Top Of The Box

Depeche Mode was formed in Basildon Essex in 1980 by Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher and Vince Clarke. Vince Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album and enjoyed further UK success with electronic pop ensembles Yazoo, the Assembly & then Erasure.
A good career move then, you might think. Apart from the fact that by the end of the 1980’s Depeche Mode had cracked America (as well as the rest of the world) and were playing sold out concerts in places such as Shea Stadium. No one could have predicted that level of success when Depeche Mode first appeared on Top Of The Pops miming to their debut single, New Life in 1981.

Alan Wilder replaced Vince Clarke in 1981 and eventually left the band in 1995, leaving Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher to continue working together as a trio.

Their success has continued non-stop over the past three decades with forty-seven singles in the UK Charts. They have also achieved number one albums in UK, US and throughout Europe, selling over 75 million albums worldwide in the process.
Such success might be comparable to was replaced by Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, production) with Gore taking over song writing. Wilder left the band in 1995 and since then Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher have continued as a trio.

According to Q Magazine, “[Depeche Mode are t]he most popular electronic band the world has ever known”.

To be honest I felt their early material was pretty weak and thin. Throw away synth pop in a time where New Romantic image allowed boys and girls to indulge in a post-punk glam rock nonsense. But with each album Depeche Mode moved away from their synth pop roots and began making deeper, darker music; and listening to their albums over the years, it’s easy to see how they managed to keep their original fan base where other bands from that era became stagnant and dissolved.

It was with Black Celebration, their fifth album, released in 1986 that I really started to take notice of how much their sound had changed. And by the time they released their ninth album and my favourite, Ultra, in 1997 the band and its members has quite literally been to hell and back.

Vocalist Dave Gahan had struggled with heroin addiction in the 1990’s which resulted with him literally losing his life before being brought back to life. I believe the drugs and other excesses that surround Depeche Mode around this time influenced their music. Classic tracks like Useless, It’s No Good and the awesome Barrel Of A Gun reflect this period of the band’s history, as much as their personal lives.

Depeche Mode have continued to play to huge sold out audiences and return to London next month to play two concerts at The Royal Albert Hall on 17th February and the London O2 Arena on 20th February. And one thing is for sure Depeche Mode concert tickets will be difficult to comeby.

No doubt they will be playing a selection of their most popular songs and giving a great live performance to a sold out audience. Here is a performance of It’s No Good & Barrel Of A Gun live on French TV from 1997.

Depeche Mode Concert Tickets

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