Suffer Well

"Suffer Well"
Single by Depeche Mode
from the album Playing the Angel
B-side	"Better Days"
Released	27 March 2006
Format	CD, DVD, 7", 12", Digital download
Recorded	2005
Genre	Electronic Rock
Length	3:49
Label	Mute Records
Writer(s)	David Gahan, Andrew Phillpott, Christian Eigner
Producer	Ben Hillier
Depeche Mode singles chronology
"A Pain That I'm Used To" (2005) "Suffer Well" (2006) "John the Revelator / Lilian" (2006)

"Suffer Well" is the third single off the album Playing the Angel by Depeche Mode, and their forty-third single overall. It was released in the UK on 27 March 2006.

It is the first Depeche Mode single whose lyrics are written by David Gahan. It is also the first Depeche Mode single that's not written by Martin Gore since "Just Can't Get Enough" in 1981 which was written by Vince Clarke and the first Depeche Mode single ever to be co-written with non-Depeche Mode members (Andrew Phillpott and Christian Eigner wrote the music).

The B-Side for the single is "Better Days," a short song with an industrial-punk feel to it.

The song "Suffer Well" was nominated in the category of "Best Dance Recording" at the 2007 Grammy Awards but lost to Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack".^[1] The single version of the song adds a drum track to the song, and is shorter.

Music video (Anton's return)

The video was filmed by Anton Corbijn in mid-December 2005 in California, following DM's appearance at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas on December 11, 2005. It was his first music video for the band, excluding tour projections and promo videos, since "Useless" in 1997. The video started to air on TV in early February.

The video features a cameo appearance by Gahan's wife, Jennifer, once as the angel and once as herself. Another cameo is by the band's manager, Jonathan Kessler, who plays Gahan's limo driver. Other highlights include Gore as a bride and Fletcher as a groom. It also features the disco ball seen in the cover art of "Suffer Well". Some say the video is a metaphor for Gahan's drug troubles in the 1990s that almost led to suicide.

Simlish version

In December 2005, Gahan recorded a special vocal track for the song; with help from EA Games, the lyrics were translated into "Simlish" (the language of the game The Sims 2) and later appeared in The Sims 2: Open For Business as one of the games new songs. Other New Wave songs were also remixed in Simlish, and added to the game, such as Howard Jones's "Things Can Only Get Better".

Charts and airplay

"Suffer Well" reached #38 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It reached #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, the band's seventh song to top this chart. "Suffer Well" was added to the playlist of Xfm London on 27 February 2006. However, it failed to make the playlist of any BBC Radio station. Despite this, it entered the UK charts at #12, besting "A Pain That I'm Used To"'s performance.

Cover images

UK (CD: CDBONG37)

Formats and track listings

• "Suffer Well" is written by David Gahan/Andrew Phillpott/Christian Eigner.
• "Better Days" and "The Darkest Star" are written by Martin Gore.

Charts

References

General

Specific