Prior to the release of Depeche Mode’s "Personal Jesus", the lead single from their seventh studio album, Violator, advertisements were placed in the personal columns of regional newspapers in the UK with the words "Your own personal Jesus.” Some of the ads included a phone number that you could dial to hear the song! The ensuing controversy helped propel the single to No. 13 on the UK charts, becoming one of Depeche Mode's biggest sellers. It was their first gold-certified single in the US and has been covered by numerous artists, including Johnny Cash in 2002. Inspired by the book Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley, according to songwriter Martin Gore in an 1990 article with Spin: [“It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis Presley was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?” They recorded “Personal Jesus” in Milan with producer Flood in 1989. Flood is a legendary producer, working with artists like New Order, Gary Numan, Ministry, Erasure, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Nine Inch Nails, PJ Harvey, Sigur Rós, The Jesus And Mary Chain, honestly the list could go on for a while. The song, which features the bluesy riff and drum-based sound, was pretty different from anything the band had released thus far. Although not the first Depeche Mode song to feature guitar parts, it was the first time that the band really used a guitar as the dominant instrument. References: Wiki, Spin, The Inspiration Room, All Music.