THE STORY OF DEPECHE MODE


In the small town Basildon outside London there lived two guys called Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher. In 1976 they formed the band "No Romance In China". At that time Martin Gore was a guitarist in the band "Norman and the Worms". In 1979 Clarke and Gore were playing together in the guitar and synth duo "French Look". Fletcher joined them and the band changed its name to "Composition of Sound". They were playing with a synthesizer, a guitar and a bass guitar. Clarke was the vocalist but he didn't like it so they were looking for a singer. In 1980 they asked David Gahan who they had heard singing David Bowie's song "Heroes". When he joined they changed their instruments to synthesizers only and the band's name to Depeche Mode. The name were taken from a French magazine and it means "fast fashion". The magazine still exists. Their first release was the song "Photographic", which was on the independent record company Some Bizarre's compilation "Some Bizarre Album" in 1980. But it was Daniel Miller who really discovered them and they signed on with his Mute Records. They released their first single, "Dreaming Of Me", in February 1981. It became only No. 57 at the selling chart in UK and the next single "New Life" didn't become a hit either, but their third single "Just Can't Get Enough" was a Top 10 hit. They then released their debut album "Speak & Spell". An album with happy and quite naive synthpop. Vince Clarke wrote all their songs, except for two songs written by Martin Gore. So it came as a shock to the fans when he decided to leave Depeche Mode soon after the album. He didn't like to tour and he didn't feel comfortable in the band anymore. The shock wasn't so big for the three remaining members though. Martin Gore took charge of the song-writing and they advertised for a new member. The three released the single "See You" in January 1982. Vince Clarke soon formed the duo Yazoo with the singer Alison Moyet. Since 1985 he has been playing in the duo Erasure with the singer Andy Bell. Depeche Mode's advertisement for a new member read something like: "Synthesizer player wanted, maximum age 21 years". Alan Wilder was 22 when he read that, but he answered anyway, he wanted a job, even if he would have to lie to get it. He was playing with the band at their "See You"-tour, for example in USA, but he still wasn't a real member of the band. He wasn't allowed in the studio on Depeche Mode's second album "A Broken Frame". The music was now not so happy as when Vince Clarke was the song-writer, it was more melancholic and dark. When the single "Get The Balance Right" was released in 1983 Alan Wilder was playing with the band in the studio and he was now regarded as a member of Depeche Mode. He wrote two songs on their third album "Construction Time Again" and one song on their fourth album "Some Great Reward". They had international hits with "Everything Counts", "People Are People" and "Master And Servant". In 1985 they released a collection with their singles. In 1986 they released "Black Celebration", which was very dark and melancholic. They went on with that style on "Music For The Masses" in 1987. Soon after that album they began using guitars again. They were now very big also in USA, where they had huge concerts. One of the concerts were recorded and released as the live-album "101" in 1989. Later the same year they released the single "Personal Jesus", where the guitars dominated. In 1990 they released the album "Violator". On "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" in 1993 the band was influenced by a lot of different music styles, for example gospel. The album went high on the selling charts, but some of the older fans were quite disappointed. Later the same year they released the album "Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live", the same songs but in live versions. Beside Depeche Mode Martin Gore has released one solo record called "Counterfeit EP" in 1989 and Alan Wilder has released three albums under the name Recoil. In June 1995 Alan Wilder decided to leave Depeche Mode. He said: "Due to increasing dissatisfaction with the internal relations and working practices of the group, it is with some sadness that I have decided to part company from Depeche Mode." Their new album "Ultra" was released April 14.
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