{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Use British English|date=September 2012}} {{Infobox song | name = Get the Balance Right! | cover = DepecheModeGetTheBalanceRight.jpg | alt = | border = yes | type = single | artist = Depeche Mode | B-side = The Great Outdoors! | released = {{Start date|1983|1|31|df=yes}}<ref name=dm>{{cite web |url=http://www.depechemode.com/discography/singles/07_getthebalanceright.html |title=Official Depeche Mode web site single information |access-date=4 July 2009 |archive-date=6 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606170223/http://www.depechemode.com/discography/singles/07_getthebalanceright.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> | recorded = November 1982 | studio = Blackwing (London) | venue = | genre = Synth-pop<ref name="Evans 2024">{{cite book|title= Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983|first=Richard|last=Evans|date= August 6, 2024|chapter= 1983.2|page= 424|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-1-915841-45-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EID8zgEACAAJ}}</ref> | length = * 3:12 (7″/single version) * 7:56 (12″ version) | label = Mute | writer = Martin L. Gore | producer = * Depeche Mode * Daniel Miller | prev_title = Leave in Silence | prev_year = 1982 | next_title = Everything Counts | next_year = 1983 | misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|zfiISFiozg8|"Get the Balance Right!"}}}} }}
"'''Get the Balance Right!'''" is the seventh single by the English electronic band Depeche Mode, released on 31 January 1983.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Christopher |first1=Michael |title=Depeche Mode FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the World's Finest Synth-Pop Band |date=2020-12-28 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-5400-8 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKgKEAAAQBAJ&dq=Get+the+Balance+Right!+depeche+mode+single&pg=PA94 |access-date=29 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Recorded at Blackwing Studios in November 1982, it is the first Depeche Mode single with Alan Wilder as an official band member; Wilder also co-wrote the B-side track "The Great Outdoors!" with Martin Gore.
==Background and recording== Depeche Mode had released their previous album ''A Broken Frame'' in September 1982 and had followed up with a tour which started in October of that year.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=421}} During the UK leg of the tour, in November 1982, the band went into the studio to record a new song, and for the first time included newly-inducted band-member Alan Wilder in the recording process.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}} According to authors Dennis Burmeister and Sascha Lange in their ''Monument'' chronology, "Get the Balance Right!" represented a "beefier" musical sound that was a departure from the lighter sound of ''A Broken Frame'', despite only being a few months removed from that album's release.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}} "Get the Balance Right!" is one of the first Depeche Mode songs to feature guitar; according to Andy Fletcher, the guitar was processed through a synth and phased out of time to make it sound more interesting.{{sfn|Miller|2003|p=233}} One of the tools used to record the song was an ARP 2600 synthesiser.<ref name="awyt">{{YouTube|id=8G9OIt0B_6k|title=Alan Wilder about Depeche Mode and other things ...}}</ref> In addition, it was the first Depeche Mode single to be recorded using the relatively new Synclavier synthesizer, brought into the studio by Wilder{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|p=69}} and producer Daniel Miller.{{sfn|Gittins|2018|p=71}} The band struggled to assemble, learn and use the new device, and as a result grew to resent the recording and production of the song.{{sfn|Gittins|2018|pp=71-72}} Songwriter Martin Gore later said of the song, "it was hell to record. I hate it, and I wrote it."{{sfn|Gittins|2018|p=72}} Despite the Synclavier's unwieldiness, Wilder admitted that it sounded good, and gave the band a useful new tool for recording.{{sfn|Gittins|2018|pp=71-72}}
With the release of "Get the Balance Right!", the band started to take remixes seriously, with Wilder calling it "the beginning of when everybody realized you had to make a 12-inch mix to help sell your single".{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}} For the "Balance" 12-inch remix, Wilder remembered "chopping up the tape. Just literally running off parses from the track. From the mixing board, on the tape, then chopping the tape up. I remember spending hours and hours chopping up tapes to put them together."{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}}
The B-side is "The Great Outdoors!", an instrumental written by Gore and Wilder.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}}
==Release== "Get the Balance Right!" was released at the end of January 1983 on both 7" and 12" singles by Mute records in the UK, with catalogue numbers 7BONG2 and 12BONG2, respectively.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}} In Germany, label Intercord released the single on 7" and 12" red vinyl as well as the first "cassingle" release for a Depeche Mode song (catalogue number 426.810).{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}} Also for the first time for a Depeche Mode single, there was a 'limited edition' single release (UK catalogue number L12BONG2), with the b-side containing live tracks from their 25 October 1982 show.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=82}} The cover art was notable for being a departure from their previous singles' style and the hammer became a form of iconography that continued in the band's albums and singles artwork for the next few years.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=66}} Despite the visual continuity, "Get the Balance Right!" was not included on Depeche Mode's following album, ''Construction Time Again'' (1983), because the band felt that there was little in common with the songs and sound of their newer material.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=70}} The 7" version was later released on the American compilation ''People Are People'' (1984), the UK compilation ''The Singles 81→85'' (1985), and the 12" was included on the remix compilation album ''Remixes 81–04'' (2004).
A white label promotional copy of "Get the Balance Right!" found its way to influential Detroit DJ Derrick May, who put the song on rotation and helped Depeche Mode begin to get a foothold in the underground club scene in the US.{{sfn|Burmeister|Lange|2017|pp=64–66}} DJ Kevin Saunderson, who played the single at clubs in Detroit and would later remix several Depeche Mode tracks, called the song "the first house record."{{sfn|Gittins|2018|p=72}}
== Music video == In the music video, keyboardist Wilder lip-syncs the first lines of the song, even though Dave Gahan is the lead singer; video director Kevin Hewitt made the assumption that Wilder was the singer and the band was too embarrassed to point out his mistake.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stripped: Depeche Mode |last=Miller |first=Jonathan |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84772-444-1 |location=London |pages=151}}</ref> The video went unreleased for many years, due to the band's dislike of it, until it was included on the band's ''Video Singles Collection'' (2016).
== Track listings == All songs are written by Martin L. Gore, except "The Great Outdoors!", written by Gore and Alan Wilder.
=== 7″ vinyl single === '''UK: Mute / 7Bong2'''
{{Track listing | headline = Side one | title1 = Get the Balance Right! | length1 = 3:12 }} {{Track listing | headline = Side two | title1 = The Great Outdoors! | length1 = 5:01 }}
=== 12″ vinyl single === '''UK: Mute / 12Bong2'''
{{Track listing | headline = Side one | title1 = Get the Balance Right! | note1 = Combination mix | length1 = 7:56 }} {{Track listing | headline = Side two | title1 = The Great Outdoors! | length1 = 5:01 | title2 = Tora! Tora! Tora! | note2 = live, recorded 25 October 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London | length2 = 4:00 }}
'''UK: Mute / L12Bong2 (Limited edition)'''
{{Track listing | headline = Side one | title1 = Get the Balance Right! | length1 = 3:12 }} {{Track listing | headline = Side two | title1 = My Secret Garden | note1 = live, recorded 25 October 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London | length1 = 7:28 | title2 = See You | note2 = live, recorded 25 October 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London | length2 = 4:11 | title3 = Satellite | note3 = live, recorded 25 October 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London | length3 = 4:28 | title4 = Tora! Tora! Tora! | note4 = live, recorded 25 October 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London | length4 = 4:00 }}
'''US: Sire / 0-29704'''<br>Released 7 September 1983. The first two tracks on side two are listed as one track on the sleeve, when they are actually two separate tracks.<ref name=dm/>
{{Track listing | headline = Side one | title1 = Get the Balance Right! | note1 = Combination mix | length1 = 7:56 }} {{Track listing | headline = Side two | title1 = The Great Outdoors! | length1 = 5:01 | title2 = Tora! Tora! Tora! | note2 = live, recorded 25 October 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London | length2 = 4:00 | title3 = Get the Balance Right! | note3 = edited mix [same as the original version] | length3 = 3:12 }}
=== CD single === '''UK: Mute / CDBong2'''<br>Released 25 November 1991, from the Singles Box Set #2.<ref name=dm/><br> '''US: Sire/Reprise 40295-2'''<br>Released 26 November 1991, from the Singles Box Set #2.<ref name=dm/><br> '''US: Reprise CD BONG 2 (R2 78890A)'''<br>Released 30 March 2004, from the Singles Box Set #1 reissue.<ref name=dm/>
{{Track listing | title1 = Get the Balance Right! | length1 = 3:12 | title2 = The Great Outdoors! | length2 = 5:01 | title3 = Get the Balance Right! | note3 = Combination mix | length3 = 7:56 | title4 = Tora! Tora! Tora! | note4 = live, recorded 25 October 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London | length4 = 4:00 }}
==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+ Chart performance for "Get the Balance Right!" ! scope="col"| Chart (1983) ! scope="col"| Peak<br />position |- {{single chart|Ireland2|16|song=Get the Balance Right|rowheader=true|access-date=4 May 2022}} |- {{single chart|UKsinglesbyname|13|artist=Depeche Mode|artistid=20192|rowheader=true|access-date=4 May 2022}} |- ! scope="row"| UK Indie (OCC)<ref>{{cite book |last=Lazell |first=Barry |chapter=Depeche Mode |chapter-url=http://www.cherryred.co.uk/books/indiehits/d.htm |title=Indie Hits 1980–1989: The Complete U.K. Independent Charts (Singles & Albums) |publisher=Cherry Red Books |year=1997 |isbn=0-95172-069-4 |access-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605132747/http://www.cherryred.co.uk/books/indiehits/d.htm |archive-date=5 June 2011}}</ref> | 1 |- {{single chart|Billboarddanceclubplay|31|artist=Depeche Mode|rowheader=true|access-date=4 May 2022}} |- {{single chart|West Germany|38|songid=19023|artist=Depeche Mode|song=Get the Balance Right!|rowheader=true}} |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Works cited=== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Burmeister |first1=Dennis |last2=Lange |first2=Sascha |title=Depeche Mode: Monument |location=New York |publisher=Akashic Books |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-61775-593-4}} * {{cite book |last=Gittins |first=Ian |title=Depeche Mode: Faith and Devotion |location=London |publisher=Palazzo Editions |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-78675-064-8}} * {{cite book |last=Miller |first=Jonathan |title=Stripped: The True Story of Depeche Mode |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-84449-415-2}} {{Refend}}
==External links== * [http://archives.depechemode.com/discography/singles/07_getthebalanceright.html Single information from the official Depeche Mode website] * [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r171463|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]
{{Depeche Mode}} {{authority control}}
Category:1983 singles Category:1983 songs Category:Depeche Mode songs Category:Songs written by Martin Gore Category:Song recordings produced by Daniel Miller Category:Mute Records singles Category:UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles