Biography of dispatches mod. Depeche Mode band - composition, photos, videos, listen to songs

British electronic/synthpop Depeche Mode band was formed in 1980. Initially, the band, which was founded by young musicians Vince Clarke (guitar\vocals\keyboards), Martin Gore (guitar\vocals\keyboards) and Andy Fletcher (bass guitar\keyboards), who had already gained some experience, was called Composition of Sound , however, renamed itself DM when Clark brought in vocalist David Gahan. The group began performing in student discos and clubs and soon attracted the attention of musician and Mute Records owner Daniel Miller, who decided to release their single. Song " Dreaming of Me"was released in February 1981 and immediately ranked 57th on the British singles chart, followed by " New Life" - immediately 11th, and " Just Can't Get Enough" - 10th. On " Just Can't Get Enough» DM shot a video clip, which became the only one where Clark can be seen. The band's debut album Speak & Spell was released on Mute Records in November and received mixed reviews, although it peaked at number 10 in the UK Albums Chart. Almost all the material was written by Clark and some by Gore.

The subsequent national tour was Clark's last - the musician did not like the direction in which his group Depeche Mode began to move, and in November 1981 he left (later founded the bands Yazoo and Erasure). Thus, Martin Gore became the main composer. At the end of the year, the musicians published in the magazine Melody Maker an announcement about the search for a new keyboard player - as a result, Alan Wilder became him, who was initially positioned only as a session member. New single " See You"was released in January 1982 and immediately took 6th place in the British charts, and DM soon gave their first concerts in North America. In July 1982 (without Wilder), the group began recording their second album A Broken Flame. In October, the group was on tour again, and the first recording with Wilder was the song “ Get the Balance Right».

The producer of the third album, which was recorded in West Berlin, was the famous British musician Gareth Jones. The sound of the group changed significantly, largely thanks to Wilder, who introduced elements that were subsequently developed by many other groups, incl. released on Mute Records. The material also revealed Gore’s political and social lyrics - the first single “ Everything Counts"was dedicated to the greed of large corporations and was successful in Ireland, Germany, and Switzerland. Disk Construction Time Again was released in August 1983 - a month later the group went on tour across Europe.

The growth of popularity was facilitated by the single “ People Are People”, which was used by German television when covering events Olympic Games 1984, and also became a kind of anthem of the movement for the rights of sexual minorities.

The album was released in September 1984 Some Great Reward, whose lyrics were even more focused on politics and interpersonal relationships. For the first time in the work of Depeche Mode a ballad appeared - “ Somebody"(and the first song with Gore on vocals). The disc rose to the top ten of the charts European countries, and also entered the US charts. Following the tour in support of the album, the band's first official video was released, recording a concert in Hamburg, and in July the first concerts behind the Iron Curtain followed - in Warsaw and Budapest. In October, Mute Records released a collection of DM's best songs.

At the same time, musicians began to become interested in gothic culture, which had become widespread in Great Britain and was already reaching the United States, which could not but affect their creativity, which became darker. The first fruits of the updated sound were the song “ stripped", which preceded the release of the album Black Celebration. At the same time, the musicians began to actively collaborate with the famous Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn, who from that time until 2006 was the director of DM video clips (the first was “ A Question of Time"), designed sets for shows and covers for numerous releases.

Album Music For The Masses was released in 1987. The group moved a little away from the industrial sound in favor of a synthetic one. Although the singles were not very successful in the UK, they were popular across the pond and in Europe. The album itself paved the way for DM to enter the US music market, which had resisted the group’s work for so long. The group went on a big tour again in support of new work, incl. and in the countries of the socialist camp, where most Western groups were prohibited from performing. The tour ended in June 1988 with a concert in California, USA, which was attended by more than 60,000 people- in fact, the most successful DM show at that time. The concert itself appeared in Video 101, named after the number of concerts on the tour.

In the summer of 1989, DM recorded their new single “ Personal Jesus" and organized a rather original advertising campaign in its support - advertisements were published in newspapers with the words " Your own personal Jesus” (“Your own personal Jesus”), and as soon as the single was ready, a telephone number, by calling which the curious could hear the song itself. The results were not long in coming - the song rose to 13th place in the British singles chart, and in the USA it topped the TOP 40 and received gold status. In January 1990, the second single “ Enjoy the Silence", which became even more successful (6th place in the UK, 8th in the US and second gold status) and brought the group a Brit Awards. In support of the release of the new album Violator the musicians held an autograph session in one of the Los Angeles supermags, which was attended by over 20,000 people, and many were injured in the crush. As an apology for the incident, DM released an exclusive audio cassette specifically for Los Angeles, distributed through radio station KPOQ, which was the media sponsor of that very autograph session. Violator became the group's most successful disc at that time and entered the TOP 10 UK albums and the USA (triple platinum status for 4.5 million discs sold). The singles "Policy of Truth" and "World in My Eyes" were also successful. On the subsequent tour, DM played in stadiums for the first time, and tickets for these concerts (on average 40-50 thousand) sold out in a matter of hours. Song " Death's Door” was heard in the science fiction film “When the World Ends.” At the end of the tour, the musicians took a vacation and got together only at the beginning of 1992.

At this time, grunge was extremely popular, and DMs could not help but take this into account. New album material Songs of Faith and Devotion again sounded new - the musicians used more electric guitars, and even live drums (Wilder recorded them), as well as female backing vocals and live orchestral inserts. Released in 1993, the album topped the British and American charts. The ensuing tour was documented by Anton Corbijn and subsequently released as the Devotional video, which earned DM a Grammy award in 1995. In December 1993, the group's second live album was released. The tour consisted of two parts and lasted 14 months, until mid-1994. At the same time, the musicians began to have health problems due to the use of hard drugs, to the point that Fletcher was unable to go on the second part of the tour due to mental instability (he was replaced by technician Daryl Bamonte). Gahan, on the other hand, survived several micro-infarctions, a suicide attempt, and in 1996 almost died from an overdose. The unhealthy situation in the group led to Wilder announcing his departure from the group, commenting on the fact that the musician for a long time undeservedly remained in the shadow of the other DM members, while he himself worked tirelessly (later he took up his project Recoil).

Wilder's departure provoked rumors about the end of DM, and in order to refute them, Gore, since 1995, somewhat forced the remaining members to rehearse and record, but the band's frontman's addiction to drugs reduced all these attempts to zero. Gahan ignored rehearsals, and the studio sessions were simply terrible, for example, after sitting in the studio for 6 weeks, DM was able to somehow record vocals on only one song “ Sister of Night", and even then the tracks were a continuous cut of successful takes. Gore, who had fallen into depression, seriously considered disbanding the group and starting a solo career. Just at that time, in mid-1996, Gahan experienced clinical death from a speedball overdose and decided to go to a rehabilitation clinic. Having reunited in the second half of 1996, as a trio, Depeche Mode with renewed vigor began recording with producer, musician and DJ Tim Simenon ( Bomb the Bass) – the result was the Ultra disc released in April 1997, the release of which was preceded by the singles “Barrel of a Gun” and “It’s No Good”. The album topped the charts in Great Britain and Germany, and ended up in 5th place in the USA. The group did not tour in support of him, remembering the grueling experience of the previous tour, having played only two concerts in London and Los Angeles.

In 1998, a collection of the best DM songs was published - The Singles 86-98, containing one new song « Only When I Lose Myself"in support of which the group went on tour with session musicians - drummer Christian Aigner and keyboardist Peter Gordeno. Both subsequently took part in DM’s recordings and concerts more than once.
The next album was Exciter, released in 2001, produced by Mark Bell from the techno group LFO, bringing a new minimalist sound. Opinions about the new material were divided - some considered it a step forward, while others, on the contrary, saw the album as boring and simply unfinished. In March 2001, the musicians announced a big tour in support of the disc. In May 2002, a DVD was released with a recording of the group's Paris concert - One Night In Paris. After that, the musicians went about their own business, DM received a Q magazine award for innovation, in 2003 Gahan and Gore each released a solo album, and Fletcher founded his own music label. A year later, the collection Remixes 81-04 was released, which included both new and unreleased alternative versions of singles from 23 years. Song " Enjoy the Silence» in processing Mike Shinoda() was released as a single and took 7th place in the British charts.

Having rested, Gahan, Gore and Fletcher began recording their 11th album, released in October 2005 and called “ Playing The Angel" It is noteworthy that for the first time this disc was not entirely the creation of Gore - Gahan and drummer Aigner took part in writing the lyrics and music. The material turned out to be generally more rhythmic than on Exciter, and more “alive” through the use of analog synthesizers. In November 2005, a big tour started, which lasted 9 months. The concert in Milan was filmed and subsequently released on DVD. At the end of 2006, a collection of the band's best works was released, the musicians received a European music award MTV as “the best group,” and the iTunes service made available a digital box set of DM’s entire work. In August 2007, Gahan released his second solo album.

Work on the next album began in May 2008, and the disc itself was released in April 2009 and was called Sounds of the Universe. Moreover, individual tracks could be heard several weeks before the album's release using iTunes service, which did not prevent the disc from taking first place in the charts of several dozen countries. The band also received a Grammy nomination in the Best Alternative Album category. A month after the album's release, Depeche Mode went on a major world tour, some of the concerts of which had to be canceled due to Gahan's illness - first he was struck down by gastroenteritis, and then he had to have a malignant tumor of the bladder removed. Doctors advised the singer to refrain from exertion, so some of the concerts were either canceled or postponed until 2010. At a concert in London in support of childhood cancer treatment, DM was reunited with Wilder to the delight of fans. In March 2010 the group received German ECHO award. In June 2011, the group released a second collection of remixes, in the creation of which, among others, former DM members Clark and Wilder took part. In addition, DM recorded the song “So Cruel” for the collection of cover versions AHK-toong BAY-bi covered, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the release of the album Achtung Baby U2– the collection is scheduled for release in December 2011.

History of the group's creation

At first they recorded music in the 70s punk style, which was already losing popularity. However, soon, inspired by the synthpop group OMD, Vince and Andrew decided to exchange guitars for synthesizers and play electronic music. Friends took part-time jobs to earn money for new instruments. A couple of months later they met Dave Gahan and, inspired by his performance of “Heroes” by David Bowie, invited him to join the group as a vocalist.

This is how Depeche Mode appeared, taking their name from the popular French fashion magazine (from Old French this translates as “The Latest Fashion News”).

The main stages of creativity

This was followed by the singles New Life (11th place) and Just Can't Get Enough (8th place), and in November the album itself, called “Speak & Spell”, was released, taking tenth place in the British chart. The name of the record referred to an electronic toy popular in those years, which featured a keyboard with letters and a speaker that sounded everything pressed.

Depeche Mode's first video – Just Can't Get Enough

Reviews for Speak & Spell were mixed but generally favorable, although The Rolling Stone called the album a "miss." But the successful debut also became the cause of the first disagreements between the group members. The author of most of the songs included in it, Vince Clarke, criticized the electronic direction in which the band was developing, and at the end of 1981 he left Depeche Mode, later performing in the duets Yazoo and Erasure.

He was replaced by a keyboard player named Alan Wilder, hired as an advert, who, however, actually began participating in the group only in 1983, having written two songs for the third album.

In January, the single “See You” was released, surpassing all previous ones written by Clark in chart positions. In September, the group's second studio album, “A Broken Frame,” was released. All songs for it were written by Martin Gore.

When the group began work on their third album in 1983, they changed both studio and producer. At the same time her musical style, which was due to the influence of the industrial group “Einstürzende Neubauten” - Martin Gore attended their concert and thought about the possibility of transferring this genre into the context of pop music. Therefore, the album “Construction Time Again” raises pressing social and political issues. Gore’s trip to Thailand, which greeted him with appalling poverty, also contributed.

The record was very well received good feedback from critics, and the song “Everything Counts,” addressed to greedy corporations, was even called the best in the history of Depeche Mode.

In March 1984, the group's first single was released, which became world famous - “People Are People”. It reached number 13 in the US charts, number 4 in Switzerland and the UK, and number 1 in Germany. September 1984 is the release date of the next album, “Some Great Reward,” which entered the top ten charts in a number of countries in Europe and the USA. Thanks to student radio, the group has many fans in America.

In March 1986, the fifth album, Black Celebration, was released. His style, darker and more disturbing, differed from the "industrial pop" of the previous two records. Depeche Mode began to be associated with the goth subculture that was just gaining popularity in America.

At the end of the same year, the group members met Anton Corbijn, a director and photographer from the Netherlands. Their collaboration began, lasting for more than three decades. Its first stage was the April 1987 single Strangelove, for which Corbijn made a video. And in the summer a video was released for the song Never Let Me Down Again, preceding the new album “Music for the Masses”.

Depeche Mode – Strangelove (the band's first video from Anton Corbijn)

The name “Music for the Masses”, that is, “Music for the Masses,” as the band members claimed, is a joke: “Everyone says that we should make more commercially oriented music. That's why we chose this name. In fact, the mass listener would hardly consider this “music” at all. By the way, when working on the album, the band's producer Daniel Miller voluntarily stepped aside from his duties and entrusted the creation of the concept to the musicians themselves.

In the fall of 1987, the group embarked on the worldwide “For The Masses” tour, which lasted until the summer of 1988. It ended with the 101st concert in the group's history, held in the Californian city of Pasadena on June 18. The concert album “101” was recorded at the performance, and fragments of the video filming that took place formed the basis of the documentary film “101” directed by Pennebaker. For the first time, Depeche Mode fans were able to look at the bands off stage: there were excerpts from the musicians’ touring life, videos of rehearsals and sound checks, an interview with Gahan and many other interesting moments. We can say that this concert for Depeche Mode ended their triumphant decade of the 80s, after which a new period in the band’s life began.

Depeche Mode – 101 (Russian translation)

In the summer of 1989, Mark Ellis became the new producer of the group, and together with him the single “Personal Jesus” was invented and recorded. Gore got the idea for the song from the book “Elvis and Me,” written by Elvis Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla.

– This is a song about being Jesus to another person: giving hope, caring. That's how Presley was both her [Priscilla's] man and teacher, as is usually the case in relationships. There is some semblance of God in every heart.

“When ‘Enjoy The Silence’ was ready, we looked at each other for the first time in the entire existence of the band and said: ‘This song is going to be an absolute hit,’” the band members recalled. The video for Enjoy The Silence, traditionally directed by Anton Corbijn, is full of references to the children's book The Little Prince.

Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence

The eighth album, entitled “Songs of Faith and Devotion,” was released in 1993. For the first time, the band involved session musicians in its recording. Work on the album lasted 8 months in a mansion in Madrid specially rented by the group, where the musicians both lived and worked. A feature of the sound of the record was the heavily “processed” parts of electric guitar and percussion (the drummer during the work on the song was Alan Wilder, who had previously worked on the drum part of the track “Clean” from the album “Violator”), live strings and wind instruments, as well as female gospel vocals.

The album took first place on the Billboard 200, a ranking of the most popular albums in the United States, and also started at number one on the UK Albums Chart. After the album's release, the Devotion world tour began in support of the album. Corbijn made a concert film based on the tour, which in 1995 won Depeche Mode their first Grammy. The tour smoothly flowed into the next one, Exotic Tour. In total, the musicians were on tour for 14 months and gave 159 concerts.

Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus

However, the triumph was followed by failure. Relations between the group members deteriorated, and tension began to rise between them. David Gahan's growing addiction to heroin became a real "elephant in the room" and made him mentally unstable and withdrawn. During bouts of depression, he cut his wrists, and once suffered a heart attack right at a concert. Andy Fletcher pulled out of the second half of the Exotic Tour due to "mental exhaustion". All this led to Alan Weidler's departure in June 1995, citing an "unhealthy work environment" and accusing his bandmates of neglecting his efforts to develop their common project. Depeche Mode became a trio for the first time in a long time.

Depeche Mode began working on new material at the end of 1996, when Gahan, who had almost died due to a speedball overdose a few months earlier, left a rehabilitation clinic. Fans thought that the star of the kings of experimental synthpop had set forever, but they were wrong - after the release of the singles “Barrel of a Gun” and “It’s No Good”, the 9th was released in April 1997 studio album"Ultra". There was no world tour this time - Gahan was “clean” for 8 months and wanted to devote all his free time to his family. In 1998, a collection of Depeche Mode's greatest singles was released, accompanied by a world tour with drummer Christian Aigner and keyboardist Peter Gordeno replacing Wilder.

Depeche Mode – Barrel of a Gun

The next, tenth album was Exciter, released after a long break, in May 2001. Producer Mark Bell pioneered a more minimalistic electronic sound with glitch effects. The anniversary album received mixed reviews from critics and fans. More than 1.5 people attended the concerts of the world tour in support of the album. Gahan then began recording a solo album, and in 2003, fans were able to appreciate his “Paper Monsters.” Many were impressed by the opportunity to find out what was going on inside Gunn personally, since Gore was almost always the author of the words for Depeche Mode. There were many listeners who accused Gahan’s brainchild of “lack of thoughtfulness.”

The release date of the eleventh album Playing the Angel is October 2005. The producer was Ben Hillier, and the musicians were delighted with the collaboration. The record was remembered by listeners for the compositions “Precious”, “A Pain That I"m Used To”, as well as “Suffer Well”, “I Want It All” and “Nothing”s Impossible”, the words for which Gahan wrote. Then the Depeche Mode frontman retreated into his studio again, working on his solo album, Hourglass.

Depeche Mode – A Pain That I"m Used To

At this time, Martin Gore was working on new material for the group. In May 2008, the team gathered together in the studio. Like the previous album, this one was produced by Hillier. The result pleased all participants: they recorded 22 songs, and the most difficult thing was to decide which songs would be on the track list of the Sounds of the Universe album. As a result, 13 songs were included in the main version, and 5 more and several remixes were available in the deluxe version. During the world tour, Depeche Mode performed in Russia for the first time (February 2010 - in St. Petersburg and Moscow).

The next album, "Delta Machine", which was preceded by the single "Heaven", was released in March 2013. It summed up the "trilogy" of albums produced by Hillyer and returned to the dark blues aesthetic the band had embraced in the '80s. Critics called it "Delta Machine" best album since "Violator". And 2017 pleased Depeche Mode fans with the new album “Spirit”.

Discography

• Speak & Spell (1981)
• A Broken Frame (1982)
• Construction Time Again (1983)
• Some Great Reward (1984)
• Black Celebration (1986)
• Music for the Masses (1987)
• Violator (1990)
• Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)
• Ultra (1997)
• Exciter (2001)
• Playing the Angel (2005)
• Sounds of the Universe (2009)
• Delta Machine (2013)
• Spirit (2017)

Depeche Mode now

In the early 80s, many British bands began to do without guitars and drums, abandoning them in favor of synthesizers and drum machines. On this wave, Depeche Mode was created, taking its name from a French fashion magazine. Ironically, future members of the group, Vince Clarke (b. July 3, 1961), Andrew Fletcher (b. July 8, 1960) and Martin Gore (b. July 23, 1961) began their activities with guitar music, which they performed in the late 70s in the teams "Composition Of Sound" and "The French Look". In 1980, both of these projects merged into one, and with the arrival of vocalist David Gahan (b. May 9, 1962), the newly formed unit received the name “Depeche Mode”. After a series of concerts, the group signed a contract with Daniel Miller's Mute Records label, where they debuted with the full-length "Speak & Spell". Prefaced by the hit singles “New Life” and “Just Can’t Get Enough,” the album itself sold out well and caught on at the end of the hot top ten. During the promotion of the record, Vince became dissatisfied with the way things were going, and he announced his resignation (the musician subsequently worked in "Yazoo", "Assembly" and "Erasure").

If until that moment the leading composer in "Depeche Mode" was Clark, now this responsibility was taken on by Gore, whose pen only two songs belonged to the debut, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Big Muff". As for the replacement in terms of performance, Vince's place was taken by Alan Wilder (b. June 1, 1959), officially brought into the lineup after the publication of the transitional, slightly darker "A Broken Frame". Alan also accompanied Martin in songwriting and already in 1983 contributed to the album "Construction Time Again" with the compositions "The Landscape Is Changing", "Fools" and "Two Minute Warning". On this record, digital devices “Synclavier” and “E-mu Emulator” were added to the analog synthesizers, and the use of samples with everyday noise gave the music of “dispatches” an industrial color in the spirit of “Art Of Noise” and “Einsturzende Neubauten”.

In parallel with the music, the group’s lyrics also changed, which acquired a socio-political overtones. One of bright examples A new direction was the single "Everything Counts", commenting on the activities of transnational corporations and taking sixth position in the British rankings. Until 1984, Depeche Mode's popularity was limited to the European and Australian markets, but the song "People Are People" paved the way for the band in America. The track entered Billboard at number 13, and Sire Records released a collection with the same name especially for the overseas public. After "Some Great Reward", which featured Gore's first ballad "Somebody", the band abandoned the industrial feel, although they continued to work with sampling technology. In the first half of the 80s, the popularity of "Depeche Mode" was very moderate, but after the release of the disc "Music For The Masses" with the hits "Strangelove", "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Behind The Wheel" the situation changed dramatically. In support of the album, the group conducted a global world tour, almost all of whose concerts were sold out. The final performance took place in Pasadena, where 70,000 people came to watch the “dispatch”. As a result of the tour, the live “101” was released, which instantly became a bestseller.

In 1990, Depeche Mode broke into the top ten with the album Violator, the sound of which was much harsher than their previous works. Supported by the hit singles "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy The Silence", the disc eventually went multi-platinum. The "World Violation Tour" was a huge success - tickets to venues with thousands of seats were sold out in a matter of hours. The trend towards a harder sound was continued on the disc "Songs Of Faith And Devotion", where synthesizers were replaced by distorted electric guitars and live drums. This album debuted at number one on both sides of the Atlantic, but its circulation was still inferior to its predecessor. The live album "Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live", which was released six months later, track for track repeating its studio counterpart, generally turned out to be a failure and barely reached the gold mark.

Meanwhile, problems had also accumulated within the team, and the first call to retreat was Fletcher’s refusal to participate in the continuation of the “Songs...” tour. The relationship between Gore and Wilder became increasingly tense, and eventually Alan announced his resignation. Gahan, on the other hand, became mired in drugs and in 1996 almost went to the next world due to a heroin overdose. Despite all these ups and downs, Depeche Mode gathered their courage and released the surprisingly high-quality work Ultra (the hits "Barrel Of A Gun" and "It's No Good") in 1997. The disc debuted in Britain at number one , however, remembering the previous failure, the musicians decided to do without any promotional tours, the team’s next creation, to which producer Mark Bell gave a minimalist digital sound, turned out to be not very successful, causing mixed responses, and the “dispatch” took another long one. time out. During this time, Gahan and Gore released a solo album, and Fletcher organized his own label, Toast Hawaii.

The eleventh studio album "Depeche Mode" was released in October 2005. On "Playing The Angel", along with the usual Gore compositions, several Gahan songs appeared, but this did not spoil the overall picture. On the contrary, the album presented the band in excellent form and returned them to the forefront. "Playing The Angel" was produced by Ben Hillier and he also accompanied the team on the "Sounds Of The Universe" sessions, but the sound of the latest record turned out to be different. This happened due to the return of analog synthesizers, and although not all critics liked the trip to the 80s, the chart success of "Sounds" was convincing. In 2011, a second collection of remixes was released, and a year later, Depeche Mode published the album Delta Machine, half of the title hinted at blues roots, and the second reflected the electronic essence of the group.

The Depeshe Mode quartet had a great influence on the development of such genres as synth-pop and alternative rock. The face of this group and its most famous member is vocalist David Gahan. He managed to make a successful solo career, but still received star status in the group. For most people, David Gahan and Depeche Mode are inseparable concepts.

Childhood and youth

Like all the other band members, David is British. His homeland is Essex, where he spent his childhood. David grew up in the town of Basildon and was famous there as an incorrigible hooligan who only wanted to go to prison.

This behavior had its reasons, because not all was well in his family. David's father abandoned the family when his son was only six months old and returned immediately after his stepfather's death. For a ten-year-old child, this was a real shock.

David Gahan's early biography is full of dubious exploits: smoking, stealing and setting cars on fire, drawing graffiti on walls. His favorite musicians were the newly emerging The Clash. Already at school, he tried to earn money, but it ended with David not being hired after learning that he was registered with the local police. The offended teenager smashed the office of the officer supervising him to smithereens. David was eventually sentenced to a year in Romford Correctional Centre.

After graduating from school, David Gahan went to work. He managed to work as a lawnmower, handyman, cashier, and thus changed two dozen jobs. In 1977, he entered Southend College of Art and received a diploma in retail design.

Work in Depeshe Mode and solo career

Back in the late seventies, David Gahan became seriously interested in music. First, he became a sound engineer in the French Look group, and then at one of the rehearsals he met Vince Clarke. This was in 1980. Clark's new band, called Composition of Sound, was missing a vocalist, and he persuaded David to join him.

Now there were four members in the group: Andrew Fletcher also played there along with Vince Clarke and David Gahan. It was David who came up with a new name for the team. While in college, he sometimes read the French magazine "Fashion Messenger", or Depeshe Mode, and now suggested that the group should be named the same.

Already the second single Depeshe Mode climbed high in the British charts, and their first album brought real success to the musicians. The group's popularity grew rapidly. At this time, Vince Clarke left the team. A few years later he founded the duo Erasure with Andy Bell. Alan Wilder became the new keyboard player.

Depeshe Mode's music itself also changed: it became darker, a little industrial was added to it, which, however, disappeared after the Some Great Reward album. Year after year the music became more and more atmospheric. The lyrics also became more serious - they now touched on sensitive topics such as racism or extramarital sexual relations.

At a certain point, the popularity of Depeshe Mode crossed the borders of Great Britain, and then Europe, and became global. They became “trend setters” among the emerging Goth subculture. Even in the USSR, they gained a lot of fans, and their style of dressing and David Gahan’s vocals were copied by the Soviet group “Technology”.

In the mid-nineties, Depeshe Mode almost broke up due to Gahan's drug addiction. He was treated for drug addiction for a long time, and in the late nineties he was able to return to the group. Around the same time, David began his solo career, releasing his first album in 2003. He has released two solo albums in total (2003's Paper Monsters and 2007's Hourglass). Not everyone received them as warmly as Depeshe Mode's work, although Hourglass achieved quite high positions in the charts, and reached number one in Germany. In addition, Gahan collaborated with such groups as Soulsavers and Junkie XL.

David Gahan also shot videos, for example, for his song Dirty Sticky Floors.

And yet his main occupation was and remains work in Depeshe Mode. He not only sings, but also writes some songs for the group.

Health problems

In the early nineties, Gahan became seriously addicted to heroin. He behaved increasingly inappropriately and irritably, quarreling with other members of the group, which almost brought it to the brink of collapse. Once David had a heart attack, another time he almost died from an overdose. In 1995, he cut his wrists and was in a state of clinical death for two minutes. This became a kind of turning point - Gahan decided to undergo treatment. After completing a rehabilitation course, he quit drugs and returned to Depeshe Mode.

Personal life

David Gahan has been married three times. He got married for the first time in 1985. In 1987, his son was born. The musician left this family when his drug addiction worsened.

Drugs also destroyed David's second marriage - in the mid-nineties, his wife, Teresa Conroy, announced that she was leaving him. In 1999, Gehan married for the third time, and at the same time his daughter was born. In addition to his daughter, he is raising his wife’s son from a previous marriage, whom he adopted in 2010.

Depeche Mode(Depeche Mode) - cult British musical group, formed in 1980 in the town of Basildon (Essex). Group Depeche Mode created own style in the genres of electronic and rock music and is one of the most successful and long-lived groups in the world. Depeche Mode still release albums, tour and sound modern, despite the fact that the group is already 30 years old. On November 2, 2006, Depeche Mode won the " The best group"at the MTV Europe Music Awards. By 2010, Depeche Mode had sold nearly 100 million albums and had 44 singles in the UK charts.

For creativity Depeche Mode influenced by German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, whose sound the band emulated in the early stages of their work. Depeche Mode later became a significant influence on many artists themselves, largely through their recording techniques and innovative use of sampling. Despite the fact that the group has significantly influenced the development of modern electronic dance music, it is usually classified as an "alternative music" genre.

Depeche Mode formed in 1980 as a quartet consisting of Dave Gahan (lead vocalist), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Andy Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards). Vince Clarke left the group after the release of their debut album in 1981. His place was taken by Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums), who played in the group from 1983 to 1995. After Alan left, the band formed as a trio, and now the group consists of Gahan, Gore and Fletcher.

Story

1977-1980: Formation of the group

Origins Depeche Mode traced back to 1977, when Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher formed the band No Romance in China, in which Vince was the vocalist and guitarist, and Andrew the bassist. In 1978, Clarke played in the band The Plan with his school friend Robert Marlow, who was the vocalist, and Clarke the guitarist and keyboardist. At the same time, in 1978-1979, Martin Gore, as a guitarist, participated in the acoustic duo Norman and The Worms along with his school friend Philip Burdett, who is currently a folk singer. In 1979, Marlow, Gore, Clark and their friend Paul Redmond formed the group The French Look: Marlow - vocals/keyboards, Gore - guitar, Clark and Redmond - keyboards. About a year later, in March 1980, Clark, Gore and Fletcher formed a new group, Composition of Sound, with Clark as vocalist and guitarist, Gore as keyboardist, and Fletcher as bassist. The French Look and Composition of Sound once performed together in concert in June 1980 at the St. Nicholas School Youth Club in Southend-on-Sea, Essex .

Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clark and Fletcher switched to synthesizers, earning money to buy them through odd jobs or borrowing instruments from friends. David Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Vince Clarke heard him perform a soulful rendition of David Bowie's "Heroes" at a local concert. This is how it appeared Depeche Mode. The new name was taken from the French fashion magazine Dépêche Mode, which translates as "New Fashion" or "Latest Fashion News", however, the name is often mistranslated as "Fast Fashion", due to confusion with the French verb se dépêcher ( hurry).

1981-1982: First successes

After one of the performances at the Bridge House club, the group was made an offer by Daniel Miller (English Daniel Miller - founder of the record company Mute Records), who wanted them to make a debut recording to promote his label. This verbal contract resulted in the song Dreaming of Me, which was released in February 1981. It managed to reach number 57 in the UK charts. Inspired by this unexpected success, the group recorded their second single, New Life, which significantly surpassed the first, rising to number 11. Three months later, the group released Just Can't Get Enough, their first single, which entered the top ten in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 8. The recording was a breakthrough in many ways, and its success paved the way for their debut album Speak & Spell, which was released in November 1981, eventually reaching number 10 in the UK album charts. Critical response varied. Melody Maker said of it: "...a great album, exactly the kind they had to make to win over new audiences and please insatiable fans," while Rolling Stone was more critical, calling it complete failure. Their second album, A Broken Frame, was released in September of the same year. This album overall felt like a transitional album, with Gore's darker songs indicating the direction the band would take in the following years. At the end of 1981, they placed an ad in the Melody Maker newspaper with the following content: "Keyboard player needed for an established band - not for hanging out." Alan Wilder, a 22-year-old keyboardist from West London, responded to the advert and, after two auditions with Daniel Miller, he was accepted as the band's fourth member. However, despite this, Miller told Alan that he did not need to take part in the recording of the current album. Alan made his first musical contribution to the group in 1983.

1983-1988: Rising international popularity

For the release of their third album, Construction Time Again, Depeche Mode decided to work with producer Gareth Jones at John Foxx's The Garden studio. The album saw a dramatic change in the band's sound. This is partly due to the use of Synclavier and Emulator digital samplers, in addition to the previously used analog synthesizers. Using noise from everyday objects, the band created an electric, industrial sound similar to the sounds of bands such as Art of Noise and Einstürzende Neubauten. A good example of the new sound was the album's first single, Everything Counts, a commentary on the greed of multinational companies, which reached No. 6 in the UK and also reached the top 30 in South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden and West Germany. Alan Wilder composed two songs on this album (The Landscape is Changing, Two Minute Warning).

In the early years of their existence, Depeche Mode achieved popularity only in the UK, Europe and Australia. However, everything changed in March 1984 when they released their single People Are People. This song, which deals with the issue of racism, reached number 13 in the American charts, number 4 in the UK and Switzerland charts, and became the first to reach number 1 in the charts (Germany). Seeking to make the most of the single's unexpected success, Sire Records record company group in North America, released a collection of the same name. A month later, the band completed work on the album Some Great Reward, which was generally well received. Melody Maker said of the album: "You'll be pleasantly surprised by what's happening here, right under your nose." Some Great Reward saw the band experimenting with increasingly darker themes, such as unconventional sexual relationships (Master And Servant), extramarital affairs (Lie To Me), and the unfair judgment of the Almighty (Blasphemous Rumors). The album also included Martin Gore's first ballad (Somebody) - an idea that became key to all subsequent albums. It was their first album to enter the US charts, as well as the top ten in some European countries.

It was during this period that the group became associated with the goth subculture that had recently emerged in Britain and was gradually gaining popularity in the United States. There, the band first gained prominence on college and contemporary rock radio stations such as Los Angeles' KROQ and Long Island, New York's WLIR, hence they primarily appealed to a distinctly alternative audience. In this regard, the group contrasted sharply with the situation in Europe and the UK, despite the increasingly darker and more serious tones in their songs.

Depeche Mode's biggest change came in 1986 with the release of their fifteenth single, Stripped, and its accompanying album, Black Celebration. Abandoning the largely "industrial" sound that characterized their two previous albums (but retaining their often figurative sampling), the band delivered an unsettling, more atmospheric and textured sound, accompanied by some of the most bleak, soul-searching to date lyrics written by Martin Gore. The album also included a reworking of the song "Fly On The Windscreen", which was originally released as a single along with "It's Called a Heart".

The video A Question Of Time, directed by Anton Corbijn, marked the beginning of a long working relationship that continues to the present day. Anton directed the majority, or rather, 19 videos (the last Suffer Well was shot in 2006) and concert recordings of the group, and was also the designer of the covers of most of Depeche Mode's albums and singles.

But the most important and epochal period in the history of the group was still ahead. On April 13, 1987, the single Strangelove was released, the video for which was also made by Anton Corbijn. The single peaked at number 16 in the UK charts, but for fans of the band it was something special. DM has never sounded like this before in its history. With the release of Strangelove, we can talk about Depeche Mode as a classic of electronic music. In the summer, on August 24, 1987, the second single was released - Never Let me Down Again, preceding the new, already sixth, album of the group, and to this day remains among DM fans one of the most beloved compositions, which many call best song groups. On September 28, 1987, the album “Music for the Masses” was released, which sold millions of copies. The album, along with the previous one, is a classic of the group. In the fall of the same year, the For The Masses tour began, which started in Europe and then continued in Japan and the United States. It ended on June 18, 1988 with the legendary 101st concert at the Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, California, where 85,000 spectators were present.

1989-1994: Two successful albums

In mid-1989, the band began recording in Milan with producer Mark Ellis, better known as Flood. The result of this session was the single Personal Jesus, in which Depeche Mode demonstrated a catchy, rhythmic sound that was radically different from what the group had previously done. Before the release of the single, advertisements with the words “Your very own personal Jesus” appeared in local newspapers in the classified ads sections. Later, a telephone number was included in the advertisement, by calling which one could hear this song. The ensuing controversy saw the single reach number 13 in the UK and become one of the band's best-selling singles. In the US, it became the first gold single and the first top 40 hit since "People Are People", and one of the best-selling 12-inch singles in history. Warner Bros. Records. Cover versions of this single were released by such artists as Johnny Cash, Gravity Kills, Marilyn Manson and others. In September 2006, according to the results of a survey of British readers The song was named one of the 100 best songs of all time by monthly Q magazine. The song is also included in the 500 best songs of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine. During this time, the group gained additional fame in the United States, where their influence on the techno and house music scene became increasingly recognized.

In February 1990, Enjoy the Silence, which became one of the group's most successful singles, reached number 6 in the UK charts. A few months later in the United States, it became Depeche Mode's first (and only to date) top ten single, peaking at number 8, and became the band's second gold single. This dynamic song was conceived as a slow, hypnotic ballad in C minor. The demo recording that the song's author, Martin Gore, brought to the group featured only his voice accompanied by a harmonium. The idea to speed up the recording came to Alan Wilder. The group liked this option, but the author of the song was offended for some time and resisted such “processing”.

While promoting their new album Violator, they held a book signing at the Wherehouse Records store in Los Angeles, which attracted approximately 17,000 fans and nearly caused a riot. Violator was able to enter the top ten in the UK and the USA. It was also certified triple platinum in the US with sales of over 3.5 million copies. The subsequent world tour was another notable success, with 40,000 tickets for the Giants Stadium show in New York selling out within 8 hours, and the Dodger Stadium show in Los Angeles selling out 48,000 tickets in less than an hour. . Two other singles from this album, Policy of Truth and World in My Eyes, achieved moderate success in the UK.

In 1991, Depeche Mode recorded Death's Door, one of the songs on the soundtrack to the Wim Wenders film When the World Ends, and Alan Wilder recorded the third album Bloodline for his solo project Recoil, which was released in April 1992.

Significant changes in the group's style occurred in 1993 with the release of their eighth album, Songs of Faith and Devotion. The album's main focus is on instrumental arrangements, which rely heavily on heavily distorted electric guitar and live drums (played by Alan Wilder, whose debut as a studio drummer on Violator's "Clean") rather than synthesizers. Live bands added to the band's sound stringed instruments, Irish bagpipes (English: Uilleann pipes), as well as female gospel vocals.

Following the grunge single I Feel You, the album debuted at number 1 in both the US and UK. Depeche Mode became the first British alternative band to reach number one on the chart. music albums Billboard 200. A 14-month Devotional world tour followed. It was recorded on video, and later a concert video with the same name and a second concert album, Songs of Faith and Devotion Live, were released. By 1994, Depeche Mode had entered the global elite of stadium-packing bands, along with R.E.M., INXS and the Rolling Stones. Despite this, tensions grew within the group. David Gahan's drug addiction to heroin began to affect his behavior, he became more unpredictable and withdrawn. Martin Gore suffered several fits of rage, and Andrew Fletcher refused to participate in the second "exotic" leg of the tour, citing "psychological instability." During this period, he was replaced on stage by Daryl Bamonte, who had been working with the group as a personal assistant for many years.

1995-2000: Continued success

In June 1995, Alan Wilder announced that he was leaving Depeche Mode, in his words, "due to growing dissatisfaction with the internal relationships and working environment of the group." He continued work on his personal project Recoil, releasing his fourth album (Unsound Methods) in 1997. Wilder stated that he did the lion's share of the work during the creation of the last albums and that "that contribution never received the respect and recognition it deserved." After Alan Wilder left, many were skeptical that Depeche Mode would ever record again. Mental condition David Gahan and his addiction to drugs have become a major source of concern: his near-fatal drug overdose at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles is widely believed to be a suicide attempt, but Gahan has consistently denied it.

Despite Gahan's increasing personal problems, Gore tried repeatedly during 1995-1996. convince the band to record again. However, Gahan only occasionally appeared at scheduled sessions, and when he did appear, it took him weeks to record any vocals. Gore was forced to consider breaking up the group and releasing the songs he had written as a solo album. In the end, Gore's concerns turned out to be unfounded: in mid-1996, Gahan began rehab for heroin addiction. After Gahan completed his rehabilitation, the band continued to record with producer Tim Simenon, and the following year they released the album Ultra, as well as its two lead singles, Barrel of a Gun and It's No Good. The album again debuted at number 1 in the UK. Due to tensions during the previous world tour, it was decided to abandon the Ultra support tour entirely.

2001-2004: Exciter

In 2001, Depeche Mode released the album Exciter, which was produced by Mark Bell, a former member of the band LFO. Bell presented a minimalist, digital audio on most of the album. The album was an unsuccessful attempt to reach the previous level of sales, just like the two previous albums. Although the album received fairly positive reviews from some magazines (British NME, and American Rolling Stone and L.A. Weekly), most others (including Q Magazine, PopMatters, Pitchfork Media), as well as many fans, noted that the album lacked depth, inspiration and shine. Exciter became the first Depeche Mode studio album to chart higher in the US than in the UK.

2005-2007: Playing the Angel

On October 17, 2005, Depeche Mode released their eleventh studio album, Playing the Angel, to good reviews. Many fans view this album as a return to form for the band. This is the band's first album since Some Great Reward (1984) to feature songs not written by Martin Gore: the author of the lyrics for three songs (Suffer Well, I Want It All and Nothing's Impossible) was David Gahan, but the music - Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott.

In November 2005, to promote their album Playing the Angel, the band embarked on the Touring the Angel world tour, which lasted until the summer of 2006.

The band headlined two festivals in 2006, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, in California, and the O2 Wireless Festival, which took place the last weekend of June in London's Hyde Park. On September 25, 2006, their live album Touring The Angel: Live In Milan was released, directed by Blue Leach and recorded on February 18 and 19, 2006 at the Milan Fila Forum. The album consists of two DVDs and one CD. The first DVD contains the full concert and two additional live recordings of A Question of Lust and Damaged People. On the second DVD - 20 minutes documentary, introducing Anton Corbijn, the official announcement of the tour, which was announced at a press conference in Germany in the summer of 2005, as well as some other materials dedicated to Playing the Angel. The third disc is a CD with live recordings of songs from this album.

On November 2, 2006, Depeche Mode received the MTV Europe Music Awards in the "Best Group" category.

In December 2006, Depeche Mode were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Dance Recording category for their single Suffer Well. This became their third Grammy nomination. They were nominated for the first time in 1994 in the Best Long Form Music Video category for their Devotional concert video, and a second time for Best Dance Recording and Best Remix Recording - Non-Classical ( English: Best Remixed Recording - Non-Classical), for the single I Feel Loved in 2001.

In October 2007, the group was nominated in the "Inter Act" section (best international act) at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

2008 - present: Sounds Of The Universe

On October 6, 2008, a Depeche Mode press conference was held at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, where they announced their new world tour, called the Tour of the Universe. Tickets for select dates on the European leg of the tour, which kicked off on May 10, 2009 in Tel Aviv, went on sale on October 13, 2008.

On January 15, 2009, a press release dedicated to the release of the new album was posted on the band's official website. “Sounds Of The Universe” is the name of the album, and it was released on April 20, 2009. This time the band members' attention is shifted towards analogue instruments. In addition, according to the musicians, while working on the new record they recorded a lot of additional material, which is presented in the deluxe version of the album.

The first single from the album was the song Wrong). Like the 2005 album Playing the Angel, Sounds Of The Universe contains music from both Martin Gore and Dave Gahan. The release also served as a reunion between the band and sound producer Ben Hillier.

On February 4, 2010, Depeche Mode held concerts in St. Petersburg and February 6 in Moscow as part of the “Tour Of The Universe” world tour in support of their new album. Also, the group visited the capital of Ukraine (Kyiv) for the first time in full force on February 8, 2010. The tour ended on February 27, 2010 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

On February 17, 2010 in London (Royal Albert Hall), at a concert in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust, an event took place that fans of the group had been waiting for 15 years: during Martin Gore’s performance of the song “Somebody,” Alan accompanied him Wilder, who left the group in the summer of 1995. The official website of Recoil (Alan Wilder's project) says that Gahan called Wilder and invited him to take part in the concert. Wilder gladly agreed.

On March 3, 2010, at the German Echo Awards 2010, Depeche Mode won in the category “Best International Group - Rock / Pop” (best foreign rock / pop group). Daniel Miller, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher were present at the ceremony.