Depeche Mode - But Not Tonight

[stimpee]

After some ramblings by cacophony and BLD on the UW/Scribble thread, i thought i'd write something about this underrated tune. I wouldnt go as far as saying its my favourite tune on Black Celebration (that could be Stripped, or even the song Black Celebration, but is in fact Fly On The Windscreen). Theres so much quality on BC that I dont know how anyone can say that BNT is the best tune on the album.

Firstly, its not even ON the album. It was a B-side to stripped.
Secondly, the muppets at Sire records in the USA decided to promote it to the A-side because it was used in some bloody awful teen film that tanked in 1986. Modern Girls, i think. I have seen it, its truly vacuous.
and Thirdly, its a throwaway tune. Very poppy, accessible. Goes against the whole feeling of the album. Which is dark.

I do like the tune but the lyrics are bit naff, and as I said, it doesnt fit in with the rest of the album, you can tell its been added onto the end as an afterthought. Sire thought the movie would be a hit in the vein of Pretty In Pink or The Breakfast Club and it wasnt. DM paid the price for this.

If you do like the song though, amazingly there are 5 official versions. Two versions of the "extended version" and 3 of the seven inch. Good luck in finding them.

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by stimpee

Firstly, its not even ON the album. It was a B-side to stripped. ...and Thirdly, its a throwaway tune. Very poppy, accessible. Goes against the whole feeling of the album. Which is dark.

well yeah, i already said that, didn't i?

black celebration is a great album, don't get me wrong. but you can hear the struggle and fracture in it. the album nearly broke the band and it's a wonder they survived to put out so many more albums (although their dysfunctional interpersonal relationships don't seem to have improved). part of what makes the album good is the palpable struggle, but it definitely moves so far to the dark end of the catalog that it's a heavy body of work. and let's not ignore total boner tracks "dressed in black" and "new dress" that are almost embarrassingly bad. it's a flawed album with some moments of pure musical innovation, but it struggles to keep its momentum and at times feels like it's trying too hard.

what i like about "but not tonight" is that it doesn't try. it's a total fluff throwaway, and regardless of what happened in the aftermath with the record label promoting it and trying to use it to break into teen pop, they wrote and produced it and something at the time told them it was worth putting out for the world to hear. there's a sentiment in the song that at the time of writing simply needed to be shared and the simplicity and joy of it are such a relief after listening through the grimace and glower of the rest of the album.

personally i've always gravitated towards the b-sides because there's usually a lighter hand and a departure from the rest of the album that's refreshing. "sea of sin," "happiest girl," "death's door," "surrender," "ice machine," "route 66," and "pleasure little treasure" are some of my favorites because they're such a break from the context of the album during which they were released.

hell, i'm listening to "(set me free) remotivate me" right now and it's a total throwaway candy pop track that i really like.

i guess i like bands for their sound, and appreciate them more when they don't sound like themselves. which usually means b-sides.

[ultradave]

so where did this come from? i thought i was in an underworld forum...

btw - i'd pitch in my 2 cents on this track, but not tonight...

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by ultradave

so where did this come from? i thought i was in an underworld forum...

seems many of us are former modies. or maybe still current, i don't know. i don't consider myself a modie anymore but brother was i ever back in the day...

[ultradave]

Originally Posted by cacophony

a modie

I love it! I'm a total Modie. Have been since high school! For a while, my wife kept saying, "Everytime you make a compilation it turns into a Depeche Mode compilation..." Hahaha... it was true... now it seems like I turn my mixes into underworld mixes now. I can't get enough of them!

[stimpee]

Originally Posted by cacophony

it's a flawed album with some moments of pure musical innovation, but it struggles to keep its momentum and at times feels like it's trying too hard.

what i like about "but not tonight" is that it doesn't try. it's a total fluff throwaway, and regardless of what happened in the aftermath with the record label promoting it and trying to use it to break into teen pop, they wrote and produced it and something at the time told them it was worth putting out for the world to hear. there's a sentiment in the song that at the time of writing simply needed to be shared and the simplicity and joy of it are such a relief after listening through the grimace and glower of the rest of the album.

personally i've always gravitated towards the b-sides because there's usually a lighter hand and a departure from the rest of the album that's refreshing. "sea of sin," "happiest girl," "death's door," "surrender," "ice machine," "route 66," and "pleasure little treasure" are some of my favorites because they're such a break from the context of the album during which they were released.

hell, i'm listening to "(set me free) remotivate me" right now and it's a total throwaway candy pop track that i really like.

i guess i like bands for their sound, and appreciate them more when they don't sound like themselves. which usually means b-sides.

guess you need a b-sides compilation then! some of the bsides are great and others are pretty bad. Fly On The Windscreen was a b-side tho so some can be really great. Kaleid and Fools are two of my favourite DM tracks, but this tune, But Not Tonight really doesnt fit because of the mood of the album its been added to. I think this album is a bit darker than the previous, and indeed the following. BNT would have fitted better on either of them.