Peter when we were discussing sound options) but what he remembers here isn't entirely accurate. You can hear he actually plays the riff in 'Clean' which we no doubt asked him to, after which it was re-sampled and placed into the track. I'm sure he played along to the basic backing track in order to achieve the correct tempo and key. We got him in specifically for that song but would have also asked him to provide many improvised slides and other options to use both within the song's framework and for general use. Typically, anything left over from a session like that, which could be utilised, I would have jumped on being the musical magpie that I am. ;)
== Composition ==
=== Sample sources ===
== Music video ==
== Live performances ==
== Trivia ==
*'Clean' has been covered by Fading Colors (1996), Converge (2001), Yelen (2003), Carpe Diem IV (2005), and Armageddon Dildos (2011).
*'Clean' has been sampled in the following songs by other artists:
**'Incubus' – Recoil (1997)
**'Missing Piece' – Recoil (1997)
**'Ｗｉｐｅ　ｔｈｅ　Ｂｌｏｏｄ　Ｏｆｆ　Ｙｏｕｒ　Ｈａｎｄｓ　Ｈｅａｔｈｅｒ．．．' – ＰＬΔＹＳ✞Δ✞ＩＯＮ｜ＤＲＥΔＭＳ (2015)
== References ==
Category:Song
Category:Depeche Mode songs
Category:Violator songs
Category:Songs in G Major
Category:Songs between 180-184 BPM
Category:Songs written by Martin L. Gore
Category:Songs with official music videos
<metadesc>"Clean" is a song from the 1990 album Violator by Depeche Mode.</metadesc>