Classic_Pop_Issue_30_July_2017

DEPECHE MODE

16

SOMEBODY

(REMIX)

BLASPHEMOUS RUMOURS /

SOMEBODY 7 BONG 7 (1984)

Somebody is Martin Gore’s most sugary sweet

song. The LP version is a stripped back affair

that lets the heartfelt lyrics come to the fore.

This remix adds a new thrumming heartbeat

backing that enhances Martin’s delicate piano

playing and vocals.

15

MASTER AND

SERVANT (SLAVERY

WHIP MIX)

MASTER AND SERVANT (SLAVERY

WHIP MIX) 12 BONG 6 (1984)

Who knew Martin Gore’s ode to S&M would

become such a dancefl oor classic? From the

opening, “whip me like a dog” lyric this

Master and Servant 12” remix is guaranteed

to get everyone dancing.

14

IN YOUR ROOM

(EXTENDED

ZEPHYR MIX)

IN YOUR ROOM

CD BONG 24 (1994)

Dave Gahan has always been a frustrated

Rock God at heart. The album version was a

low-key ambient affair but producer Butch

Vig granted Dave the perfect outlet with this

longer grunge-inspired remix.

13

SO CRUEL

AHK-TOONG BAY-BI

COVERED (2011)

AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered was a free CD

released with Issue 305 of Q magazine to

celebrate the 20th Anniversary of U2’s LP

Achtung Baby. Depeche Mode’s contribution,

So Cruel doesn’t stray far from the source

material and deserves its place here as it’s a

very rare thing − a DM cover!

28

Spirit’s lead

single Where’s

The Revolution

bemoans the

apparent lack

of a movement

or enthusiasm

to challenge the

status quo

disheartening. Humanity... you wonder where we are

going sometimes.”

Opening track, Going Backwards with its haunting

“we feel nothing inside” refrain, sets the despondent

mood of Spirit. “For me, the overwhelming message is

we have lost our way a bit and lost our spirit if you want

• that’s why we called it Spirit,” explains the songwriter.
  “We need to fi nd our way back to the path.”
  Gahan hopes it will encourage listeners to think
  differently, too, “Spirit is something that’s within all of us,
  it’s a feeling that you have to listen to. You fi nd all the
  answers you really need there.”

SPIRIT OF RADIO

The new album’s lead single, Where’s The Revolution,

is a particularly rousing call to arms in an anaesthetised

world. Gahan continues: “I don’t know where the

revolution is today but I know it’s got to come from within.

You won’t fi nd it in someone else. When you really get

in touch with yourself the revolution begins from within.

You start to question, how do I treat people? How am I

treating my family, my friends? Am I really being kind?

Am I really being tolerant of their differences and am I

trying to understand? That’s the revolution in our thinking.

We are kind of brainwashed to feel this a certain way

and quite often we act out of fear.”

Many have accused today’s youth of giving up caring,

but surely it’s always been that way. Were DM any more

militant as kids growing up in Essex? “When I was 18 in

1979 I was young and probably not into politics back

then,” acknowledges Gore.

“We grew up when we fi rst started making music,”

adds Gahan. “It was hard for young people to fi nd new

jobs, Britain was a tough place to live in the years of

Thatcher. When I was a teenager I grabbed music by

The Clash – it became my soundtrack. I’m very lucky, trust

me, it could have been very different when I left school at

15 years old. We grew up on these council estates in the

poorer part of town – where if you’re told enough times:

‘you will amount to nothing’, you react. We found a way

out by making music.”

Social commentary isn’t entirely new for a Depeche

Mode album. Gore points out: “I suppose the only other

time when we have dealt with it over a whole album was

in 1983 with Construction Time Again, and I think that

was because we had got out of our shells and become

more worldly because we had travelled extensively.”

Spirit doesn’t just point a fi nger at others, it takes

responsibility for mankind’s actions on a wider scale. At

fi rst, The Worst Crime’s ominous lyrics appear to refer

to a specifi c event in past history: ‘There’s a lynching in

the square/ You will have to join us’. However, as the

song unfurls the listener directly becomes engulfed in a

much bigger current issue. “Usually I don’t talk about the

songs too much but I will about this one a little bit,” says

Gore, keen to set the record straight regarding the song.

“It’s metaphorical and about climate change and us

destroying the world, and how we are all guilty... so the

lynching is us, we are all being lynched.”

It’s a damning indictment of current policies,

particularly in the US where Trump seems intent on

dismissing the scientifi c facts behind climate change.

Spirit paints a damning vision of the future, and

Depeche Mode revel in it right up to the bleak fi nale,

Fail where Gore concludes, ‘oh, we’re fucked’. “It sums

up the album in a way,” he chuckles. “The good thing

about it is the lyrics might be depressing but the music is

CP30.Depeche_Mode.print.indd 28 09/06/2017 11:01