A Brief History
Depeche Mode was formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex, by guitarist/vocalists
Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore and keyboardist Vince Clarke. After recruiting
David Gahan, the group abandoned their guitars for synthesizers and became
an all-electronic band. For this unusual approach, Depeche Mode earned
a loyal London following, and within a year of their formation, were signed
to Mute Records. Depeche Mode's first single "Dreaming of Me" was a minor
U.K. hit. It was followed by "New Life", which climbed to No.11, and by
"Just Can't Get Enough", which cracked the British Top Ten. Speak &
Spell, Depeche Mode's debut album, was released in November of 1981.
Signed to Sire Records in the U.S., Depeche Mode found initial exposure
for their music with club audiences. "Just Can't Get Enough" became a major
dance hit, receiving airplay on American alternative radio stations. After
a tour of England and Europe, Vince Clark left Depeche Mode to form Yazoo.
Alan Wilder then joined the band as the group released its fourth single
"The Meaning of Love". A second hit album titled "A Broken Frame" was then
released in 1982. In 1983, Depeche Mode released "Construction Time Again",
which contained the dance favorite "Everything Counts".
With the release of "People Are People" in 1984, American audiences
discovered what their European counterparts had known since 1981. "People
Are People" was Depeche Mode's first North American success, which Depeche
Mode built on with their fourth release "Some Great Reward". "Catching
Up With Depeche Mode" and "Black Celebration" followed in the next two
years. It became evident with the "Black Celebration" album that Depeche
Mode were starting to, as Martin put it, "make harder sounding records".
But "Black Celebration" was not an easy album to make; Martin had a very
fixed idea of how he wanted it to sound. The songs on this album reflect
on how painful it was for Depeche to record this album. As Dave put it,
"If there was ever a time that Depeche Mode would break up, it would have
happened during the making of Black Celebration". Depeche also showed a
distaste for corporate manipulation; when Sire flipped the "Stripped" single
- which Depeche had spend three weeks perfecting - to take advantage of
it's B-side, "But Not Tonight", (a throwaway song that was recorded in
one day), the band's displeasure was evident. Following the Black Celebration
Tour, their most successful American tour to that date, the band followed
it up with "Music for the Masses".
Released in 1987, Depeche Mode went with David Bascombe as their new producer,
wanting a fresh start after almost aborting the "Black Celebration" sessions.
"Strangelove", the album's first single, had no less than 14 different
remixes. "Music for the Masses" itself had struggled to reach the UK Top
Ten, and "Little 15", released only in Germany, scraped no higher than
number 60, as a foreign release. But still, Depeche Mode continued to have
higher concert attendance figures than album sales. After an extensive
world tour, Depeche Mode played their 101'st concert at a sold out Pasadena
Rose Bowl in front of 70,000 fans. A live album and video, entitled "101"
was then released in 1988, warming fans up for Depeche Mode's breakthough
album "Violator".
"Personal Jesus", the first single from this album, was a huge success,
becoming one of the largest selling CD singles in U.S. history, and gave
Depeche Mode their first U.S. gold single. Then followed "Enjoy the Silence",
a massive hit, which has become Depeche Mode's trademark song. Depeche
even whipped 17,000 fans in L.A. into a near riot at a in-store autograph
signing to promote the release of Violator. As fast as the ticket offices
opened, the demand for the "World Violation Tour" swamped them. In New
York, Depeche sold 40,000 tickets for their Giants Stadium show within
8 hours and 48,000 tickets to the Dodger Stadium show in L.A. were sold
within one hour of going on sale. But not all was well, frayed nerves,
the wear and tear of touring, and internal battles caused Depeche Mode
to part company at the end of the Violator Tour, not knowing if they were
ever to work together again. Dave re-located to L.A. while the other members
concentrated on their families. But in 1992, when Dave felt he didn't want
to make another "dance" record with Depeche, Martin sent a demo comprised
of "electrifying, bluesy" songs for the next album, which Dave described
as "a total relief, soaring, majestic, beautiful". Not only did these songs
match Dave's dreams, it equalled them. Dave had now felt that Depeche was
pushing the limits of their music further, which he had been wanting for
a few years now.
In 1993, after a three year period between albums, Depeche Mode released
"Songs of Faith and Devotion", a much more rock oriented approach to their
music. This would be the first Mode album that would utilize live drums,
as well as outside musicians. With "I Feel You" as the first single, and
a much anticipated album release, SOFAD debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top
100 and on the British charts as well. It was the first truly "alternative"
album to ever achieve this distinguished double. It remained on top for
just one week, and by November, it had slipped so swiftly that "Rolling
Stone" had spotted the album in the bargain bins. But none the less, Depeche
set out on a extensive 14 month world tour, leading the band to such places
as South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, and South America. Even with the
quick demise of Songs of Faith and Devotion, Depeche Mode continued to
sell out shows in North America and Europe. The band has somewhat become
a permanent attraction, in which album chart positions don't affect their
concert attendance figures.
On June 1st/1995, keyboardist/drummer Alan Wilder decided to leave Depeche
Mode, stating unsatisfactory internal working conditions as the reason
why he left the band. Fletch, Martin, and Dave will continue on as Depeche
Mode and they have just completed recording a new album with producer Tim
Simenon in London. On February 3/1997, Depeche Mode released their first
single in more than three years; "Barrel of a Gun", along with it's b-side
track "Painkiller". Depeche Mode will release the new album, "Ultra", on
April 15/1997.
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