The Obligatory Depeche Mode thread

[Scouser]

You added an unnecessary "e" to stud.

(adopts Frankie Howard voice) "ooooooh I say"

[DivaDiana77]

I weep for the time this topic was a Diva free zone. Oh well.

How good is Music For The Masses by the way. Am listening to it now for the first time in ages. Dave Bascombe never really gets a mention in DM history but his production on that album is great.

(insert 15 You Tube clips D)

Oh darn. I meant to hit ignore.

He does get a mention in the Biography I'm reading.

[Scouser]

The best DM biography is the one that is on constant loop in my head...

In Liverpool in 1981 there was a burgeoning post-punk scene but also alot of us had elder brothers / sisters / cousins still into Floyd, Genesis and Yes. It's just that sort of place for some reason (and why, years later, I have a particular fondness for Pink Floyd). In the late 70's I remember the long, keyboard led passages of prog rock and always liked them. It was a short hop, a few years later, to Kraftwerk and Gary Numan. I remember seeing Tubeway Army on TOTP in 1979 and thought "My God...that's brilliant."

My first serious foray into electronic music was Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. My cousin Steve brought round his copy of their first album to play on my Dad's "Hi Fi" and I remember the jolt I got hearing Electricity played dead loud. I was straight down to Woolies to get my own copy. I also loved their follow up Organisation (I still do). I thought OMD would be with me forever...

But one afternoon in double geography Mike Cairns showed me the latest 7" single in his collection - New Life by the unpromisingly titled Depeche Mode. These were the days when people would go round to each others houses to play records and talk about them (now its an instant click and share). Round at Mike's he played said New Life and from those opening bars I was hooked. I didnt even know what they looked like at this stage. It was June of 1981.

Within weeks New Life was in the top 20 and I had seen DM on TOTP. They looked...er, unusual compared to OMD's shirts and ties. Weeks later Just Cant Get Enough followed and then Speak And Spell. This was a minor let down at the time, it wasnt as good as OMD's Organisation or Architecture & Morality. But then OMD went on a hiatus and DM were churning them out. By the time OMD returned with their flawed masterpiece (Dazzle Ships) DM had the momentum and had stolen their audience (including me).

I didnt notice Vince leaving, mainly because I was too young to care about who the songwriter was (13) but also because the twin focal points of the group were Martin and Dave.

It was A Broken Frame that cemented a love affair that remains as undimmed to this day. Though it had elements of the slightly naff electropop of the time (See You, Meaning Of Love, A Photograph Of You) it was shot through with a melancholia at odds with their peers. The Sun And The Rainfall was, quite simply, the greatest electronic pop song written up to that point.

Then the godlike genius that is Alan Wilder joined and DM went on a run few bands can only dream about. There were a few wrong turns along the way (the chorus of People Are People for example) and it wasnt easy being a DM fan when Martin was wearing rubber bondage dresses and Dave looked like an East Berlin rent boy. My mates were all into "serious" bands like the Bunnymen, The Jam, U2 and Big Country. There were howls of derision when I played them Something To Do from Some Great Reward ("I'll put your pretty dress on") and the UK music press pretty much waged a constant war against them. I was deemed gay for liking them, they were gay, their music was all done by machines, they were for kids. I heard it all.

However those with a brain could hear DM pushing the realms of technology, especially on Construction Time Again and Some Great Reward. The sounds were harsh, sparse, eastern european and (yes, I admit) abit pervy. They were one of the foremost singles bands of the 80's as their Singles 1981 - 1985 testifies. By 1986 (Black Celebration) they had learned to make albums as well.

I look back on that period of my life 1981 - 1986 as a rights of passage...school, A levels, leaving for University. DM were with me every step of the way, revision, girls, getting drunk for the first time, holidays...I can hear my life interwoven into every sinew of their recorded output. There is a DM song for pretty much every occasion...as long as that occasion is sex or death.

Amazing to think all that took place and still ahead of them was breaking America, the Rose Bowl, Violator, the Devotional Tour and Dave's "death".

[Voodoo Billy]

Thank you Scouser, I really enjoyed reading that.

[DivaDiana77]

Sounds about right. :) There was so much great music coming from the UK at that time through KROQ and the video shows we had here. Those were the DAYS here.

DM are survivors and innovators. They were adored here.

I would have thought you were cool.

[black francis]

Because of Depeche Mode I was able to make it through what I consider the worst parts of my life. I know people have had it a lot worse than I ever did but my dad ran off to start a new family with a younger chick and I had an especially cruel stepfather and my mom pretty much sold out me and my brothers so he wouldn't leave too. It was rough goings as far as I was concerned but DM was everything to me back then and unfortunately it became so intertwined with those days that when I had gotten older and was out on my own and starting my own family I stopped listening to them because they reminded me of that time in my life. I still bought the new albums but I couldn't give them the time they deserved and I avoided their back catalogue like the plague. Strangely enough it was Scouser's unbridled enthusiasm and love of DM that pretty much freed me to make new memories with DM and the material that I loved when I was a kid. The old memories have no hold on me and seeing them live was a near religious experience.

I'm sure I'm gonna regret posting this as I try to avoid touchy feely posting but I owe some serious drinks to Scouser one of these days. Stella on me.

[Scouser]

Maybe all DM fans are gay after all.

[black francis]

I just assumed we all were.

[Voodoo Billy]

Indeed, I thought Scouser was going to take us down a completely different road when he divulged that Mike Cairns got his 7 inch out to show him in double geography.

[Scouser]

Indeed, I thought Scouser was going to take us down a completely different road when he divulged that Mike Cairns got his 7 inch out to show him in double geography.

I'm not going to mention what happened with his 12", I dont think the forum could take it.

[Dave Smith]

My cocks 12 inches long,but I dont use it as a rule.

[Scouser]

My cocks 12 inches long,but I dont use it as a rule.

How many times have you made that joke on VT now?

[JackT]

How many times have you made that joke on VT now?

Joke re-telling is an honored tradition here.

[Scouser]

Joke re-telling is an honored tradition here.

My dogs got no nose...

[JackT]

My dogs got no nose...

1st Circumlocutionist: I have in my possession an animal belonging to
the family Canidae, and it appears that he does
not possess any extra-facial olfactory organs.

2nd Circumlocutionist: Could you therefore impart to me, such
knowledge as may be necessary, to describe how
that animal circumvents the problem of
satisfying his olfactory senses?

1st Circumlocutionist: Unfortunately, the non-ambiguity of your
enquiry does not easily permit me to provide a
clever answer, but I am in fact thinking of
referring the animal to an olfactologist.
However, the animal does have a fairly
unpleasant body odour, should you be
interested.