DEPECHE MODE
(UK, twenty one top 40 hits, eight Top 40 albums)

One of the great mainstays of the whole decade, yet never with a prayer of getting to No.1. Basildon-based, famously managerless and with enough stamina and foresight to build from the departure of their chief songwriter after only three singles. Vince Clarke went on to make a habit of leaving people in the lurch, but with an arguably more capable replacement scribe in Martin Gore waiting in the wings, Depeche Mode, named after a French fashion magazine, used the sudden change of personnel in a positive way, injecting more hard sounds and ishoos into their infectious and often petrifying work and end the decade as one of the most influential and sartorially unconventional acts around. It all started in a rather wimpish way, really - four blokes emerged on TOTP in '81 with establishing second single "New Life" ("complicating, circulating, new life, new life") a bit of twee synth pop high on melody and low on character, befitting the shallow world of synth pop engulfing the industry at the time yet never really fitting into the widening genre of New Romanticism, which in some way was down to the less middling sound of Dave Gahan's haunting vocal (one of the strongest and most eloquent voices you were likely to hear).  One of the most impish and hummable melodies ever made came next, the deliberately shallow "Just Can't Get Enough" ("we walk together, we're walking down the street, and I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough") which remains a must-play on retro club playlists to this day and took these pom-pom haired lads to No.8.  

AMBIGUOUS  

Then Clarke was off, unhappy with the pressures of success, and in came leather-jacketed Alan Wilder, a friend of main synth protagonist Andy Fletcher, and Gore picked up his ballpoint. The result was something quite stark compared to Clarke's cheesiness - the next single was the gorgeous "See You" ("all I want to do is see you again, is that too much to ask for"), the only Depeche Mode song of the 80s which didn't require Gahan to sound like a football stadium tannoy announcer with a bad throat. On they strolled through a selection of catchy but ultimately forgettable singles until their anthemic "Everything Counts" ("the grabbing hands grab all they can") put an air of political awareness on Gore's standing as a writer, and from then onwards the image got more ambiguous (tight leather pants and dresses, farewell to the fringes) and the songs got tougher and meaner. From capitalism, Gore's pen took them through prejudice in their biggest hit of the decade "People Are People" ("I can't understand what makes a man hate another man, help me understand" - this bit was sung by Gore) and then fetishism in "Master And Servant" ("you treat me like a dog, get me down on my knees") and religious inconsistency in "Blasphemous Rumours" ("girl of 18 fell in love with everything, found new life in Jesus Christ, hit by a car, ended up on a life support machine") which got enormous complaints from Christians and in general gave God a severe scalding for his actions towards his subjects, yet it was played more often than the flip-side "Somebody" ("I want somebody to share, share the rest of my life") by the radio stations.  

 STIGMA  

Production stayed with the synth programming, but by now cross-dressing Gore was adding dustbin lids, anvils and metal railings to the sound, prompting some bizarre TOTP performances but adding real weight to his songs. In '85, the gruesome "Shake The Disease" ("this is a plea from my heart to you, nobody knows me as well as you do") took on the issue of sexual stigma and the next two years incorporated the get-naked belter "Stripped" ("come with me into the trees") and the floor-filling "Behind The Wheel", which became their regular gig opener. The biggest album, "Violator", spawned four singles, with only the first, the grinding "Personal Jesus" ("someone to hear your prayers, someone who cares") fitting into the 80s, though they would shortly get their first Top 10 hit for six years with the beautiful "Enjoy The Silence". The 90s then saw Wilder leave, Gahan come within a dog's hair of death via intravenous miscalculation and the whole band beat the crap out of one another, but they're still there, still reaching an adult audience and still a far cry from the innocent Essex boys in frilly shirts from nearly twenty years earlier. A genuinely classy band, who will be deservedly admired for their longevity and willingness to set the trends rather than follow them.

Biggest Hit: "People Are People", No.4, 1984
Defining Moment: Gore playing metal railings on TOTP.

Matt