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From Basildon boys to globetrotting stadium superstars, teenage bubblegum synth popsters to seriously popular late-thirty ‘serious’ musicians, clean-cut to drug-fuelled and back again, Depeche Mode have done it all, and survived – quite literally so in the case of vocalist Dave Gahan.
Despite being written off as early as 1981 when, dissatisfied with the promotional and touring rigmaroles, then-principal songwriter Vince Clarke unexpectedly departed immediately following the release of their lightweight debut LP, ‘Speak & Spell’ (going on to find fame with Alison Moyet in Yazoo and longevity with the Erasure), the remaining members of Depeche Mode joined forces with classically trained keyboard player Alan Wilder and admirably reinvented themselves as purveyors of dark, yet somehow uplifting songscapes that have become their latter-day trademark. For a while, Depeche Mode looked unstoppable, first conquering Europe, then, when the time was right, America. World domination status effectively came following the conclusion of their 101-date ‘Music For The Masses’ world tour in front of a 65,000-strong audience at Pasedena’s Rose Bowl in California on June 18, 1988 (captured for posterity on the ‘101’ rockumentary by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker of Bob Dylan’s ‘!
Don’t Look Back’ fame).
What goes up usually comes down. Following 1993’s difficult ‘Songs Of Faith And Devotion’ album, the 158-show trek to over two-million fans took its toll in more ways than one, not least Wilder’s 1995 dramatic departure, put down to "dissatisfaction with the internal relations and working practices of the group." Doom merchants again predicted Depeche Mode’s disbanding, not least because of Gahan’s substance abuse. They were nearly right.
Yet come 2002, a fully revitalised Depeche Mode has released two more multi-million selling studio albums and twice toured the world to total audiences approaching two million people. With a host of accolades, including the inaugural Q Innovation Award, a new award "which recognises creativity, invention and courage in the face of adversity" (to quote ‘Q’ magazine), Depeche Mode has truly ascended to the hallowed ranks of rock’s aristocracy.
What’s the secret of Depeche Mode’s success? How have they managed to live long and prosper when almost all their contemporaries have long since fallen by the wayside? These are just some of the taxing questions that author Jonathan Miller attempts to tackle through exclusive interviews with founder member Vince Clarke, engineer-cum-producer Gareth Jones (who, together with Mute Records founder Daniel Miller, has played a pivotal role in shaping Depeche Mode’s unique sound over the years) and latter-day producer Mark Bell, plus a wealth of hitherto unpublished interview material with Miller and the band members themselves. Friends and family members have also assisted the author in unravelling Depeche Mode’s unconventional working dynamic that has served them so well. Meanwhile, various pivotal artists like Gary Numan, John Foxx and Karl Bartos (ex-Kraftwerk), whose names will probably forever remain synonymous with synthesizers, help authentically set the electronic music scene that Depeche Mode have come to undisputedly preside over – Thomas Dolby kindly co-wrote the book’s introduction, for example.
MillerMusicAndMedia.com
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