Depeche Mode in the 90s: From Violator On | POP FIX | Professor of Rock
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- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
- Musically, the 90s were a very fruitful decade for Depeche Mode. In 1990, they truly conquered America with Violator which sold 4.5 million copies in the US and featured their first top ten hit with “Enjoy the Silence” followed by their first number one album in the states with Songs of Faith and Devotion and then after a long hiatus released Ultra in 97 that went to the top 5 in america and #1 in the UK, . The 90s were also a very dark time for the band as issues of substance abuse and personal differences fractured the band. Andy Fletcher struggled with mental instability and wasn't able to continue with the second half of the Exotic tour in 94. Alan Wilder left the band permanently in 95, David Gahan almost died with a near fatal overdose in mid 96, Martin Gore even contemplated breaking up the band and releasing the music he had written at that time as a solo project. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and the band persevered, setting them up for the long run. This is the history of that time.
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#DepecheMode #90s #90sTop5
Musically, the 90s were a very fruitful decade for Depeche Mode. In 1990, they truly conquered America with Violator which sold 4.5 million copies followed by their first number one album in the states with Songs of Faith and Devotion. The 90s were also a very dark time for the band as issues of substance abuse and personal differences fractured the band as Andy Fletcher struggled with mental instability and was not able to continue with the second half of the Exotic tour in 94. Alan Wilder left the band permanently in 95, David Gahan almost died with a near fatal overdose in mid 96, Martin Gore even contemplated breaking up the band and releasing the music he had written at that time as a solo project.
90s Fiver.
#5 It’s no good the second single from Ultra. Musically I feel like this one hearkened back a bit to the classic Violator sound. It went to #5 in the UK and #4 on the US Modern Rock tracks chart and broke the top 40 on the hot 100. I felt like it was David’s strongest and most sincere vocal on the record and though the song is obviously about a relationship, Gore’s words could be taken a different way. I remember Anton Corbin appeared in the video.
#4 Walking in My Shoes the second single from Songs of Faith and Devotion. It went to #14 in the UK and #1 on the US modern rock charts, the same spot as I feel you. Corbin did a great job with the design of this, the bird woman freaked me out in a good way. I also Love the lyrics: Now I'm not looking for absolution Forgiveness for the things I do But before you come to any conclusions Try walking in my shoes. Even though Martin wrote the song, The Gahan sang it, you felt it was his, a cry for help and a reminder to those who judge.
#3 World In MY Eyes from Violator. To me, one of the best opening tracks in the history of long play albums. It sets up the record perfectly and let’s the listener know that you’re about to get hit over the head with a sledgehammer. Andy Fletcher said of the song and I quote: “Martin did the demo on his own,""I don't remember it standing out when we heard it then.
#2 Policy of Truth from Violator. That phenomanal noir like guitar drone, from Martin really set this song apart from any other DM song. I remember listening to this while watching Twin Peaks, of which I became a major fan, still am. Because I played it while watching the show, and they are both so strange and eerie for some weird reason this song and the show morphed into one for me. I can’t think of one without thinking of the other. Ha. The song went to #1 on the US modern rock charts and #15 on the hot 100 and #16 in the UK. In my opinion it was heads and shoulders above anything on the charts at that moment.
and #1 Enjoy the Silence from Violator. DM’s first top 10 in the US, in topped the modern rock charts and went to #6 in the UK it hit #1 in spain, denmark and poland. I already covered this in our 1990 segment but this song is where the dies was cast for Depeche Mode. this is where they came out of the underground for good and took their rightful place as stadium Gods, yes they were already doing this when Music for the Masses was transforming them, but this song was the tipping point where they went from another band within modern rock to becoming the face modern rock. It inspired countless bands of today from Coldplay to the Killers. Coldplay even paid tribute in their video Viva La Vida.
Let’s be real. Violator is like a greatest hits album for most bands
Mike Elko biiiig time.
Violator is full of hits, but nearly every song on The Cars' first (eponymous) album got tons of airplay.
Absolutely!
@@zibbybone : Yes, but The Cars' first album was released in 1978.
I thought "Some Great Reward" and "Black Celebration" and even "Music For The Masses" were all better albums but Violator was also very good. But that said Policy Of Truth is one of my favs. Truth is everything from "A Broken Frame" to "Violator" are solid albums from start to end.
I love every DM song but this chorus ..omg
“I’m hanging on your words..
Living on your breath..
Feeling with your skin..
Will I always be here ?”
They lyrics to that song have always haunted me! The imagery is amazing.
In Your Room! My favorite DM song!
Excellent lyrics from one of their best songs, ever. Always hit me like a sledgehammer. Good call.
I was in a bad relationship one time in late 90's but still listen to all the album's but that song really made sense to me. Amazing.
It's just absolute perfection that song. The way it builds is memorising.
Waiting for the night to fall is a brilliant single play that driving at 3am
I agree 100% with your comment. It is difficult for me to choose my favorite dm song, but if you ask me quickly, it is the first one that comes to my mind
@@stumm71 enjoy the silence is the greatest song written but what makes violator so good it was done pre
Berlin wall fall recording.you will never
Get that bubble effect in music again raw
Non influenced intelligent music freedom
To express without today's bullshite or
Pandering to society social if very dumb
Down told what to say society.
In the words of the late Edwin Starr (whom I met many a time
Sorry I didn't finish the sentence war what is it good for absolutely nothing but he said great for writing music.thanks
3am driving through the desert between Vegas & LA.
Martin Gores writing with Alan Wilder's classically trained musical talents made DM great! I miss the Alan Wilder years. I always thought that extra special something was missing after Alan left.
DM stayed strong into the 90s, because they were one of the only synth bands from 80s that actually had a "deepness" to synth music. Most bands in the 80s played off the great/fun playful nature of the 80s (Which was Awesomw!!!! lol), but DM actual put deep, dark, sensual lyrics and presentation to the synth sound and that just doesn't fade. Hence Violator and Ultra were as powerful as anything else at the time.
@Lukeyep, Rush is the best example of them leaning in the NIN direction.
agree but dont forget the epic vincent clarke whos touring with erasure
DM stayed relevant in 90s thanks to all Alan's synth experiments in 80s. They grew over the popines and kitch of synth pop.
Its like muscle memory. Ultra is so good only because they were following all Alan's teachings.
We all saw what happened on SOTU. Can you imagine how great it would be with influence of Recoil?
"deepness" as opposed to depth?
I'm a simple man, I see a pic of dm in a profesor of rock vídeo and I clicked immediately.
Thank you for watching!
Same
Not the band of the 90’s. THE band. Prof, you get it, not sure many others do. 40 years nearly and still going..... strong. Crazily, still underrated !
Yet again it just shows how timeless DM is.... forever will be my favorite band of ALL time
Cobra they were the worst band of the 8os :/
@@officialWWM Nooooooooooo!
Professor of Rock I love most of your choices but I really didn't get this band :/ they certainly weren't "rock" :/
@@officialWWM I understand. Music is subjective. We like what we like. Thanks for commenting...
@@officialWWM People either love them or hate them, but Listen openly to Martin's lyrics on songs like Here is the House, or Lie to Me! If it doesn't hit you, then I am sorry. This band is a HUGE part of my life!
I could listen to, "It's No Good", forever. That song gets down into my marrow.
Word
I am partial to 80's Depeche Mode with some of the decade's best tunes. My favorites...
5. Blasphemous Rumors
4. Master and Servant
3. People are People
2. Everything Counts
1. Shake the Disease
"Where's the Revolution" - Depeche Mode Cover. Please comment and share this video ua-cam.com/video/Mv8_GOW3np8/v-deo.html
Great, great list!
You forgot "Martyr". i've had that song on repeat for the last 3 days while at work. :- )
Here is the House and But Not Tonight are good ones too
He has a different post for 80s - check it out and repost
You're wrong about one thing. They did make four masterpieces in a row. Some Great Reward. Black Celebration. Music for the Masses. Violator.
Depeche Mode:
Gods of music.
Masters of sound.
Voices of angels.
Amen
Blue Dress is a masterpiece. So simple, and moving. Martin Gore's voice, with his superior vocal range, is just amazing, using his deeper register to bring a haunting melody above the staccato back-beat synth and lilting, high pitched keyboards. There are dozens of covers and tributes to this song on the Internet, and some actually do it justice. And that interlude at the end...
Dressed in black is a highly underrated song
From the same album, But Not Tonight is a good one as well...hell, who am I kidding? I listen to every song on every album every time I listen.
Ummm its Blue Dress...
@@vincentkrisiak6337 But Not Tonight is not on Black Celebration! Yes, it is on the US edition but the band never meant to include it on the album. It sounds out of place on BC. The whole album is very coherent, it is a piece of art. But Not Tonight is as indispensable as for the album as my appendix is for me.
They are a multi-generational band. The 80’s, 90’s, and even into the next century. They are brilliant, and their music is timeless! I can’t think of ANY of their songs which isn’t a work of pure genius.
I personally don't like any of the last 3 albums. 'Precious' is the only song I liked since Ultra.
For me World In My Eyes is number 1. I will NEVER forget listening to that OPENING, in that West Coast Video... That synth POUNDED throughout my chest and into my soul. And yes, you felt like you were being hit with a musical sledgehammer. I've listened to that song thousands of times, & I am still transported back to 1990. And as for Andy Fletcher... our beautiful Fletch... you've GOT to see the World In My Eyes tribute with the band acknowledging that this was his favorite song. #RIP_Fletch.
I disagree Sofad IS A MASTERPIECE as well!
IMHO Not on par with Violator, Music for the Masses and Black Celebration.
@@ProfessorofRock love your channel!
TOTALLY agree with you nina wildr!
Genres, Bands, Albums, Songs, and more, can each have their own distinctive persona of greatness, like different flowers in a garden. Any music may fail to find favor with a specific listener, but for some of us Sofad resonates powerfully as a masterpiece in that lovely garden. I think we're the lucky ones.
@@ProfessorofRock SOFAD and Black Celebration are the band´s best albums. Also, I do not consider But Not Tonight to be a Black Celebration song. It is almost as bad as The Meaning of Love and the band did not include it on the album. The US label did. Cheers from Prague. You know, I read an interview with Hepzibah from Miranda Sex Garden and Alan´s wife (not sure if they are still married). Her band was supporting DM and she had no idea who Alan was. He liked her and then she realised "he was the DM´s drummer" (her own words). Obviously she was no fan but she remembered working in a record store in California one summer. And that all the kids wanted were two albums: Disintegration and 101. I was at high school in a communist country where it was impossible to buy records from the world. We used to go to the changing rooms whenever we skipped a class. "Hey, we have a math test now. OK, let´s go down to changing rooms". There we would meet guys from other classrooms, of the same age, younger, older boys (girls were banned because they couldn´t keep their mouths shut and those changing rooms in cellar was our haven from teachers who were not to know about it) who had one thing in common...they were not exemplary students, they were smart and fun. We talked, smoked and listened to cassettes. And we listened to Disintegration and 101! Depeche Mode had a tremendous impact on our generation and the iron curtain could do fuck all to stop their music from spreading. Kids in Poland did the same. So did kids in Mexico and Argentina. In Germany, in both Germanies. In France or Italy. When the communism fell I worked the next summer in a hostel. And met these two guys from Glasgow. One sporting a DM t-shirt, the other had a Nitzer Ebb t-shirt. I immediatelly started talking music with them and they were shocked about how big DM were in Czechoslovakia. They told me they were the only 2 guys who listened to electronic music in their own school for 500! Depeche were overlooked in their own country. Ridiculed. So, they found their audience abroad. Maybe they were lucky not to be huge in Britain. The UK press is terrible. The love you for a while and then they loathe you. And if you´re big in the UK only and fall out of favor you have no other markets to go. And you are fucked. I imagine how happy the English music press must have been informing about Depeche Mode´s success in America. DM had been big in continental Europe but the USA was something else. OK, ONCE AGAIN cheers from Prague, Jakub
@@ProfessorofRock it´s better, more spiritual and more vocally infused. It´s tough though, because all are great.
SOFAD and Violator are among the best back to back albums ever from a band, Depeche Mode never recovered from Alan Wilder's departure even though Ultra was very good
They had to use Tim Simenon and his crew to make Ultra. It’s a good album bit two of the singles on it have terrible arrangements IMO. It’s No good and Barrel of a Gun would have been better if Alan had arranged them.
No member of DM arranges their music anymore. Sad.
Ultra is fantastic & Playing the Angel is on par with most of the Wilder stuff. after that it's hit or miss I suppose but I definitely have a soft spot for Delta Machine
Honestly Anton has to be considered a huge part of the bands success. From the stills,videos and the live shows stage and production values. Photographer Griffin also made a big contribution to the earlier album covers.
For me, In Your Room is the best on Songs of Faith & Devotion. It is so beautiful and haunting at the same time. This song, along with Higher Love played live was just bliss. I remember seeing them on that tour and how the show started... I still get chills when I see the performances on UA-cam.
I totally agree. in your room live 93 song of faith and devotion is amazing.
Love DM, until the day I'll die
Right with you
Moi aussi :)
I feel your passion for DM! My favorite band since buying Some Great Reward followed by Black Celebration in 85/86 my senior year of high school. Some Great Reward through Ultra gives you the Ultimate in DM! You had B sides like Dangerous, Sea of Sin, and Happiest Girl that didn't even make the Violator Album! 90's 5'er 1) Enjoy the Silence 2) Policy of Truth 3) In Your Room 4) Insight 5) One Caress... So many great songs!
Speaking of B-Sides, My Joy is incredible...probably my 6th favorite DM song from the 90's
Well I heard-Enjoy the Silence live a few times at concerts, And 3/4 of the album was recorded in 1989 + then the album and the music video for-Enjoy The Silence came out in 1990-So Enjoy the silence is a 80's + 90's song
Those B sides were so brilliant!!!
Just saw them (again) during their last tour. I never get tired of seeing them. Will always love Depeche Mode. 🌹 I get chills listening to you describe your love for them. They completely changed my world, too.
Once I became an adult, I promised myself i wouldn't miss any concert I could get to, including when theyve passed through Toronto twice on the same tour. I even managed to see them twice in California when on vacation.. including the Hollywood bowl, which was a bucket list spot to see in itself .
The heavens parted and the angels descended when i first heard violator...flood and wilder made me an addict! I wish they could work together again
They still do work together. In fact, I saw them in 2018 in Phoenix. They rocked it. Not to mention the opening band Warpaint, who completely kicked out the jams!
SOFAD was one of a kind! Mixture of Blues, Gospel and Synth Rock! No other Record (way underrated) sounds like it!
Yes!
Top 10
1. Personal Jesus
2. Enjoy the Silence
3. Walking on my Shoes
4. It's no good
5. Useless
6. The Love Thieves
7. Policy of Truth
8. World in my eyes
9 I Feel You
10. Halo
Never let you down again is my oersonal fav
The Love Thieves!
Enjoy the silence is number 1 ! Swap with personal jesus asap.
@@maxheedrum100 ... no.
a) It's a personal opinion / list
b) I think you're wrong
If you haven’t already done so, watch the Concert for the Masses from the 101 tour filmed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in 1988. I was there & it was a religious experience.
SOFAD is my favourite album hands down, but Violator is the more complete masterpiece in my opinion. Get right with me lets SOFAD down. Other than that I adore every song. In your room is peak Depeche Mode.
Love these videos! I get emotional too thinking about how important this band has been in my life, since I was a kid. They take you to another world. Thank you.
Top 5:
5 - Judas
4 - Personal Jesus
3 - Rush
2 - World in my eyes
1 - In your room
GRWM is great song. Love it! I think SOFAD and Violator is very different albums but pretty much on a same level as masterpieces.
Couldn´t agree more about SOFAD, and specially GRWM, it should had been a B-Side.
I think they peaked in the late '80s, with Music For The Masses and Violator; personally
Wait what? Get Right with Me is perfection.
Violator is a masterpiece, every song resonates. For me, enjoy the silence kickstarts 90’s music. Proud to have seen them live during the violator tour abs every tour since.
I can remember going to Tower Records and getting Violator on tape when it first came out...I was smitten with it. I saw them tour for that album, and when they performed Waiting for the Night it was almost a spiritual experience...and then Songs of Faith and Devotion came out and it felt like a whole new world. Right after its release, when I was 18 turning 19, I went to England and France with a performing company I danced with...there were billboards all over London and Paris advertising the album...I walked the streets of those cities with my headphones on and Songs of Faith and Devotion playing on repeat on my portable CD player. That album transports me back every time I hear it. I was on a mission when they toured for it and didn't get to see one of the greatest shows of all time...
I had heard of Depeche Mode while I was in high school, but it was Violator during my college years that brought me into the fold. I had my first job working at a West Coast Video that also had a CD department in the summer of 1990. By the end of the summer, I owned a copy of Violator and I bought the ONLY copy of "101" that was for sale in the store, and I bought my FIRST Depeche Mode T-shirt. I started crushing on Dave and his beautiful voice! I also bought "Catching Up With..." but like the title of their first hit song, "I Just Can't Get Enough..." I really couldn't! By the end of the year, I was dressing like the band. I bought my first pair of Doc Martins and my first motorcycle jacket. Within 3 to 5 years, I bought every studio album up to date. And from 1994 up to 2019, every time they came to my hometown, I was in the audience. (And I will be there again, this October, 2023.) To say that Depeche Mode literally and figuratively changed me is an understatement. No doubt about it! 🤣
YES! Please do a show about the magic of the merch table!! It is indeed magical! You enter the concert and once in you look w/ great anticipation for the merch table. You’re a kid again. It’s like a Christmas high.😊
Absolutely awesome video, one of your best. I can relate to every word you said.
When you talk about merch and the afterglow of a show, you brought tears to my eyes. I live for those moments still at the age of 47.
I saw them for the first time in 1990 on the World Violation tour (got to be the best tour name ever!). Totally unforgettable and also my first ever proper gig. Saw them next for the first UK concert for the Devotional tour. Whilst it was special, I don't think the venue helped. It was an open air gig at Crystal Palace stadium. I was standing, but fairly far back and a bit self conscious, so didn't really let go. I saw them later that same year near Christmas when they came back to the UK. This was in Manchester where I lived at the GMEX. I was there early and managed to get quite close to the front. Was the most amazing experience in my life up to that point. Just the best gig ever and I'm convinced it won't ever be bettered. The ultimate DM! Of course it's great to see them still and I have been to every tour since World Violation. But the first time in 90, and that amazing night in 93 will always stand out.
songs of faith and devotion to me is the best album, a true masterpiece
Top 5
5- it's no good
4- condemnation
3- policy of truth
2- enjoy the silence
1- walking in my shoes
I get goosebumps listening to this guy talking so passionately about my favourite band , love it⚘
It’s no good was on Ultra
Joseph Armas Well Policy Of Truth and Enjoy The Silence are from Violator- he’s just saying SOFAD was his favourite album, but these are his favourite songs altogether.
SOFD is the masterpiece for me. Dm are by far the best band in the world. Period
DM were a huge part of my childhood. The first song I remember hearing was Just Can't Get Enough, but didn't know the band. It was People Are People that broke them into my consciousness. Suddenly, everybody at school knew who Depeche Mode was. And Shake the Disease only solidified them as favorites.
But it was the four hit combo of Black Celebration, Music for the Masses, 101 and Violator that made them supreme emperors of pop. I include 101, even though it's a live album, because it was probably the cassette I listened to most for about two years, aside from maybe New Order's Substance. They were monsters. I was able to see them three times: Music for the Masses (unfortunately not the 101 show; I saw them at the Forum the year prior), World Violation and the Devotional tour for Songs of Faith and Devotion.
If I knew you back then, you’d probably be my best friend. Similar to your story, People Are People was the first DM song I ever heard and cemented them as my favorite band. However, New Order’s Substance album is still one of my favorite of all time. I’ve seen both bands live five times each at this point. DM forever!
My favorites are still "Music for the Masses" , "Violator" and "Ultra"
But "Black Celebration" and "Songs.." are huge also..
Bought violater while overseas blind meaning hadn't heard anything from it. I only knew people are people and maybe strangelove. Masterpiece. Still in my playlist. Side note, I like your album rack behind you
Brian Pattison Watch it...It keeps changing. Yesterday 5/21 The Wham album was very prominent. Now something is there today.
Thank you! This video meant a lot to me and I'm not sure if anyone else has described the emotional experience of being a DM fan as well. Bravo!.
So love your eloquence about DM, it mirrors in many aspects my experience on finding an later consuming their music. Thank you for the wonderful tributes to a band that shaped parts of my life.
Perfectly said throughout. Thank you.
Thank you for another great video! You nailed all of my favorite DM songs of the 90s. I would love to see you do a video 5er of your favorite DM videos.
This is a beautiful video. Depeche Mode gotten me through many hatd times in my life. Violator was my lifline in a time when I was going through the worst time in my life. You put in words what I have felt in my life all these years.
Videos like this, that remind me of joys that I have forgotten, really cheer me up. So much to love! Thanks for the video. Love to dM.
You definitely hit the nail on the head with this one. We discovered DM just about the same time and we definitely share the same love and passion for this these guys!!
I have a memory of listening to People are People. I loved this song as a small child. I liked all their radio songs and really fell in love as the video for Its No Good played on a loop during my morning ritual. I bought Ultra and wore it out. I know every word and cherish them every time I listen. Keep up the great work.
I love these videos! Depeche Mode is my favorite!
Glad to see you pay such respect for what has been the most important band in my life from mid '80s until today. I was fortunate enough to see them on the Violator tour... haven't really bothered going to a concert since and definitely had that merch experience buying 1 t shirt and wearing it out within a year or two.
Saw them live for the first time 3 years ago and they were freaking awesome,best gig I've ever been to ❤.
Professor, thank you again for another good, passionate episode.
D🌹M forever!
Thank You for taking the words right out of my mouth. We are a different breed, us who appreciate DM for the music and what they represent to this day. “Enjoy the Silence” is and will always be my all-time favorite song. You, Sir, are very good at what you do.
Professor.....a joy to listen to you and wonderful to hear my feelings shared so explicitly! DM..the music...and the joy... of my life
90’s DM? At least thats easier than top 5 DM..
1. Insight
2. Home
3. Waiting For The Night
4. Halo
5. In Your Room
Love “Sea of Sin”, too. But “Happiest Girl” sends chills up my spine in the way one experiences often with their music.
Insight really is an otherworldly tune
My Joy is my fave b side.
Great album closer!
Electric 7718 its really good out of tge later ones, also Ghost
Went to see DM concert in London 93 song of faith and devotion. The whole performance from backing singers to wilder on drums amazing.
5 - mercy in you.
4- higher love.
3- enjoy the silence.
2- fly on the windscreen
1-in your room. (the live performance of this song from song of faith 93 is unbelievable 😍.
I have seen them live 4 times....amazing everytime!!!
Seen the perform live,amazing.... ! .
I absolutely obsessed over 'Violator' for about 2 years in High School. I read the entire Arthur C. Clarke book '2061: Odyssey Three' while listening to it, and to this day can't separate one from the other. Great video, as always. Thanks, Professor!
Depeche Mode are Rulers of Alternative Music. Luv this channel thank you again Professor Of Rock.
I skipped school to go buy Violator... and had forgotten my walkman at home.. I had to wait until i got home for that first listen. I didn't even open the cellophane until I got home because I didn't want to see the lyrics until I had heard it first (and that's a huge feat for someone with poor skills with delaying gratification).. I dragged my mom's stereo system with speakers nearly as tall as me, into my bedroom, sat my ass down in front of it and popped the cassette in... it was amazing... it's such a vivid memory. I have had hundreds of cassettes and cd's over my life, and there are only a few I can remember the first listen from. Songs of Faith & Devotion was another. My mom lost the big stereo that day... it never left my room again.
I've been a fan from the first moment I heard "People are People" coming from the second story window of the neighbors house while I stood in the driveway of our Pennsylvania home. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old at the time and didn't know who they were. I collected every album and 5 of the 6 box sets. Thank you for putting into words what I have been feeling for over 30 years. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for sharing your thought and Long Live Depeche Mode !
I saw DM at Jones Beach in New York in 1994 and yes I bought that same concert tee!!!! I wish I still had it. Thanks for the memories man. Great job.
Professor, nailed it! You just said everything that makes DM such a great band and just complete artists. Not only is their music sonically amazing, the lyrics are pure poetry and capture the essence of the modern human condition, and then there is the attention to the image it's just great to see the different design elements of every album. Pure genius and creativity.
Excelent Análisis for DM
Thanks for this video profesor de la música,, saludos desde México
Prof, another great video and love your DM 90's fiver. It is amazing how music can invoke memories and tie itself to that of other genres. Twin Peaks was an outstanding show with outstanding music on it's own but your entwined memory of it and Policy of Truth it so cool. For me it is Martin Gore's solo E.P. Counterfeit released in 1989. I cannot listen to songs from it without thinking of the family trip I took to England (I'm Canadian) in 1990. During that trip I was reading Stephen King's It and listening to this E.P. a lot. Strange conflicting themes between the book and E.P. but somehow to me they are one now.
All I ever wanted, All I ever needed is hereeeee... in the Professor's Channel!!
Thanx, Professor, you never dissapoint with your Depeche Mode lessons... (Except I would have given an honorable mention to: "I feel you", DM's sexiest song!!!)
Love this piece. Depeche Mode has been one of my favorite bands since People Are People was released here in the States. My love for this band grew as Black Celebration & Music For The Masses was released following. By the time Violator was released my fandom was at an all time high and my first time seeing DM in concert on June 16th 1990 at Giants Stadium was like a religious experience for me. I had stayed out all night with some buddies in front of a TicketTron location in The Bronx so I could get the best seats for this show. My then girlfriend and I wound up with 10th row floor seats and the experience for me was magical. My fandom has not wained over the years nor will it ever for me.
My top 5 1990's DM songs for me are:
5-World In My Eyes
4-I Feel You
3-Halo
2-Enjoy The Silence
1-Walking In My Shoes
Thanks for the great content you post on your channel.
Your commentary on going to concerts and enjoying the moment and the merchandise table/tent is exactly how I feel. You said it perfectly... When you go to shows today, everyone around you is more worried about filming on their phone instead of taking in the music and experience.
What kind of memories will they have when they're old...I wonder🤔
Thanks for talking about the merch booth, an essential part of a concert experience.
I didn't listen to anything but classical music for the first decade of my life. Symphonies and concertos were always playing in my house. While other kids were buying their first pop albums like Andy Gibb, and KC and the Sunshine Band, I was memorizing all the John Williams soundtracks. Unsurprisingly, I went to a magnet high school for music and science, so my life revolved around classical and beautiful music. This perhaps is what attracted me to Depeche Mode. Their gorgeous compositions were enrapturing. Like Adam, I discovered Depeche Mode during their "Music for the Masses" phase, so when "Violator" came out, I was super excited and it surpassed my expectations. But unlike Adam and most others, my favorite DP album thus far is "Songs of Love and Devotion". "Ultra" was fine too, but I thought they had lost most of their melodic mojo until their latest album "Spirit". Lots of great songs on that one!
I feel the merch comment. It is an amazing experience... I have been lucky enough to see DM quite a few times now and I hope to be back down the front once we are all allowed out again!
I just came across your channel and your DM videos solidified that I’m along for the ride from here on. The way you describe your first interactions with DM and the visceral feelings the music gives you. I kept feeling like you are describing my exact experience discovering Violator in 8th grade, right before Songs of Faith was released. They changed my life. In 2005 I met my girl at a DM concert in Anaheim Ca. I knew my life had changed again when “Behind the Wheel” started and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. Still together today. DM is still my fav band.
Yes!!!!! I will always remember looking at the date on the cover and realizing this was the first time I’d ever seen 1990.
I love Depeche Mode ... hard to cut down for a top 5. I guess my top 5 are Precious, Never Let me Down again, Blasphemous Rumours, Everything Counts, and either Enjoy the Silence or Just Can’t Get Enough. Wow, they are great though ...
Saw them live for the first time on their 'Devotional' tour in '93 in Dortmund, Germany...got right down the front... absolutely brilliant...seen them three times since...LOVE DM.
Violator is an all-time top 5 album. Just perfection.
Top 5 from the 90’s
5. I Feel You
4. World In My Eyes
3. It’s No Good
2. Halo
1. Policy Of Truth
I like your 5er. Halo is great.
Professor of Rock honestly. It should be higher. I probably should put it number 2.
Professor of Rock Fixed! 😎
The Love Thieves and Useless
I prefer a top ten
Depeche Mode helped me through difficult times in my life. Loved their lyrics and sound about 36 years. Every album has their special ones I love.
Longtime DM fan. Solid Top 5 from that era. Major props for not including "Personal Jesus". All three albums are front to back perfect in their own way. No filler. While DM has written many good songs in this century, it really was an end of an era with Ultra and the Singles Tour. The Singles Tour was the best DM tour I've ever seen live (I've seen several), and one of my favorite tours of any band. The energy was unreal. Every song was a sing-a-long. Many DM fans had come of age at that time. It was also a celebration that DM had come through all of the darkness and made it out alive, sans Alan. It was a preview of things to come, with Peter and Christian, but it was still largely 90's DM, with Dave and Martin singing at their best with purpose. 90's DM. The best. I treasure those days. Thanks for the cool video, sir.
Thank U for your words. They are my favourite band ever! Cheers from Chile
What a lot of people do not realise is that DM are two groups. Their albums, songs, music and production in the studio are works of art. But then, you watch them live. The performance, the engagement, the theatre, the power, you feel like this is a different group covering your favourite studio artist. And yes, live performances bring tears to grown men's eyes. That intro, that lyric, that riff or that sound effect. People say DM are a religion, the trouble is religions never really evolve, DM do. People also forget that DM formed around 1981 and are still today doing 18 month world tours with new albums roughly ever 4 years. I heard New Life at my school youth club in 1981, aged 13. Epiphany. Last saw them live in Manchester 2017 Global Spirits Tour.
I'm a huge DM fan and I must say that unequivocally this is the greatest youtube video of all time.
Recently discovered your channel. Now you're talking about my favorite band of all time! Subscribed.
My fast 5 (90's)
1. In Your Room
2. Personal Jesus
3. The Love Thieves
4. Walking in My Shoes
5. Halo
Finally! I've been scrolling through the comment looking for someone to mention The Love Thieves, and sadly it too awhile. I love that song.
Awesome video! Great insight to the greatest Synth-pop group of all-time. Huge fan. My #1 favorite track would have to be "Behind the Wheel" which you mentioned this inspiring track in your video. My #2 would be "Everything Counts", then "Leave in Silence", "World in My Eyes" - the entire Violator album and the early stuff. I just subscribed to your channel. Thanks for posting!
Great video Professor! I'm a Depeche Mode fan but I'm working through listening to all the albums so I haven't listened to Ultra as yet. My Fiver for 90's DM is Waiting for the Night to Come, The Mercy In You, I Feel You, Enjoy the Silence and Halo. There are many more songs from the 90's that I love from them.
Don't forget to listen to the b-sides, extended mixes and live tracks.
There's more tangible audio art content in Depeche's music
than just about any artist-team's music on the planet.
World Violation Tour was fantastic! Saw them at Red Rocks, best place to EVER see a concert.
Walking in my shoes, Never let me down, Stripped and Personal Jesus are my favourites. Love them.
The first DM song I ever heard was Painkiller, the B side to Barrel of a Gun. I was riding shotgun (taking a ride with my best friend) late at night and I was transfixed. I found the Barrel of a Gun single on CD in a dollar dive bin at a Sam Goody a week later.
I then checked Ultra out of my local library. It was the first full DM album I heard and I was hooked. I scooped up my own copy along with Violator and Black Celebration. Wow. And then SOFAD blew me away yet again. It is still one of my top 10 favorite albums I've ever heard. Thanks for the retrospective!
Can’t believe Home isn’t in your top 5. It’s an absolutely beautiful piece of music. One of the greatest gig moments I’ve ever seen as Martin stood there on stage, solo, with his guitar. The vocal is simply incredible and the string section spell binding ....👌❤️
Depeche Mode has been my favorite band since seeing them in concert for the first time when I was about 18-19 (30 years ago). I was blown away! They are so consistently great. The very best live band! I've seen them four times. Can't wait to see them again.
I love your passion for DM. I was a huge fan in the 80s but stopped listening to them in the 90s. I recently 'rediscovered' them and now I can't get enough. It's been lovely catching up with their albums of the last 30 years.
Loved Violator and it was an amazing concert with Electronic opening (I was a huge Petshop Boys fan, New Order and the Smiths too, so I was excited to see a band that had the remnants of all). Dodger Stadium in Aug ‘90. I remember being a high schooler, standing at that Merch table counting my money just like you. Great memory!
Awesome! You have described almost the exact experience I had with DM. It was a transformative experience. I first heard them through Violator, every song on Violator is superb, were and are my favorite modern rock band, found out they made some of those great 80s hits that I didn't know the artist (Just Can't get Enough, People are People, Master and Servant, Everything Counts) and bought all the albums I could, played them constantly on our high school radio station as a dj, eagerly anticipated Songs of Faith and Devotion, my first concert was Songs of Faith and devotion, bought merch and wore it to school ( had that same shirt), thought Stripped was awesome live, talked with friends and classmates at school about the concert, thought it was very dark times indeed for the band in the late 90s, but they survived produced some great stuff. My 5'er for Depeche Mode in the 90s, 5. Home 4. World in My Eyes 3. Walking in My Shoes 2. Policy of Truth 1. Enjoy the Silence. That was hard! I could probably swap out (there are so many other great songs) or rearrange them except Enjoy the Silence. That is unquestionably #1.
brilliant video!! i remember hearing Violator and being shocked...an album with NO filler. it was just loaded with masterpieces. In Your Room, the album version, will always be the best Mode has ever been to me, though. (Sea of Sin should have been an album cut btw!)
I remember tuning in a satellite dish with my late Dad on the roof moving it in the early 90's, and eventually Enjoy the Silence came on the screen on MTV and was shouting, we got it! My first time seeing it.. sang it loads of times live now but something special about first getting MTV as an 11 year old kid and the early 90's world of music videos becoming available.. Violator is the best, recently bought an original press vinyl from a friend and about to get my new bands first album pressed on vinyl.. things sometimes come 360 in life :)
1
Literally the music of my life and my absolute all-time favorite band of all time.
From the very first time I saw them live and then each time since (1990 World Violation Tour, 1993 Devotional Tour, 1993 Singles Tour, 2001 Exciter Tour, 2005 Touring the Angel, 2009 Tour of the Universe, 2013 The Delta Machine Tour, 2017 Global Spirit Tour
), I knew I was in the presence of musical divinity.
That they still fill stadiums speaks volumes about them as few groups from the '80s are still selling out stadiums. Very few. DM is indeed in a league of their own.
Wow that was great! You even mentioned Sea Of Sin and that you’re a Twin Peaks fan- marriage material right there!
Loved all the tidbits of info that you threw in, that I already knew, but that show what a true fan you are. I also loved your enthusiasm. It’s great to hear people talk about what an incredible band they are these days.
Back when I was in high school in the 90’s they didn’t get the respect they deserved- often written off as some ‘gay’ 80’s synth act (even if that was true, which it wasn’t, I’d hardly call that an insult). But that was the mindset of most of the alternative crowd at the time, of which I was a part. A lot of people automatically dismissed anything with drum machines and keyboards, unless it was industrial like NIN and KMFDM. However, my friends and I also loved electronic/acid/rave music and were far more open minded than a lot of our peers. Cut to a few years later and all of a sudden those same hypocrites are listening to Daft Punk, Chemical Bros, Prodigy and going to raves. 🤷🏼♂️
Hi there from Germany. Had some similar expirience in Berlin when Violator came out. Enjoy the silence is my All Time favourite Song to this day. Devotional Tour in Stuttgart 93 was my first Concert ever at age 16 and I was flashed.
I saw them in Sydney, 1990. Awesome.