Depeche Mode — I Feel You

JUL 01 1993 · 12:00

Depeche Mode — I Feel You (1993) Director: Anton Corbijn Era: Post-Violator Industrial Blues Era (1993) - Depeche Mode's pivot from synth-pop orthodoxy toward raw, guitar-driven electronic rock, marking their most commercially and critically ambitious release cycle. Exceptionally high. 'I Feel You' is one of the most culturally significant music videos of 1993, documenting the aesthetic and commercial apex of Depeche Mode's career transformation. As a Corbijn-directed artifact, it serves as a primary document in the study of music video auteurism, electronic-to-rock genre crossover, and the visual politics of artist reinvention. Its dual MTV and Brit Award nominations confirm period reception value, and its continued inclusion in official Depeche Mode video compilations confirms canonical status within the band's visual archive. Context: Released in February 1993, 'I Feel You' arrived as Depeche Mode's dramatic return after a three-year hiatus following the global success of Violator (1990). The video visually codified the band's shift from clinical synth-pop into a rawer, blues-inflected industrial rock identity, with Gahan's physical transformation — tattoos, long hair, goatee — functioning as a semiotic rupture from their earlier image. Corbijn's monochrome, grain-saturated aesthetic placed the video in dialogue with the concurrent grunge visual vocabulary (he directed Nirvana's 'Heart-Shaped Box' the same year), while retaining the transgressive, body-focused European art sensibility that defined his Depeche Mode collaborations. The video's erotic and ritualistic imagery reinforced the album's themes of faith, devotion, and carnal spirituality. Director notes: The 'I Feel You' video was the lead promotional clip for the Songs of Faith and Devotion album cycle (1993). Shot in Corbijn's trademark black-and-white style, the video introduced Dave Gahan's dramatically transformed visual identity — long hair, extensive tattoos, and a goatee — marking a deliberate image reinvention for the band. The video intercuts performance footage of the band with narrative scenes featuring English actress Lysette Anthony. It was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award and a Brit Award. The video was included on Depeche Mode's compilation The Videos 86–98 (1998) and Video Singles Collection (2016). Corbijn's working relationship with Depeche Mode on music videos began in 1986 with 'A Question of Time.'