Near the end of the 70′s, in the small town Basildon in England, Essex province ) a small band was formed, Composition of Sound, formed by three teenagers: Martin Lee Gore, Andrew Fletcher and Vince Clarke.
Vince was the singer and songwriter of the band, Martin was in change of the synthesizer and Andy was a drummer. After a few not so successful tries, Fletcher and Clarke stopped playing the guitar and started to play on the synthesizers. Knowing that they need a better singer, they reached out to another teenager in Basildon, David Gahan. In this formula, the four considered that they also have to changed their name, and their new member, David, suggested an expression in Franch, that he sew on the cover of a fashion magazine.
Under their new name, as Depeche Mode, they started to sing in bars and night clubs where they were discovered by producer Daniel Miller from Mute Records. He convinced them to sign their first contract. In 1981, Depeche Mode released their first single: Dreaming of Me, who managed to be placed in the british tops on the 7 position. Right after that it followed New Life, which ended up on the 11 position and eventually, Just can’t get enough, which was a big dance hit. After the three singles, Depeche Mode released their first album: Speak and Spell. And the end of the tour that followed in England, Vince Clarke announced that he is leaving the band. As a result, Depeche Mode contacted another young musician: Alan Wilder, with the purpose of finding a replacement for Vince Clake, however without making Alan a full member of the band.
The next single released by Depeche Mode, with Martin Gore as a songwriter, See You, proved that the band can do very well even without Vince Clarke. The Meaning of Love and Leave in Silance, songs followed, all from the 1982 album A broken Frame. Alan Wilder was declared full member of the band. After they come back from their world tour, Depeche Mode released a new single at the beginning of 1983: Get the Balance Right. Other tours followed after which they started to record Construction Time Again, with a more commercial orientation. Everything Counts and Love In Itself confirmed this tendency. Depeche Mode recorded their first hit in the US tops with the now classic People are People. This determined them to release a new album in which they gathered all of their England hits.
The title of the album was People Are People. Shortly after that, a new single was released: Master and Servant. In the already popular rhythm, the number four album also appeared, Some Great Reward. Martin Gore appears as a vocal for the first time in the melody Somebody. The tours were taking up all of the band’s time, only confirming the great success of the band. So, shortly, they released a new album that contained only hits, and they also included in SHake the Disease and It’s called a heart songs. The compilation released in the US was named Catching Up With Depeche Mode, and in Europe: The singles ’81-’85.
After the release of the compilation, by the end of 1985, Depeche Mode returned in the studio to record the Black Celebration album. In 1986, Stipped, A question of Lust and A question of Time were very successful singles, and also the album from which they came from. After the release of the album, Depeche Mode went on tour and after that the band took a little vacation. Their comeback meant preparations for the release of a new album: Music for the Masses. This album contained five singles: StrangeLove, Never Let me Down Again, Behind the Wheel and Little 15. Depeche Mode started their biggest World Tour in the history of the band with the 101 concert on the Rose Bowl Arena in Pasadena, California. At that mega concert, more than 70.000 fans attended, determining the producing company to release an album named 101, in audio and video. The concert that started with a simple ” Good evening Pasadena” ended with a superb performance for Everything Counts, which was released after that as a live single.
After two years in which the band members were separated, they started to work at one of the band’s most biggest success. Long ago Vioaltor was released, the first single of this album a received by the public as one of the biggest hits: Personal Jesus. It was the first song of Depeche Mode in which we could have seen a rock approach, and responsible for this was the newest producer of the group, Flood. In the end, Personal Jesus become the best selling single of the band.
Violator however, wasn’t just an album with just one successful single. Enjoy the Silence, Policy Of Truth, Clean and World in My eyes were also big hits, that made Violator the best selling album at that time. World Violation, was a mega tour that changed Depeche Mode forever. Immediately after the end of this tour, Dave Gahan divorced his wife, leaving England and moving to Los Angeles. Gahan not only left his wife, but also his son. In Los Angeles, life without any organization, parties and drug abuse, has lead do the down fall of Depeche Mode. In 1992, when Martin contacted him in order to discuss about the recordings that needed to be made on their new album, Dave proved to be very far of what Depeche Mode actually is saying that what he sang until now is no longer appealing to him.
The condition he put in order to join the band again was to sing rock’nroll. Making the decision of giving Depeche Mode a second chance, Dave came to Spain to st art working on Songs of Faith and Devotion. The new songs written by Gore were mostly Rock’n'roll, and they were liked by Gahan. Alan was convinced to learn everything he can to become a drummer. After long preparations, the first single from “Songs”, I feel You, was released on the market. The new sound and image of the band shocked the fans and critics. The other singles continued in the same way. Although it appeared that the album is going to be a big crash, Depeche Mode decided to go on a bigger tour, Devotional Tour, bigger than everything they have done before. The most successful live performances of the group in this tour were brought together in the Songs of Faith and Devotion Album – Live in 1994.
Mean while, Andrew Fletcher, which was in charge of the band’s finances, had a severe psychotic episode, leaving the band.Gahan also entered into a stage of self-destruction. After more than 1 year of concerts, it was becoming obvious that Dave wasn’t so sane. As a confirmation, after the end of the tour, Dave attempted to kill himself.
In 1995, Alan Wilder announced that he is leaving Depeche Mode. His reasons were that he wasn’t appreciated at the extend of his work and cannot continue in a band that has all the problems Depeche Mode had at that time.
In 1996, Martin brought David to start working on Ultra. The trio which was completed by Andy, who recovered after his depression, has practically started to gather material. Everything lasted however very short because Dave’s condition was aggravating, he lost his voice because of drugs. The band took a break, enough for Dave to return to the US where he had an overdose that nearly killed him. His heart stopped beating for two minutes. He was saved, and the US authorities arrested him. He was however released and obligated to follow a rehab program. By the end of 1996, David Gahan appeared again with Depeche Mode, appearing to be cured of his drug addiction, and ready to reclaim his life and career.
In February 1997, the first single from Ultra was released, Barrel of a Gun. Then followed It’s No Good, Home and Useless, becoming obvious that Depeche mode was again back on track. In 1998 another two greatest hits compilations were released, together with a new single: Only When I lost Myself. Depeche Mode went again on tour, after 4 years of pause, to promote their new album. In 2000, the band reunited in London, New York and Santa Barbara to work on Exciter. The album was released in 2001. Dream on was the surprise hit of April, being placed in good positions in tops from all over the world.
Although the release of Exciter was not so successful as other albums of the band, Dream On became number one in tops and for the first time in the history of the band it managed to get a better position in the US tops. Immediately after the official release of the album, Depeche mode went on tour again. The beginning was a short and very secret “warm up” that took place at The Roxy in Los Angeles on 4 June, 2001. The tour continued in the US and Canada until August, and then Europe. On July 16, they released I Feel Loved, which became a big dance hit of the summer. FreeLove also got a remix from Flood. The Remix was successful in Europe, but it was almost unnoticed in the US. The same faith was shared by the next single Goodnight Lovers.
After the Exciter Tour, the band members took a break, and they started to develop some solo projects. Dave announced that he intends to release a debut album that includes some of his own work, while Martin focused his attention to revive an older project, Counterfeit. The announcements of these projects started some debates among the fans. There were talks about the disbandment of the Band, talks that were encouraged especially by the statements of the band members. Both solo projects were very expected, but especially the one of Dave, that marked his debut as a songwriter.
Some interesting information about the motivation that stood at the base of Dave’s solo project were released by him in an interview to Daniel Barassi in Feb. 2003. According to this interview, Dave was always interested by songwriting, without being serious involved. The first song he dared to show to other members of the band was Closer, while they were recording Ultra. Without success, however, the song was rejected because it didn’t fit with the general theme of the album.
In June 2003, the Paper Monsters album was released, and in May Dirty Sticky Floors single was also released. The album wasn’t so impressive, but it also wasn’t a disappointment. Overall, the rock and blues combination and the honorable lyrics made Paper Monsters to be liked by many fans. Dave released two other singles: I need You and Bottle Living. For the promotion of this project, Dave went on a series of concerts in Europe and US during June – November 2003. The playlist was made through a mix of won compositions and Depeche Mode songs. IN march 2004, a DVD with images from the concert was also released.
During this time, Martin focused on his own solo project: Counterfeit 2. As the first Counterfeit album, this album was also a collection of covers, without including a composition signed by Martin L. Gore. The Stardust single and Counterfeit 2 album were released in April 2003. In November, the Loverman single was also released. Martin admitted that he never intended to be successful with this project, this is why he didn’t promoted it very much. During 2003 did 8 concerts in which he sang a mix of Depeche Mode songs along with the fresh released covers. We can say that Andy did not wasted time as well. He released his own record house, Toast Hawaii.
If the 2003 year was the year of solo projects, 2004 was the Depeche Mode comeback. After the release in October 2003 of the legendary DVD movie, 101, Mute released over the 2004 year Depeche Mode Singles Box 1-6 in March.
