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Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). Vince Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album, Speak & Spell, and was replaced by Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums) with Gore taking over songwriting. Wilder left the band in 1995 and since then Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher have continued as a trio.
Depeche Mode have had 48 songs in the UK Singles Chart and twelve top 10 albums in the UK charts, two of which debuted at #1. According to EMI, Depeche Mode have sold over 100 million albums and singles worldwide, making them the most successful electronic band in music history. Q magazine calls Depeche Mode "The most popular electronic band the world has ever known".
Depeche Mode's origins date back to 1977, when schoolmates Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher formed a The Cure-influenced band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass. Fletcher would later recall, "Why am I in the band? It was accidental right from the beginning. I was actually forced to be in the band. I played the guitar and I had a bass; it was a question of them roping me in." In 1979, Clarke played guitar in an "Ultravox rip-off band", The Plan, with friends Robert Marlow and Paul Langwith. In 1978–79, Martin Gore played guitar in an acoustic duo Norman and The Worms with school friend Philip Burdett on vocals. In 1979, Marlow, Gore, and friend Paul Redmond formed a band called The French Look with Marlow on vocals/keyboards, Gore on guitar and Redmond on keyboards. In March 1980, Clarke, Gore and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar, Gore on keyboards and Fletcher on bass.
Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clarke and Fletcher switched to synthesisers, working odd jobs including carpentry to buy or borrow them from friends. Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a local scout hut jam session, singing to a rendition of David Bowie's "Heroes", and Depeche Mode were born. When explaining the choice for the new name (taken from a French fashion magazine, Dépêche mode) Martin Gore said, "It means hurried fashion or fashion dispatch. I like the sound of that." Gore recollects that the first time the band played as Depeche Mode was a school gig in May 1980. The band made their recording debut in 1980 on the Some Bizzare Album with the song "Photographic", which was later re-recorded for their debut album Speak & Spell.
While playing a live gig at the Bridge House in Canning Town, the band were approached by Daniel Miller (an electronic musician and founder of Mute Records), who was interested in them recording a single for his burgeoning label. The result of this verbal contract was their first single "Dreaming of Me", recorded in December 1980 and released in February 1981, reaching number 57 in the UK charts. Encouraged by this, the band recorded their second single "New Life", which climbed to number 11 in the UK charts. The next single was "Just Can't Get Enough", this relentlessly upbeat piece of synthpop became the band's first UK top ten hit and it remains one of their best known songs. It was also the first Depeche Mode song to get a music video and is the only one of the band's videos to feature Vince Clarke. Depeche Mode's debut album, Speak & Spell, was released in November 1981 and peaked at number ten on the UK album charts. Critical reviews were mixed – Melody Maker described it as a "great album... one they had to make to conquer fresh audiences and please the fans who just can’t get enough", while Rolling Stone was more critical, calling the album "PG-rated fluff".
During the touring and promotion for Speak & Spell, Clarke privately began to voice his discomfort at the direction the band were taking. He later expressed his dissatisfaction, saying "there was never enough time to do anything". In November 1981 Clarke publicly announced that he was leaving Depeche Mode. Soon afterwards, he joined up with blues singer Alison Moyet to form Yazoo (Yaz in the US) and later, the duo Erasure with Andy Bell. Initial talk of Clarke continuing to write material for the group ultimately amounted to nothing (Clarke offered the remaining members of Depeche Mode the track "Only You", but they declined. It went on to become a UK Top 3 hit for Yazoo). Gore, who had written "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and the instrumental "Big Muff" for Speak & Spell, was forced to become the band's new songwriter.
In late 1981, the band placed an anonymous ad in Melody Maker looking for another musician; it said "Name band, synthesize, must be under twenty-one." Alan Wilder, a keyboardist from West London, responded and after two auditions he was hired in early 1982 initially on a trial basis as a touring member despite being 22 years old. Wilder would later be called the "Musical Director" of the band, responsible for the band's sound until his departure in 1995. As producer Flood would later say, " is sort of the craftsman, Martin's the idea man and is the attitude." In January 1982, the band released "See You", their first single without Clarke, which managed to beat all three Clarke-penned singles in the UK charts, reaching number six. The tour that followed the release of the single saw the band playing their first shows in North America. Two more singles, "The Meaning of Love", and "Leave in Silence", were released ahead of the band's second studio album. Depeche Mode began work on their second album in July 1982. Daniel Miller informed Wilder that he was not needed for the recording of the album, as the band wanted to prove that they could succeed without Vince Clarke. A Broken Frame was released that September and the following month the band set off on their second tour of 1982. A non-album single "Get the Balance Right!" was released in January 1983, and was the first Depeche Mode track to be recorded with Wilder.
For their third LP Construction Time Again, Depeche Mode worked with producer Gareth Jones, at John Foxx's Garden Studios and at Hansa Studios in West Berlin (where much of David Bowie's trilogy of seminal electronic albums featuring Brian Eno had been produced). The album saw a dramatic shift in the group's sound, due in part to Wilder's introduction of the Synclavier and E-mu Emulator samplers. By sampling the noises of everyday objects, the band created an eclectic, industrial-influenced sound, with similarities to groups such as the Art of Noise and Einstürzende Neubauten, the latter would later have work released on the Mute label.
Along with the music, Gore's songwriting was also rapidly evolving, focusing increasingly on political and social issues. A good example of the new sound was on the first single from the album "Everything Counts", a commentary on the perceived greed of multinational corporations. The song got to number six in the UK, also reaching the Top 30 in Ireland, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden and West Germany. Wilder also contributed two songs to the album, "The Landscape Is Changing" and "Two Minute Warning".
In September 1983, to promote Construction Time Again the band launched Construction Time Again Tour, a concert tour all over Europe.
In their early years, Depeche Mode had only really attained success in Europe and Australia, however this changed in March 1984 when they released the single "People Are People". The song reached #2 in Ireland, #4 in UK and Switzerland and #1 in West Germany, where it was used as the theme to West German TV's coverage of the 1984 Olympics. It belatedly reached #13 on the US charts in mid-1985. The song has since become an anthem for the LGBT community and is regularly played at gay establishments and gay pride festivals. Sire, the band's North American record label, released a compilation of the same name which included tracks from A Broken Frame and Construction Time Again as well as several b-sides.
In September 1984, Some Great Reward was released. Melody Maker claimed that the album made one "sit up and take notice of what is happening here, right under your nose." In contrast to the political and environmental subjects addressed on the previous album, the songs on Some Great Reward were mostly concerned with more personal themes such as sexual politics ("Master and Servant"), adulterous relationships ("Lie to Me"), and arbitrary divine justice ("Blasphemous Rumours"). Also included was the first Martin Gore ballad ("Somebody") – such songs would become a feature of all following albums. "Somebody" was released as a double a-side with "Blasphemous Rumours" and was the first single with Gore on lead vocals. Some Great Reward was the first Depeche Mode album to enter the US album charts, and it made the Top 10 in several European countries.
The World We Live In and Live in Hamburg was the band's first video release. It is an almost complete film of a concert from their 1984 Some Great Reward Tour, in Hamburg, Germany. In July 1985, the band played their first-ever concerts behind the Iron Curtain, in Budapest and Warsaw. In October 1985, Mute Records released a compilation, The Singles 81>85 (Catching Up with Depeche Mode in the US), which included the two non-album singles "Shake the Disease" and "It's Called a Heart".
During this period, in some circles, the band became associated with the gothic subculture, which had begun in Britain in the late-1970s, and was now slowly gaining popularity in the United States. There, the band's music had first gained prominence on college radio and modern rock stations such as KROQ in Los Angeles, KQAK ("The Quake") in San Francisco, WFNX in Boston and WLIR on Long Island, New York, and hence they appealed primarily to an alternative audience who were disenfranchised with the predominance of "soft rock and 'disco hell'" on the radio. This view of the band was in sharp contrast to how the band was perceived in Europe, despite the increasingly dark and serious tone in their songs. In Germany and other European countries, Depeche Mode were considered teen idols and were regularly featured in European teen magazines.
Depeche Mode's musical style shifted again in 1986 with the release of their fifteenth single "Stripped", and its accompanying album Black Celebration. Retaining their often imaginative sampling and jettisoning the "industrial-pop" sound that had characterised their previous two LPs, the band introduced an ominous, highly atmospheric and textured sound. Gore's lyrics also took on a darker tone and became even more pessimistic.
The music video for "A Question of Time" was the first to be directed by Anton Corbijn, beginning a working relationship that continues to the present day. Corbijn has directed a further 19 of the band's videos (the latest being 2006's "Suffer Well"). He has also filmed some of their live performances and designed stage sets and album and single covers.
1987's Music for the Masses saw further alterations in the band's sound and working methods. For the first time a producer not related to Mute, David Bascombe, was called to assist with the recording sessions (although, according to Alan Wilder, his role ended up being more that of an engineer). In making the album the band largely eschewed sampling in favour of more synth experimentation. While the chart performance of the singles "Strangelove", "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Behind the Wheel" proved to be disappointing in the UK, they performed well in countries such as Canada, Brazil, West Germany, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland, often reaching the top 10. Record Mirror described Music for the Masses as "the most accomplished and sexy Mode album to date" and it made a breakthrough in the American market, something which the band had failed to achieve with their previous albums.
The Music for the Masses Tour followed the release of the album. On 7 March 1988 they played an unofficial gig (as it was not officially announced that Depeche Mode were the band performing that night) in the Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle, East Berlin. At that time the communist regime were still in power and Depeche Mode were among the very few western bands that ever played in the former GDR. Around the same period, they also gave concerts in Budapest and Prague (1988) in the then still communist Hungary and Czechoslovakia respectively.
The world tour ended on 18 June 1988 with a concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl with paid attendance of 60,453 (the highest in eight years for the venue). The tour was a breakthrough for the band and massive success in the United States. It was documented in 101 – a concert film by D. A. Pennebaker and its accompanying soundtrack album. The film is notable for its portrayal of fan interaction. Alan Wilder is credited with coming up with the name; the performance was the 101st and final performance of the tour. On 7 September 1988, Depeche Mode performed "Strangelove" at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.
In mid-1989, the band began recording in Milan with producer Flood and engineer François Kevorkian. The initial result of this session was the single "Personal Jesus". Prior to its release, a marketing campaign was launched with advertisements placed in the personal columns of UK regional newspapers with the words "Your own personal Jesus." Later, the ads included a phone number one could dial to hear the song. The resulting furore helped propel the single to number 13 on the UK charts, becoming one of their biggest sellers to date; in the US, it was their first gold single and their first Top 40 hit since "People Are People", eventually becoming the biggest-selling 12-inch single in Warner Bros. Records' history up to that point.
Released in January 1990, "Enjoy the Silence" became one of Depeche Mode's most successful singles to date, reaching number six in the UK (the first Top 10 hit in that country since "Master And Servant"). A few months later it became Depeche Mode's biggest hit in the US, reaching number eight and earning the band a second gold single. It won 'Best British single' at the 1991 Brit Awards. To promote their new album Violator, the band held an in-store autograph signing at Wherehouse Entertainment in Los Angeles. The event attracted approximately 20,000 fans and turned into a near riot. Some of those who attended were injured by being pressed against the store's glass by the crowd. As an apology to the fans who were injured, the band released a limited edition cassette tape to fans living in Los Angeles, which was distributed through radio station KROQ (the sponsor of the Wherehouse event). Violator went on to reach Top 10 in the UK and US. Violator was the first of the band's albums to enter the Top 10 of the Billboard 200— reaching #7 and staying 74 weeks in the chart. It has also been certified triple platinum in America, selling over 4.5 million units there. It remains the band's best selling album worldwide. Two more singles from the album "Policy of Truth" and "World in My Eyes" were hits in the UK with the former also charting in the US.
The World Violation Tour marked another high point in Depeche Mode's popularity and saw the band play several stadium shows in the US. 42,000 tickets were sold within four hours for a show at Giants Stadium and 48,000 tickets were sold within half-an-hour of going on sale for a show at Dodger Stadium. It was estimated that 1.2 million fans saw this tour worldwide.
In 1991, Depeche Mode contribution, "Death's Door" was released on the accompanying Warner Brothers album, Until the End of the World: original motion picture soundtrack for the film Until the End of the World.
The members of Depeche Mode regrouped in Madrid in January 1992, Dave Gahan had become interested in the new grunge scene sweeping the U.S. and was influenced by the likes of Jane's Addiction and Nirvana.
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