DEPECHE MODE
SONGS FROM THE 80S
Depeche Mode - People Are People (Original Video)
by Mark Nobes, chief editor
Clarke left the band shortly after the release of their 1981 debut album Speak & Spell, which featured the singles "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough". He went on to form Yazoo with vocalist Alison Moyet, and was replaced by Alan Wilder in 1982, with Gore taking over songwriting.
The band's second album, A Broken Frame, was released in September 1982 and was penned entirely by Martin Gore, as opposed to the debut album which was penned mostly by Clarke. It reached No.8 in the UK, and was a more ambitious project, at times sounding melancholic and more edgy. Wilder was not yet an official member of the band, although he did tour with them, but had no input on the second album. Three singles were released from the album; "See You", "The Meaning of Love" and "Leave in Silence".
The third album Construction Time Again was the first to feature Wilder (he penned two tracks), and was released in August 1983. It featured the two singles "Everything Counts" and "Love, In Itself".
Wilder left the band in 1995 and since then Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher have continued as a trio.
Depeche Mode are one of the most successful, influential, longest-lived bands that have emerged from the early 80's. They have had forty-five songs in the UK singles chart and #1 albums in UK, US and throughout countries in Europe.
Two of my favourite singles were Enjoy The Silence and People Are People. The latter was Depeche Mode's tenth UK single (released on March 12 1984). It was their first hit single in the US and the first single from the Some Great Reward album.
Singles released in the 1980s
1981 Dreaming of Me #57
1981 New Life #11
1981 Just Can't Get Enough #8
1982 See You #6
1982 The Meaning of Love #12
1982 Leave in Silence #18
1983 Get The Balance Right #13
1983 Everything Counts #6
1983 Love, In Itself #21
1984 People Are People #4
1984 Master and Servant #9
1984 Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody #16
1985 Shake the Disease #18
1985 It's Called a Heart #18
1986 Stripped / But Not Tonight #15
1986 A Question of Lust #28
1986 A Question of Time #17
1987 Strangelove #16
1987 Never Let Me Down Again #22
1987 Behind the Wheel #21
1988 Little 15 #60
1988 Strangelove '88 -
1988 Route 66 -
1989 Everything Counts #22
1989 Personal Jesus #13
Chart positions shown are for the UK singles chart.
Speak & Spell (1981) #10
A Broken Frame (1982) #8
Construction Time Again (1983) #6
Some Great Reward (1984) #5
Black Celebration (1986) #4
Music For The Masses (1987) #10
Violator (1990) #2
Songs Of Faith And Devotion (1993) #1
Ultra (1997) #1
Exciter (2001) #9
Playing The Angel (2005) #6
Sounds Of The Universe (2009) #2
Delta Machine (2013) #2
Spirit (2017) #5
#UK Album Chart Positions
A new single from Depeche Mode was released on March 18th 2013. Entitled Heaven, this was the lead single from the album Delta Machine which is launched on March 25th in the UK and 26th in the U.S.
