The moment that changed Depeche Mode forever
- Feb 5
- 7 min read
Alternative artists love to play the outsider. And synth pop legend Depeche Mode have always proudly worn that label - despite the fact they’re now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But when they did Music For the Masses, it was still pretty true. They literally named the album as a joke on the fact that nobody would listen to it. Martin Gore told NME in 1990:
“When we called the album 'Music For The Masses', we were accused of being patronising and arrogant."
And then something unexpected happened. Lots of people listened to it. Masses, you could say.
So what was so special about it, and why did it take 6 albums for Depeche Mode to see commercial success? Let's have a look.
Since the early 80’s, they’ve done all sorts. Starting out as bright synth pop newbies, they didn't exactly explode onto the scene, but as their music evolved they’d become underground heroes and eventually genuine icons of the genre.
And like I said before, they loved that underdog label, that was kind of their whole thing - 'oh nobody listens to us, we’re edgy, we’re mysterious. We write niche music.' And it was pretty true… but the thing is they were actually always pretty popular. So the underdog thing is a bit of a misnomer.
Their first album, 1981’s Speak and Spell, was actually very light-hearted and even soft, with bright synths and playful lyrical themes, influenced by other synth acts like Kraftwerk.
It hit the top 10 in the UK. They appeared on Top Of The Pops, which for most bands is a sign that you’re about to break big.
This is the album with this banger on it.
But then chief songwriter Vince Clarke left immediately after, and they had to remodel themselves.
This is one of several key points in their story, as their sound shifted in a darker, more melancholic direction for their next album, Broken Frame.
This one actually hit No.8 on the UK album charts and is now seen as an important ‘transitional’ album, but at the time some people just didn't get it.
Over the next couple years they’d experiment some more, going industrial on Construction Time Again, making use of what they call ‘found sounds’ - hitting metal with metal, machinery, that sound of thing. Physical sound effects you could call it.
The lyrical themes looked at politics, labour and social commentaries, with songs like Pipeline and Everything Counts.
And it was divisive amongst fans. Critically it was seen as a bold artistic shift, but some fans just didn't like it, and it still didn't do great commercially.
I think this is where the sort of underdog label came from. At this time it seems like they were sort of in a space where a fan would rave to you about how good they were, but if you weren’t into them, you might not get it.
And then, suddenly, they went global with the next one, Some Great Reward in ‘84. This one had a harder, more aggressive edge, and looked at themes of power, sexuality, religion. It got praised for its depth and was the first album to sell well internationally. It showed a maturing Depeche Mode.
But why am I talking about all this instead of Music for The Masses? Well because it’s relevant - Depeche Mode were a slow burn band. It took them a while for it all to come together, and along the way were peaks and troughs of success and... Less success.
So, I suppose we should get on to the album at hand. You can really think of Music for The Masses as a coming of age album or more accurately, when everything finally clicked together.
For years they’d played around with the sound, going back and forth between more industrial, more poppy, darker, lighter, different lyrical themes. And along the way they’d proven themselves to really the people that mattered - their fans. And earned the respect of the critics.
And as we've seen they had a respectable amount of success. But it just wasn’t consistent, especially commercially. They’d never managed to match up to their first album in that regard.
I doubt that was really their main concern to be honest, otherwise they would have just written some radio friendly hits and watched the money roll in.
And while that’s not what they did with Music for The Masses, they definitely made their music more accessible.
The shift was helped in a big way by working with a new producer - Dave Bascombe. And they gave him a bit of a headache right off the bat. Bascombe told SDE in 2019:
“There were some funny unwritten rules which took a bit of getting used to – when I hear ‘rules’ I think “oh come on! So, one was ‘no high hats’ – some of these rules went out the window later on – ‘no presets’, ‘no chords’, although we broke that a couple of times…”
Interestingly, he later worked with Vince Clarke - their early songwriter - and observed a lot of the same rules. So it looks like his influence continued long after he left the band.
But these little rules and quirks meant that he had to get creative in the studio. Normally, synths are great for playing big, atmospheric chords. But with these rules in place, if they wanted a chord, he had to split it into all its little component parts.
A bit like individually playing the notes on a guitar, but the digital version. Basically, overhandling. Not music for the masses indeed.
But Dave was up to it. One of the things that notably sets Music for The Masses Apart was the production level. Dave elevated the band to a much bigger, more atmospheric feeling. They’d always had good ambition with their music, but he helped turn it into a feeling.
The sort of thing critics would call expansive and sophisticated. It sounds like this:
See what I mean? It’s massive. Quick side note - you hear how that snare drum really snaps out at you? That’s because of an effect called gated reverb, which absolutely revolutionized the sound of drums in the 80’s. It was accidentally discovered while Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel were recording together - I’m going to make a full video on that soon, so make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it. Those drums are also sampled from ‘when the levee breaks’ by a little band called Led Zeppelin.
Anyway, it wasn’t just the sound production that made this album sound so good. Dave Bascombe has been very upfront about how the band themselves had a strong hand in the production process of the songs, to the point where he calls himself a co-producer with them.
As we’ve covered, they’d matured a lot as a band. They’d explored lots of different avenues, and knew what worked and what didn’t. And they’d never lost that willingness to experiment and be a bit out there.
They wanted to be out there. And on this album, they really tied all that experience together.
Music for the Masses features more layers and instruments than any album they’d done before, and it also benefitted from the fact that chief songwriter Martin Gore had really found his groove as a songwriter.
So what’s interesting to me is that he actually didn’t have a lot to do with the production side.
Dave Bascombe recalls that Martin would make these fairly basic demos, bring them to the band, and basically go: There’s the bones of it. Do something with this. And then really take a step back from the studio side.
That’s an interesting take from a songwriter - often they have an obsessive grip over their songs.
Whatever their process, it obviously worked. And then there’s the lyrical themes… They cover just about every part of the human existence.
Some songs look at the balance of control and submission, like Behind the Wheel. Others talk about desire and vulnerability, like on To Have and to Hold. There's songs about trust, dependence, morality, feelings of alienation.
And all of it set to the backdrop of this massive and varied sound of synths, found sounds, horns and just about anything.
In this way, you really could call it music for the masses: Everyone is going to find something in this album. There’s relatable themes and feelings everywhere, catchy hooks, weird quirky bits that you can pretend to understand and show off with in coffee shops.
It's the opposite of easy to digest pop music, but somehow it still catches your ear and holds on to it. It’s really a bit of a unique recipe, you just have to listen to it to understand.
Despite the tongue in cheek name, the band secretly had high hopes for the album
Music For the Masses was a hit - both commercially and critically. Finally, everything came together.
People praised its emotional depth and its scale. It sold like mad, and all of a sudden Depeche Mode were everywhere.
It was huge in the UK and Europe, cracking the top 10 all over the place, and broke the US market as well, just as they’d hoped.
One critic from AllMusic Review in 1987 claimed it:
“feels huge throughout, like they taped Depeche recording at the world's largest arena show instead of in a studio”
And that was a foreshadowing. The Music For the Masses tour of ‘87 and ‘88 became legendary for its massive arena shows, particularly in the US. In the Rose Bowl Arena in 1988, they played to 60,000 people.
The tour in the end played around 110 shows to approximately one million people. I don’t think they could still call themselves outsiders after that. This album solidified them as innovators of the scene.
Their next album, 1990’s Violator, went even bigger and remember, Depeche mode was seriously influenced by Kraftwerk - that is the one band on Earth that I reckon is more influential than The Beatles… in fact I’ve made a video about that - click below for that.
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