"Dark obsession in the name of love"

This may be boring for some, for which I can only say: hard cheese!!

Today I'm going to wax lyrical about love.
More specifically, a special love that has burned brightly for the best part of 25 years.
A love which, in all that time, has never diminished & undoubtedly never will.

It all started in 1981 when I was just 11 years old. The object of my affections flirted with me a little & I took note. I did however leave it at that.
In the summer of 1983, my love was re-energised but I still kept my distance.
In 1984 I fell hook, line & sinker. I fell truly, madly, deeply in love.

Figured it out yet?
That's right I fell in love with Depeche mode.




















I'd liked "New life" & "Just can't get enough" back in 81 & I'd really liked "Everything counts" in 83 but it was "People are people" that sealed the deal in March 84. I'd seen them perform it on TOTP & had been most impressed. I then saw them do it on The Tube & they also did "Told you so" which I'd never heard before but was great.
So "People are People" was acquired on 7", 12" & the On-USound remix 12". This was the start of the collecting period. I would regularly trawl through the record shops of West Yorkshire on a Saturday afternoon searching for anything Mode-related that I didn't have.
Anyway I needed an album to listen to. One Saturday afternoon I stole this from a shop in Bradford.























"Construction time again" contained the aforementioned "Told you so" & it also had "Everything counts" on it. It sounded fantastic, like music from another world! It had amazing sounds on it, like buckets being hit & stuff like that. It also contained some good songs. It made me interested enough to go out & get "Speak & spell" & "A broken frame", their 1st 2 albums. Both at the time were fine but now have dated quite badly & also paled compared to the later works. That said, "Leave in silence" is still wonderful.

Some months later, the single "Master & Servant" arrived. It did (& still does) piss all over "People are people". It became my favourite song ever for the next 3 years. Jesus, it had a pneumatic drill on it!! It's a great song & it was soon followed by a great album in the shape of "Some great reward".




















At it's time it was the most well rounded, complete work of art I'd ever heard. Every track had something about it. Alongside "M & S" came the utterly beautiful "Somebody" which can still bring tears to my eyes to this day. It also worked wonders as part of a charm offensive when I would serenade girls with it, Temper Tantrum for instance. "Blasphemous rumours" was the darkest thing I'd ever heard, both lyrically & musically. It's still a classic.

In the May of 1985 came my first buy-it-on-the-day-of-release moment, when the "Shake the disease" single came out. I still adore that song & remember just playing it over & over in my bedroom that first day.

March 17th 1986 saw the release of "Black Celebration"


















This was another quantum leap forward on the DM evolutionary scale. I remember Ridgely & I getting the bus into town & back during our school lunch hour so we could get our mits on it. We had music that afternoon & our music teacher (the finest teacher ever, fact!) let us listen to it in our lesson.
"Black celebration" showed the band to be growing. One of the key things with my relationship with Depeche Mode is that I feel they grew as a band in line with my growth as a person. "Just can't get enough" was perfect for a keen 11 year old just dipping his toe into a world of new music. Just as "Black Celebration" was spot on for a nearly-adult mind. The singles; "Stripped","A question of lust" & "A question of time" were & still are wondrous. The title track also stands as one of the greats. "Black Celebration" remains the only DM album to have a title track, fact fans!

In the autumn of 1987 came my finest moment of record buying ever. Now you need to understand that I wasn't the only DM nut in my circle of friends. The Duke Of Jokes, Ridgely & Gentle Giant were all huge fans too. There was always an element of competition involved, who had the most, who had the rarest item, etc. And who could get this first...















I wasn't working at the time so I went to town dead early. I was stood outside JAT records at 8.30 when they opened up.
"Blimey, you're keen!" says the geezer. I followed him into the shop, up to the counter and said "I'd like a copy of "Music for the Masses" on clear vinyl please"
"We haven't got it yet"
"What???????"
The guy must have seen the horror on my face.
"Why don't you come down to the securicor depot with me to pick it up?"
And that's just what I did.
He even let me open the box containing the albums.
I claimed my album at 8.45 a good 15 minutes before my rivals who had gone to EGS, Ha!
And what a great album it turned out to be. "Never let me down again" soon wrestled the title of favourite song ever from "M & S". "The things you said" was the saddest most moving thing I'd ever heard, especially the middle 8; "I get so carried away..." (sniff). Every track had something about it. "Strangelove", "Sacred", "Behind the wheel" (which actually sounded like you were in a car!), "Little 15" & "Nothing" remain firm favourites even now after 18 years.
By now we were all 17/18 & actually had money of our own so we all finally went to see the band live.
Depeche Mode live are a revelation. One would be forgiven for thinking that 3 blokes behind keyboards & a singer would produce a poor visual spectacle. However, when that singer is Dave Gahan things change. Dave is a truly inspiring frontman who can charm crowds of thousands to act upon his every whim. He is a whirling dervish of energy & I very much wanted to be him. He had become a god in my eyes.
At the time of "Music for the masses" there was a worrying trend developing. Despite the fact that over 7 years & 6 albums they had morphed from plinky plinky synth pop merchants into an innovative, mature, confident musical force chart positions were steadily declining. "Never let me down again" somehow only limped to No.22. (No.2 in Germany, fact fans!)
Then in the summer of 1988 they finished the "Music for the Masses" world tour in the Pasadena rose bowl, Los Angeles in front of a sell out crowd of over 70000!
So while their native UK was shunning them the rest of the world were beginning to take notice.

Then in 1990 this happened...















"Violator" went onto change Depeche Mode forever. It's lead single "Personal Jesus" had everyone pricking up their collective ears & the follow up "Enjoy the Silence" remained in the uk top 10 (peaking at No.6) for weeks. Rightly so, after all it's a perfect piece of music. It has for 15 years now (give or take the few months when Radiohead stole in) held the title of favourite song ever. "Violator" itself was a masterwork of immense proportions. Every track (except "Blue dress") being genuinely fantastic. It also completely enraptured the world. At that time there was no bigger UK band in the world. U2 being Irish, of course. The only worry now was how would they follow "Violator"

3 years later that question was answered emphatically with "Songs of faith & devotion"





















This album even shocked me! It was a new Depeche mode. A Depeche mode that rocked a bit, a depeche mode that had a gospel choir, a depeche mode that had a new Dave Gahan even. He looked so different, the long hair, the beard, the plethora of tattoos & he sounded different too. "Condemnation" is, in my humble opinion, the best vocal performance Mr.G has ever given. A truly brilliant album, "SOFAD" was more than the sum of it's parts. And in "Walking in my shoes" they had nailed the quintessential DM song. If any one asked me what Depeche mode were all about, then that's the one song I'd play them. "Songs of faith of devotion" remains la creme de la creme of DM's albums for me.
Again I went to see them on the Devotional tour & it was bliss on a stick! Even down to Alan Wilder getting behind a kit & bashing out some REAL drums.
Of course, the Devotional tour is where it all went wrong. Fletch had a nervous breakdown, Martin drank heavily & eventually Alan left the band. A blow from which I fear they'll never recover. All this was nothing compared to what our intrepid frontman was up to. Heroin addiction that infamously culminated in him being "dead" for a few minutes after overdosing on a speedball (Cocaine & Heroin). For the first time ever I feared that Depeche mode had "reached it's natural conclusion".

Then all of a sudden in 1997 they were back in the top 5 with "Barrel of a gun" soon to be followed there by the sublime "It's no good". These singles were culled from the album; "Ultra"














"Ultra" is a strange beast. The aforementioned 2 singles plus "Home", "Useless" & "Love thieves" were fabulous. Sadly the rest of it was pretty much plop. It was the first time in 17 years that they had failed to better their previous effort & it was disappointing. However, I was just happy that they had survived & were still making music.

In 2001 we were offered "Exciter".
















Though it was a much more balanced album than "Ultra", it only had the 2 really high points. Situated at either end of the album "Dream on" & the soft caress of "Goodnight lovers" were good enough to have been on any DM album. That said, "Exciter" also boasted the god awful monstrosity "The dead of night".

Then we got Dave Gahan's solo album "Paper monsters" which had it's moments ("Dirty sticky floors" wouldn't have been out of place on either "Violator" or "SOFAD"). I went to see him on his solo tour. He played with a full proper band. Y'know; guitar, bass, drums. When they played some old DM tunes I was orgasmic. "A question of time" rocked like a gargantuan rocking thing!

And now we're on the cusp of Depeche Mode's 10th studio album; "Playing the angel". Again we are guaranteed some new ground as Dave has contributed to the songwriting for the first time. Apparently they filmed a video for the 1st single (rumoured to be "Precious") in London a couple of weeks back. This is why I'm starting to get excited, because they are coming back again.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have been a life long fan of Depeche Mode & even more fortuitous that even after 24 years I've never had to suffer the pain of my favourite band splitting up.

I'm sorry if it's been a dull read for any of you but I LOVE DEPECHE MODE. They are a part of me.
I'd now like your thoughts on DM, your favourite song, any great memories or even reasons why you don't like them.
Such as severe mental illness.