They developed it throughout so that dramatic-type elements such as the Led Zeppelin-influenced drum patterns and Martin Gore's distinctive guitar riffs sound in the forefront.

It is now customary at Depeche Mode shows for fans to wave their arms in the air during the coda section of "Never Let Me Down Again", which the German magazine Music Express has termed a "wind in a cornfield" simulation.

On 8 November 2001, shortly after their final Exciter Tour concert in Mannheim, Germany, the band played "Never Let Me Down Again" during the MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt, which aired in the US on MTV2.

[6] In detail, the remix features the regular song, an added intro piece, and a techno-like musical arrangement appended at the end.

The arrangement was expanded to the "Aggro Mix" on the 12-inch B-side, a piece additionally available as a bonus track on the CD and cassette tape versions of Music for the Masses.

An extended version called the "Glitter Mix" ends with fragments of vocal recordings that have been reversed and treated with delay effects.

Notably, some of these sounds can be heard in the track "Mothers Talk" from the 1985 Tears for Fears album Songs from the Big Chair, which was engineered by Dave Bascombe.

Martin Gore's original plan for the song sounded a lot like upbeat electropop, but Alan Wilder turned it into the dark wave track it eventually became.

The Smashing Pumpkins recorded a cover of the song and released it as a B-side on their 1994 CD single "Rocket" as well as on the Depeche Mode tribute album For the Masses.

[13] Craig Mazin, the co-creator of the series, chose the song due to its blend of upbeat sounds and dark lyrics.

[15] The song returned in the sixth episode of the first season, "Kin" (S01 E06), where it is performed by Mazin's daughter Jessica, to demonstrate Ellie feeling let down by Joel.