Some Great Reward, issued the following year, was their artistic and commercial breakthrough, as Gore's dark, kinky preoccupations with spiritual doubt ("Blasphemous Rumours") and psychosexual manipulation ("Master and Servant") came to the fore the egalitarian single "People Are People" was a major hit on both sides of the Atlantic and typified the music's turn toward more industrial textures. While 1982's A Broken Frame deviated only slightly from Depeche Mode's earlier work, Gore's ominous songs grew more assured and sophisticated by the time of 1983's Construction Time Again. Just as Depeche Mode appeared poised for a major commercial breakthrough, however, principal songwriter Clarke abruptly exited to form Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet, leaving the group's future in grave doubt.Īs Gore grabbed the band's songwriting reins, the remaining trio recruited keyboardist Alan Wilder to fill the technological void created by Clarke's departure. hit, and their 1981 debut LP, Speak and Spell, was also a success. After signing to Mute Records, they issued "Dreaming of Me" in early 1981 while neither the single nor its follow-up, "New Life," caused much of a stir, their third effort, "Just Can't Get Enough," became a Top Ten U.K. After one final name change to Depeche Mode, the quartet jettisoned all instruments excluding their synthesizers, honing a slick, techno-based sound to showcase Clarke's catchy melodies.Īfter building a following on the London club scene, Depeche Mode made their debut in 1980 with "Photographic," a track included on the Some Bizzare Album label compilation.
Initially, Clarke handled vocal chores, but in 1980 singer David Gahan was brought in to complete the lineup. The band proved short-lived, and by 1979 Clarke had formed French Look, another duo featuring guitarist/keyboardist Martin Gore Fletcher soon signed on, and the group rechristened themselves Composition of Sound. Originally a product of Britain's new romantic movement, Depeche Mode got their start in 1976, when Basildon, England-based keyboardists Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher first teamed to form the group No Romance in China. By the late 2000s, the trio experienced a popular resurgence and renewed drive with the chart-topping electro-rock Playing the Angel, which kicked off a new era that poised Depeche Mode as elder statesmen of the genre, dominating sales with each subsequent release and even embarking on their longest tour to date, in support of their 14th album, 2017's Spirit. While internal drama and struggles with substance abuse threatened to derail them by the late '90s, their ever-evolving sound adapted with the times, whether diving into moody trip-hop on 1997's Ultra or digitizing with experimental electronic on 2001's Exciter. number one, the grunge-influenced Songs of Faith and Devotion. From there, Depeche Mode remained a fixture on the international Top Ten with hit '90s albums such as the classic Violator and their first U.S./U.K. breakthrough in 1984 with their platinum-certified fourth LP, Some Great Reward. Earning a modest European following with early releases like 1981's Speak & Spell and 1983's Construction Time Again, they made their U.S. One of the first acts to establish a musical identity based completely around the use of synthesizers, they debuted with a bouncy electro-pop spirit which gradually developed into a darker, more dramatic synth-rock style that ultimately positioned them as one of the most quintessential alternative bands of their era. Pioneering English band Depeche Mode took the underground electronic club sounds of the early '80s and expanded them to stadium-sized levels within a decade, becoming one of the best-selling international groups in the process.
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