Depeche Mode

SYNTH PIONEERS SHOW NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN

With a career that spans more than 25 years, the members of Depeche Mode—Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher—have become masters of reinvention. The band first gained notoriety for their pioneering use of electronics and early sampling techniques. And as the poster boys of the 80s synth pop movement, many of the band’s first singles, like “Just Can’t Get Enough,” “Dreaming of Me” and “People are People,” would go on to define the sound of early electronic music and become a major inspiration to the then-burgeoning house music and DJ scenes in Detroit and Chicago.

Later albums such as Black Celebration, Music for the Masses and Violator would see the band add a healthy dose of guitars and industrial textures to their sound, culminating in such Top 40 radio hits as “Strangelove,” “Personal Jesus” and the band’s most celebrated track, “Enjoy the Silence.” Throughout the 90s, the band would continue to release new work, including albums like Ultra and Exciter, which saw the band moving in a decidedly digital and experimental direction, embracing then-new concepts such as software synthesizers and DAWs.

Even through this constant process of evolution and change, the band has never lost its ability to deliver compelling and ambitious live performances. In support of their ’98 singles collection (86>98 The Singles), the band supplanted their traditional array of electronic backing tracks with a live drummer. And with their latest release, Playing the Angel, the band’s live show has continued to evolve. Now instead of relying on racks of synths and samplers, the band has come to fully embrace soft synths and USB controllers, such as the M-Audio Trigger Finger and Radium keyboards.

With a critically acclaimed new album and a new surge of interest and momentum (thanks to the latest collection of 80s-inspired bands), Depeche Mode’s popularity and impact on modern music has never been stronger.