Just Can't Get Enough

Album: Speak and Spell (1981)
Charted: 8
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Songfacts®:

  • Depeche Mode founding member and keyboardist Vince Clarke wrote this synth-pop landmark. Musically, it was inspired by "To Cut a Long Story Short" by Spandau Ballet, released in 1980. To that point, Clark wasn't into dance music, but the Spandau Ballet song turned him around.

    "It was the first time I was actually impressed by a rhythm that went 'boom-thwack, boom-thwack,'" he told Rolling Stone in 2000. "It was the first time I discovered dance music for myself, and to write a song around the rhythm was quite a revelation for me. 'Just Can't Get Enough' came out of that."
  • Clarke had just turned 20 when he wrote this song, which turned out to be the last one he wrote for Depeche Mode. He left the band after the Speak and Spell album was released, later joining Yaz and Erasure. The "Just Can't Get Enough" video is the only one he appears in. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • According to Depeche Mode vocalist Dave Gahan, this song was written as the punk scene was winding down and London club kids were looking for music they could dance to that wasn't so aggressive.
  • Early Depeche Mode, under the direction of Clarke, had a more upbeat sound. In a Songfacts interview with Vince Clarke, he explained: "Martin Gore writes in a different way than I do, so that's obviously the main difference. And they've developed this kind of a rock feel to their music. I'm more a fan of pop music, or I'm more of a fan of writing pop music, that's the most difference, I guess."
  • In an interview with Q magazine February 2008, vocalist Dave Gahan recalled recording Depeche Mode's debut album Speak and Spell and their early days as a band: "Vince (Clarke) was the leader at that point. By the time we got into the studio, Vince had got bored with it. He didn't like the idea of having to deal with other personalities. He wanted to be in control. That's the only album where the songs had already been performed for a year and a half beforehand, and we went into the studio and recorded them as we would live. I think Daniel (Miller, their record label boss) saw us as a cross between the Ramones and the Beach Boys, in an electronic way - fast and short with really simple riffs. We were courted by major labels and were very suspicious of signing a deal that meant five albums. We'd come from that punk ethic: we just wanted to make a single. Daniel came along and that's all he really had the money to do, so it kind of worked. We wanted to keep in control. We never thought much beyond the next single and playing some gigs. That time was brilliant."

    Not everyone appreciated the Speak and Spell album. Rolling Stone magazine called it "PG-rated fluff."
  • This was used in popular ads for The Gap, which featured young people lip-synching to the song in front of a white background. They were selling a line of leather.
  • Vince Clarke was known to sing this with an acoustic guitar at Erasure concert dates. Clarke formed Erasure with Andy Bell a few years after leaving Depeche Mode. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Kelly - Portland, OR
  • This became the first Depeche Mode song used in a movie when it was featured in the 1982 film Summer Lovers. It was also used in The Wedding Singer in 1998.
  • Clive Richardson directed the video, which was the band's first. MTV, which launched the year the song was released, ignored it for the most part; the first Depeche Mode video to make hot rotation on the network was "Personal Jesus."
  • Three fashionable ladies are in the video dancing and giving the band moral support. Dave Gahan recalls one of them being the girlfriend of Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie.
  • This was Depeche Mode's first Top 10 single in the UK, and although it didn't chart in the US, it became a club favorite.
  • Girl group The Saturdays covered this song in 2009 for the Comic Relief charity.
  • This was used on Friends in the season 3 episode "The One With The Flashback." It plays in the background when Monica, Chandler, and Rachel are hanging out in a bar. It was also used in these TV series:

    Gossip Girl ("Valley Girls" - 2009)
    The Comeback ("Valerie Makes A Pilot" - 2014)
    American Horror Story ("Room Service" - 2015)
    Single Parents ("Ketchup" - 2019)

Comments: 18

  • Tony from SandersteadHappy days! I remember when this came out. I would love to hear outtakes from this recording.
  • Badboybill from Toronto "Just Can't Get Enough" was in fact not the only video Vince Clarke appeared in with Depeche Mode. They were also together in the video for the song "Photographic".
  • Valentin from Russian FederationThe fans of Celtic FC from Glasgow are the best performers of this song. This thing is as simple as it is brilliant!
  • Zvik from Haifa, IsraelUnfortunately, it's not part of their "Tour of the Universe"
  • Kurrie from Sacramento, CaDepeche still plays this song. Only exceptions are the World Violation tour, SoFAD, & the Exciter tour. I bet they play it during the 2009 tour of the Universe. DM Rocks!!
  • Scott from Baton Rouge, La"I Just Can't Get Enough" of this song, lol.
  • Scott from Baton Rouge, LaGreat song from Depeche Mode's early years.
  • Andy from Orlando, FlMost of us in the states only new the 12" mix for quite a few years. For some reason Sire decided to put that version on the US release of Speak and Spell as well as the remix of "New Life". They also included "Dreaming of Me" so it was a bonus for us over here! I loved this album at 13 and still love it today even more at 39!
  • Nathan from From The Country Of, Canadasimplest catchiest song ever
  • Yves from Nimes, FranceMarc Moulin, in 2005, in a new wave songs cover album (Nouvelle vague) recorded I Just can't enough in a samba version. The other new wave hits were in bossa version.
  • Delay from Düsseldorf, GermanyI heard this song i think yesterday (2-4-06) on a H&M commercial...cool, huh? XD
  • Alicia from Grand Prairie, TxIt is incorrect that they refuse to play this song live. On November 8th, 2005 at American Airlines center in Dallas, they played it, followed by Everything Counts.
  • Dee from Indianapolis, InOne of my favorites by these guys. I didn't really knkow any Depeche mode until 1985 when "People are People" hit big. I got into listen to them more thru my college years, but felt they went a little to commercial with Violater.
  • Ann from Austin, TxActually, Yazoo was renamed Yaz for American audiences since there was already a band called Yazoo here in the USA. The 2001-ish Greatest Hits releases were billed to Yazoo since they were UK releases.
  • Kate from London, EnglandI was working in the cafe at Woolworths in Hounslow High Street in Middlesex near London when the band did the video for this song, 1982 I think, served them their lunch. They've come a long way since then.
  • Superdigital from Kalmar, SwedenThe Yazoo song Only you was originally written for Depeche Mode. Vince wrote the song for the band when he was about to leave. They didn't want it. They had the perfect songwriter in Martin Gore. See you, released in 1982 was the first single without Vince, and Martin wrote it when he was around 15 years old.

    It turned out pretty well... :)
  • Per from Odense, DenmarkThey actually played it in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1998. The crowd kept wanting more, and after the third reentry on stage they played the song. Denmark is the country in the world where Depeche Mode has sold the most records...per capita.
  • Dan from Phoenix, AzBetween Depeche Mode and Erasure, Vince Clarke started Yazoo with Allison Moyet. They later shortened their name to Yaz. Allison went on to a solo career and Vince teamed up with Andy Bell to form Erasure.
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