Get the Balance Right!


"Get the Balance Right!" is the seventh single by Depeche Mode, released on 31 January 1983. Recorded at Blackwing Studios, it is the first Depeche Mode single with Alan Wilder as an official band member.
"Get the Balance Right!" was not included on the following album Construction Time Again, but does appear on the American compilation People Are People and the compilation The Singles 81–85.

B-sides

The B-side is "The Great Outdoors!", an instrumental written by Gore and Wilder. It was featured on the Broken Frame Tour as the introduction theme for selected shows, after an incident with their Revox machine that destroyed almost all their previous intro, "Oberkorn ".
Included on the 12-inch releases is "Tora! Tora! Tora! ", the first live song released on a Depeche Mode single. A limited edition 12-inch of the single was released, which features more live tracks: "My Secret Garden", "See You", and "Satellite". It was the first Depeche Mode single to have a limited edition.

Music video

In the music video, Wilder lip-syncs the first lines of the song, even though Dave Gahan is the lead singer. The director Kevin Hewitt made the assumption that Wilder was the singer and they were too embarrassed to point out his mistake.

Track listings

All songs written by Martin Gore, except "The Great Outdoors!" which was written by Martin Gore and Alan Wilder.

7-inch vinyl single

UK: Mute / 7Bong2

12-inch vinyl single

UK: Mute / 12Bong2
UK: Mute / L12Bong2
US: Sire / 0-29704
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.

CD single

UK: Mute / CDBong2
Released 25 November 1991, from the Singles Box Set #2.
US: Sire/Reprise 40295-2
Released 26 November 1991, from the Singles Box Set #2.
US: Reprise CD BONG 2
Released 30 March 2004, from the Singles Box Set #1 reissue.

Chart performance