Depeche Mode - Filth or just plain Shit?

Well then egg heads... I keep meaning to have a mini-rant about this little outfit but other posts have popped up to keep us all busy. Picked up the Mode's most recent album the day they could be arsed to churn it out and fucking hell what an absolute pile of wank.

From Black Celebration to, erm, fucking hell I can't even remember the name of it its that bad. Skimmed over it for a couple of minutes to try and locate a decent song and failed miserably. 15 squids wasted. From their early nineties Violator with my Pocket Calculator album to Songs of Faith and Devotion to this... what has become of them? - has Dave the boy Gahooney finally lost it? - has Martin L Gore-fest reached the end of his songwriting tether? - has the other one with spokes on ultimately given up the chase? - did the other one float back up into outer space?

They were once contenders to New Order's throne in the eighties?... what has happened? (answers on a postcard to the Hunts)

They have become incredibly boring. I mean, 'Dream On', what's that for a song ?!

The only DM song that ever appealed to me was Enjoy the Silence; I've never bought any of their albums, except the singles compilation.

Originally posted by Geoff The Klump They have become incredibly boring.I mean, 'Dream On', what's that for a song ?!

Spot-on Buster... they have, unfortunately, become 'BORING'. Which is fucking terrible news because I really love some of DM's stuff. Oh well, it was just a question of time.

Yep couldn't agree more. I think old Davey boy has become very philisophical since his near death experience and as a result the up beat, synthy music that they once created has been replaced by slow, boring, dead beat dross. I actually went to see DM a week after seeing NO at Brixton Acadamey and there was no comparison!

I'd liked to have seen DM live, they were touring the UK this year but after their recent album I thought fuck that.

Patty I urge you to locate 'A Night Like Tonight' by DM... an excellent rare song by them that you will like... that's a Huntsy promise.

Gavin I was under the impression DM were very good live... is that not the case?

Originally posted by Huntsman Gavin I was under the impression DM were very good live... is that not the case?

Yeah, I mean Dave Gahn has a superb voice with excellent backing BUT the crowd were so boring! After seeing NO I was all geared up for going ballastic, but everyone just wanted to sway from side to side with their hands in the air! I wish I'd seen DM on their previous tour because at least then there would have been nothing off the Exciter album.

I've seen DM live twice, and it wasn't very good at all...

i miss alan wilder.

            g.

The new DM album is kinda disappointing bar 'I Feel Loved' which is pretty good. It all sounds very nice but there's not really much energy about the songs. Music for the Masses and Violator were their peak anyway. They just don't seem to make any killer singles anymore, or even album tracks as good as Halo.

They are a really good band live though (If you need proof listen to the 101 album) and put in a really good show at Manchester a couple of weeks ago. Interesting to note how Andy Fletcher is the Bez of the band. Minus the dancing.

Yeah, Fletch, as he's called, is notorious for not doing shit, on records or live, except for miming and clap his hands in the air to incite the audience to do the same.

Originally posted by Gavin Dickson [bYeah, I mean Dave Gahn has a superb voice with excellent backing BUT the crowd were so boring! After seeing NO I was all geared up for going ballastic, but everyone just wanted to sway from side to side with their hands in the air! .

That's cos you can't shout DEPECHE MODE, DEPECHE MODE like you can NEWORDAH, NEWORDAH!!

Originally posted by Huntsman > Originally posted by Geoff The Klump> They have become incredibly boring.> I mean, 'Dream On', what's that for a song ?!

Spot-on Buster... they have, unfortunately, become 'BORING'. Which is fucking terrible news because I really love some of DM's stuff. Oh well, it was just a question of time.

Depeche Mode have always been one of those really infuriating bands who can come up with absolute corkers on singles, or albums, and then just as easily produce a lot of cack. All their early stuff up to 1984 is pretty ropey and embarrassing to listen to. (People are People?? Master and Servant?? ha ha ha!!) Then they went through their "dark period" (or "Perve Period " if you're Martin Gore) and funnily enough did some of their best records: some of "Black Celebration" is ace, some of it cack. Ditto "Music For The Masses". "Violator" is probably their only perfect LP - and a massive seller. I love that album. Yep "Enjoy The Silence" is still my fave Depeche song. Their later albums are interesting in select doses - their "Songs Of Filth and Perversion" phase is hilarious! - , but then they completely lost it as regards self-discipline by that point anyway. You're a bit harsh on their latest one tho - some of it is OK, some of it a bit bland. It's like the edge and tension has gone out of their music since Dave Gahan "cleaned up" his act. Alan Wilder (who left in 1995) is, IMHO, the true driving force behind the band anyway. So, yes and no. Depeche never got the respect they deserved here in UK only becasue their past was so fucking dodgy. But they remain an influential band - just like the fucking Order ferChrissakes!!!

Originally posted by Sébastien Boisvert Hey! IN DEFENSE OF DEPECHE MODE....I think it is a very important band, and YES, I do agree that EXCITER is a boring album overall, which is sad because it DOES feature a few good tracks in my opinion: I do like Dream On, I like I Feel Loved, I think Shine is a good song as well, and I also think this album features one VERY VERY GOOD song: FREELOVE, which is their third single. Now if Freelove would have been on Violator (on which it would have fit perfectly), everyone would be saying how good this song is, but because it's on a boring album, everyone will label it as being boring itself.

I think the previous album, Ultra, is a very good album and it's not because it's a "quiet" album or has only one real pop single on it that it makes it a bad or boring album.

Before that, SOFAD was... well... this is an album I like to forget because even though it features great songs, it was done in a period of time that almost killed Depeche Mode (and especially David Gahan, for real), and to which I couldn't just relate to the band... and I think the band members didn't really have their feet on the ground at that time neither, because of their huge success engendered by Violator, and obviously because of drug and alcohol abuse.

Before that, I think that Violator, Music For The Masses and Black Celebration are all GREAT albums, and the previous one, Some Great Reward, is a very good album too.

As for their previous work, if a lot of it is cheesy, a lot of it was also very innovative and some very good songs were written during those times (Just Can't Get Enough, Everything Counts, See You, Leave In Silence, People Are People, etc.).

You may not like the band for what they are or became, for their abuse of commerciality, but I think they deserve respect as musicians.

Like you, Sebastien, I share your views completely - we do need some constructive criticism of Depeche, seeing as they're too easy a target for blanket slagging anyway. I'm glad you like "Freelove" on Exciter - cos it happens to be my fave track of that LP too! - and it's coming out as a single next.... They have been an immensely successful band simply by staying true to themselves and just getting on with things (despite the Rock Hedonistic excesses of their 1991-1995 phase of course), but, like you, they are unfairly maligned and I do think credit is well overdue for them.

Seb.

Originally posted by Jeff White > Originally posted by g05> i miss alan wilder.> > > g.

Speaking of Mr. Wilder...did anybody else pick up that little project of his known as recoil back in...what was it...92???

YES! As it happens, before you all start sneering, Recoil are VERY GOOD. I have three of his albums: "Hydrology" from 1987 some of which is so similar in sound to Philip Glass ("Koyaanisqatsi" - my all time fave film and soundtrack-EVER!!) it's untrue ! Then "Bloodline" which features guest appearances from Baldy (Moby), Douglas from Nitzer Ebb (doing an Alex Harvey cover!) , Toni Halliday from Curve, and a couple of others. His latest one is also pretty eclectic and if you like dark moody electronic shit, then it's worth a listen. Alan Wilder was the real talent in Depeche - and he left them cos he was getting fucked off with not being given any credit for his input. Which is pretty damn fair in my book.

Originally posted by Patrick The only DM song that ever appealed to me was Enjoy the Silence; I've never bought any of their albums, except the singles compilation.

I'll second that! Except i've never bought any of their albums at all.

Well, I have nothing against them.

Enjoy The Silence is a great song, even if it's a NO song...

I like 'Shake The Disease' too...

Originally posted by Martin Gray > Originally posted by Sébastien Boisvert> Hey! IN DEFENSE OF DEPECHE MODE....> > I think it is a very important band, and YES, I do agree that EXCITER is a boring album overall, which is sad because it DOES feature a few good tracks in my opinion: I do like Dream On, I like I Feel Loved, I think Shine is a good song as well, and I also think this album features one VERY VERY GOOD song: FREELOVE, which is their third single. Now if Freelove would have been on Violator (on which it would have fit perfectly), everyone would be saying how good this song is, but because it's on a boring album, everyone will label it as being boring itself.

I think the previous album, Ultra, is a very good album and it's not because it's a "quiet" album or has only one real pop single on it that it makes it a bad or boring album.

Before that, SOFAD was... well... this is an album I like to forget because even though it features great songs, it was done in a period of time that almost killed Depeche Mode (and especially David Gahan, for real), and to which I couldn't just relate to the band... and I think the band members didn't really have their feet on the ground at that time neither, because of their huge success engendered by Violator, and obviously because of drug and alcohol abuse.

Before that, I think that Violator, Music For The Masses and Black Celebration are all GREAT albums, and the previous one, Some Great Reward, is a very good album too.

As for their previous work, if a lot of it is cheesy, a lot of it was also very innovative and some very good songs were written during those times (Just Can't Get Enough, Everything Counts, See You, Leave In Silence, People Are People, etc.).

You may not like the band for what they are or became, for their abuse of commerciality, but I think they deserve respect as musicians.

Seb.

Like you, Sebastien, I share your views completely - we do need some constructive criticism of Depeche, seeing as they're too easy a target for blanket slagging anyway. I'm glad you like "Freelove" on Exciter - cos it happens to be my fave track of that LP too! - and it's coming out as a single next.... They have been an immensely successful band simply by staying true to themselves and just getting on with things (despite the Rock Hedonistic excesses of their 1991-1995 phase of course), but, like you, they are unfairly maligned and I do think credit is well overdue for them.

(sorry I cocked up again there, Seb! These bastard quote brackets!!!!)

They may deserve respect respect as musicians expect for Andy Fletcher.

I know it from someone who knows the band very intimately, having met them countless times and heve he, who's a very devoted fan, would tell you Fletch is a jerk.

Just look at their interviews on telly : you will always have Fletch to say stupid things.

Originally posted by Jeff White > Originally posted by g05> i miss alan wilder.> > > g.

Speaking of Mr. Wilder...did anybody else pick up that little project of his known as recoil back in...what was it...92???

Well, he put out a Recoil album some 1 year and a half ago. Met him twice, once in 1992 and another time when he released his last. A very nice person...

Originally posted by Geoff The Klump Fletch is a jerk.Just look at their interviews on telly : you will always have Fletch to say stupid things.

Well, he is ginger after all....and you know what they say about famous redheads. Mick Hucknall, Carol Decker of T'Pau, Duchess Sarah Ferguson, Neil Kinnock, and above all, Chris Fuckwit Evans.

Actually, I like Fletch. The fact he does very little kind of endears me to him in a strange kinda way. Others on this thread have compared him to Bez. I can see what they're getting at too. But Bez is too far out for Fletch....if he has to be compared to anybody at all, it has to be the late dear Linda McCartney of Wings.

Originally posted by Sébastien Boisvert SOFAD was... well... this is an album I like to forget because even though it features great songs, it was done in a period of time that almost killed Depeche Mode (and especially David Gahan, for real), and to which I couldn't just relate to the band... and I think the band members didn't really have their feet on the ground at that time neither, because of their huge success engendered by Violator, and obviously because of drug and alcohol abuse.Seb.

Ahhhhhh......"Songs Of Filth And Perversion..." a truly classic Bonkers Mode album that. SO overproduced!!!
I remember seeing David Gahan on the front cover of February 1993's issue of VOX Magazine at a newsagent's , sporting his alarming new grungey long-haired "Chris-Cornell-of -Soundgarden" image and I laughed so much I nearly pissed myself on the spot.
I was so SHOCKED by this sudden transformation!

Originally posted by Huntsman I'd liked to have seen DM live, they were touring the UK this year but after their recent album I thought fuck that.Patty I urge you to locate 'A Night Like Tonight' by DM... an excellent rare song by them that you will like... that's a Huntsy promise.

Surely, don't you mean "But Not Tonight"??

I have seen Depeche Mode twice (Violator and Songs of Faith.. Tours) and I thought they were really good on stage. Both times are quite a good memory. I guess I have to agree about their last album. I have bought it a lfew months ago but i havent been listening much to it. There is no strong melodies in any of the tracks and I guess it's really kind of boring. But I definitely prefer tracks like "Useless" (a masterpiece), "In Your Room", "World In My Eyes", "Enjoy the Silence" to old stuff like "Photographic", "It's Called A Heart" or even "Stripped".

just plain shit.

You have to remember though, that around the mid-80's, New Order, Depeche Mode and The Cure were the three biggest-selling "alternative" bands from Britain to have any sizeable (post-cult) following in the States. Of the three, The Mode obviously were the biggest by far, followed by The Cure, with the Order in third place.
It's also interesting to relate how these three bands still remain the yardstick by which all other "alternative" (yucky term I know, but I'm using this in a trans-Atlantic context!!) bands from Britain ever since have been gauged success-wise in the US. Let's face it, The Smiths weren't that big in the US outside of the college circuit. And as for the Madchester bands and subsequently Oasis.......what, exactly? The only band since "The Big Three" that seems to have competed and succeeded in challenging their crown in any way are Radiohead. (let's forget about Travis, Monophonics, Muse, Coldplay and all the other plodders for the moment shall we?)

I Love Depeche Mode, because of their versatility...

Although, I did love the post about Fletch and how he does nothing...I usually refer to him as the "Behind the Keyboard dancer..."

Exciter was cool..very ironic title, because the album is pretty mellow..Sweetest Condition, I am you, you are me, and I feel loved are good songs.

Also, they are not a bad band to see live. The best concert series they gave was in support of their songs of faith of devotion; very uplifting.

NewOrder fans, quit dumping on DepecheMode...at one time DM and NO were comparable, but today they are apples and oranges.

fletch is pure comic relief... oh you mean andy fletcher? he's amusing too!

      g.

I saw DM live twice. The first time was during the "world violation tour", in Brussels. The show was perfect, but the sound was crap. The second time was a few weeks ago in Antwerp. Very good show (the whole crowd dancing from the very first song), except for some of the songs they chose to sing: they chose some of their noisyest songs (dead of night, I feel you, etc.) which really cooled down the atmosphere. Also, the sound was too loud. But Dave Gahan still puts the audience into fire.

Regarding their recent recordings, I must say that I really dislike Ultra. Exciter is better, although it lacks some energy. But songs like Freelove and Goodnight Lovers are pure gems. For the rest, Violator is, IMHO, their best album. I also like Black Celebration, essentially because of its numerous beautiful songs performed by Martin.