Depeche Mode are an English electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band has consisted of Gahan and Gore since Fletcher's death in 2022.
named after: Depeche Mode
members: Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher, Alan Wilder, Simon Le Bon
formed in: Basildon
labels: Mute Records, Columbia Records, EMI, Reprise Records, Sire, Virgin Records, Capitol Records
genres: synth-pop, electronica, new wave, dark wave, alternative rock, industrial music, electronic rock, post-punk
influenced by: Kraftwerk, Fad Gadget
awards: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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Depeche Mode's origins date to 1977, when schoolmates Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher formed a 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-influenced band, the Plan, with friends Robert Marlow and Paul Langwith. In 1978–1979, Martin Gore played guitar in an acoustic duo, Norman and the Worms, with school friend Phil Burdett on vocals. In 1980, Clarke and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar and...
Clarke was inspired to pursue electronic music by the band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), whom he cited as crucial to the formation of Depeche Mode. OMD were enlisted as support on the Music for the Masses Tour, with Gore affirming their influence. In a later interview, Gore explained his early objectives for Depeche Mode, saying, "My dream was to combine the emotion of Neil Young or John Lennon transmitted by Kraftwerk's synthesisers. Soul music played by electronic instruments." Fletcher mentioned influences including the late 1970s punk rock scene, the post-punk bands Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cure, and electronic group the Human League. Band members have also cited David Bowie, the Clash, Roxy Music and Brian Eno,...
Depeche Mode have released a total of 15 studio albums, 10 compilation albums, six live albums, eight box sets, 13 video albums, 71 music videos, and 54 singles. They have sold more than 100 million records and played live to more than 35 million fans worldwide. The band has had 50 songs in the UK singles chart, and one US and two UK number-one albums. In addition, all of their studio albums have reached the UK Top 10 and their albums have spent more than two hundred weeks on the UK Charts. Along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, and Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode are one of four acts that have charted at least once on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart in every decade since its debut in 1988.
Many major artists have cited the band as an influence, including: Arcade Fire, the Killers, Nine Inch Nails, Chvrches, the Smashing Pumpkins, Coldplay, Muse, Metric, No Doubt, A Perfect Circle, Marilyn Manson, Linkin Park, the Crystal Method, Fear Factory, La Roux, Gotye, Rammstein, a-ha, Tegan and Sara, And one and Paul van Dyk. Depeche Mode contemporaries Pet Shop Boys, Tears for Fears and Gary Numan have also cited the band as an influence. Colombian singer Shakira described "Enjoy the Silence" as the song that first sparked her passion for pop music.
Are you them, or do you know them? The mail slot is open.
"Heaven" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released as the lead single from their thirteenth studio album, Delta Machine (2013). Written by Martin Gore and produced by Ben Hillier, the song was world-premiered on KROQ's morning show Kevin and Bean on 30 January 2013.
The single was released digitally in most territories on 31 January 2013, and physically on 1 February.
According to Martin Gore in an interview, "'Heaven' was written on a piano. I had all the chords, and everything all worked out on the piano and the whole vocal melody, and the lyrics worked out before I went anywhere near a computer." Additionally, Andy Fletcher stated that the demo was not very different to the final besides the lead vocal being done by Dave Gahan instead of Gore.
The music video for "Heaven" was directed by Timothy Saccenti and filmed in November 2012 at the Marigny Opera House, a former Catholic church in New Orleans's Faubourg Marigny. Previously, Saccenti had directed the "In-Studio Collage 2012" video for "Angel" that premiered at the band's press conference in Paris on 23 October 2012.
"Enjoy the Silence" is a song by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. Written by Martin Gore and recorded in 1989, it was released as the second single from their seventh studio album, Violator (1990), on 5 February 1990 by Mute Records.
The song topped the charts of European Hit Radio, Denmark and Spain, and is the band's highest-charting single in the United States, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Cash Box Top 100.
Following the successful releases of their previous album, Music for the Masses in 1987 and a live album 101 in early 1989, Depeche Mode reconvened in 1989 in a studio in Milan, Italy to record material for their new album. The band had invited Mark Ellis, known professionally as Flood, to be co-producer of the new album alongside the band. The sessions in Milan resulted in the song "Personal Jesus", which was released as a single in August 1989 before the rest of the album was completed. Following the Milan sessions, the band moved to Puk Recording Studios in Denmark to record the rest of their new material.
"Enjoy the Silence" was released as a single on 5 February 1990. In the UK, the release was handled by Mute Records. The single was released as a Cassingle, on 7-inch vinyl with catalogue number 7BONG18, 12-inch vinyl (12BONG18) and limited 12-inch vinyl (L12BONG18), and, for the first time, an "extremely limited" 12-inch vinyl single, given catalogue number XL12BONG18. Remixes were created by Miller, Phil Legg, and Kevorkian, and on the extremely limited 12-inch vinyl release, the Quad mix was created with input from four remixers: Tim Simenon, Holger Hiller, Gareth Jones and Mimi Izumi Kobayashi; this vinyl single had the remix pressed one side, and on the other, a laser etching of the single's cover art, which was not playable. The...
In a retrospective review, Andy Healy from Albumism wrote that the song "combined much loved elements of lush synth beds, haunting melodies, and aching lyrics, which coalesced with house beats and slick guitar lines." He added, "Gahan's vocals are intimate and seductive as they draw you in, with lyrics that examine the quiet satisfaction of a relationship, those tender moments when silence fills the void and your lover is in your arms and the world ceases to exist. There was something inviting. Something powerful in those declarations. Something that you could latch on to and feel a part of." AllMusic editor Tim DiGravina stated that it is one of Depeche Mode's "greatest songs", with a "pristine and lush yet punishing musical environment",...
The music video for the single was created and directed by Anton Corbijn. The video featured shots of Gahan, dressed as a king, walking through various settings with a lawn chair under his arm, trying to find a spot to relax. Corbijn said "There was something about 'Enjoy the Silence' that I thought of a king as a symbol of somebody who has everything. He looks for something very simple that's available to all of us that doesn't need the money, which is just a quiet place to sit." This was normal for the band; Corbijn would often pitch ideas and the band would discuss them. Typically, Wilder is most involved in video discussions, plus Gahan, since he's typically the visual focus of any video. The band was initially against the video idea,...
"Personal Jesus" is a song by the English electronic band Depeche Mode. It was released as the lead single from their seventh studio album, Violator (1990), in August 1989 by Mute Records.
It reached No. 13 on the UK singles chart and No. 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single was their first to enter the US top 40 since 1984's "People Are People" and was their first gold-certified single in the US.
In mid-1989, the band began recording in Milan with record producer Flood. After a three-week pre-production session with band member and producer Alan Wilder in London, the full band met at Logic Studios in Milan, Italy for a seven week session. Although the band didn't get much recording done in Milan, the process did help the band and Flood coalesce around their new sound and working style. The band had asked songwriter Martin Gore to bring less complete demos to these sessions, as in the past he'd brought nearly-complete demos which had limited the band's ability to improvise in the studio. Accordingly, Gore brought in a very simple demo for a new song called "Personal Jesus", which he played by tapping the beat with his foot while...
"Personal Jesus" was released on 29 August 1989 by Mute Records in the UK, Sire Records/Warner Bros. Records in the US and Liberation Records in Australia. In the UK, the single was released on a wide variety of formats: 7-inch single (catalogue number 7BONG17), a gatefold 7-inch single (GBONG17) and a 12-inch and limited 12-inch single (12BONG17 and L12BONG17, respectively). Remixes across the releases of the song and its B-side, "Dangerous", were made by François Kevorkian, Mark Ellis, and Daniel Miller.
David Giles from Music Week wrote: "Their first release for over two years, and hardly a radical style departure. Stark and foreboding, and still employing the distinctive technique of vocal harmonies an octave apart. Strong enough to go top five, but fast losing ground to the Belgium beat experimentalists." Stuart Maconie of the New Musical Express magazine wrote that Depeche Mode were "the most subversive singles band of the decade ... [who] make criminally brilliant pop records about God, death, crazy sex and alienation" and called the song "a hit".
The video for the song was directed by frequent Depeche Mode collaborator Anton Corbijn, shot in the Tabernas Desert of Almería, in Spain, the same village where Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns were shot decades earlier. The shots of the band dressed as cowboys harkened to the Wild West, and shots of women that alluded to the location being a brothel, alongside "suggestive" mouth movements by Gore, led to MTV to censor the video. "Personal Jesus" was one of the first colorized videos the director made for the band.