Songwriter Martin Gore created a ballad-like first version of the song, which the band took into the studio in 1989.
At band member Alan Wilder's insistence, the song was re-worked into the up-tempo version released on the album.
There are two instrumental B-sides to "Enjoy the Silence".
"Sibeling" (the 12-inch B-side) is a soft piano-tune while "Memphisto" (the 7" B-side) is a darker, eerier track.
The title of "Sibeling" refers to Finnish classical composer Jean Sibelius.
According to Martin Gore, "Memphisto is the name of an imaginary film about Elvis as a Devil, that I created in my mind", and is a portmanteau of "Memphis" (where Elvis lived at Graceland) and "Mephisto"
vocals are intimate and seductive as they draw you in, with lyrics that examine the quiet satisfaction of a relationship, those tender moments when silence fills the void and your lover is in your arms and the world ceases to exist.
There was something inviting. Something powerful in those declarations.
Something that you could latch on to and feel a part of
juxtaposition on Violator between "Enjoy the Silence" – where the narrator wants silence from the world as words are "like violence" – and the next song "Policy of Truth", which argues that a successful relationship can only be based on lies
music video for "Enjoy the Silence" references the themes and storyline of the philosophical children's book The Little Prince from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Footage of Dave Gahan dressed as a stereotypical king wandering the hillsides of the Scottish Highlands, the coast of the Algarve in Portugal and finally the Swiss Alps with a deck chair is intercut with black-and-white footage of the band posing. Brief flashes of a single rose (which is also on the album cover of Violator) appear throughout the scenes.
concept of the video to the band, which at the time was simply "Dave dressed up as a king, walking around with a deck chair", they initially rejected it. They changed their minds, when he explained that the idea was that the King (Dave) represented "a man with everything in the world, just looking for a quiet place to sit"; a king of no kingdom
