Songfacts®:

• This is the debut single from English alternative rock band, Bad Lieutenant. The group were formed after New Order bassist Peter Hook quit and made it clear he wanted the band name retired. The remaining members, Bernard Sumner (guitars, vocals), Stephen Morris (drums) and touring guitarist Phil Cunningham took him at his word, and re-named themselves Bad Lieutenant. Guitarist Jake Evans, who was discovered by Sumner at a friend's birthday party, rounds out the band. Blur bassist Alex James also guests on several Never Cry Another Tear tracks.
• Sumner told Rolling Stone that he got the idea for the group's name at former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr's house. "I walked in and he was watching the scene in the movie Bad Lieutenant where Harvey Kietel is shooting the radio," Sumner said. "I said, 'What the f--is this film?' It was so gross and over the top."
• Sumner told Spinner UK about the filming of the song's music video: "We did it in a place called Ashton, outside of Manchester, in a white photography studio. We had done a music program there in their music studio for Sky Arts, and we spotted it then and thought it would be a great place to make a video. We were just finishing the album when we did the video, and I'm not very good at multitasking. I like finishing one job and then thinking about the next job, but they needed the video yesterday. My wife's nephew, her sister's son, Robert Kind, directed it. He's just a college kid.
  I've got to say that making the video is one of the things that I really don't like. They get you in there at, like, 6:30 in the morning, and you have to go through the song about 20,000 times. I prefer a video as well when I'm not in it, but the band wanted to do a performance video. The tricky thing about video is that it used to cost more to make than the record, which is sort of obscene. With the record you've got some control over it -- it's your baby and you can steer it in the right direction. But with the video you're giving over your song for someone else to do something with it. You get the storyboard, and then you see it and it's completely different. I find that videos can be a huge gamble. I guess, really, that I'm a bit of a control freak. I'd like to do my own video if I have time, because I come from that world. When I left school I did graphics and typesetting for TV commercials. We have been approached in America to have some of our songs in commercials, so that would be great."