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Lucrare de atestat.

May
2014

Techno Revolutionars

Profesor coordinator : Doina Visan

Liceul Teoretic C.A.Rosetti

Candidat : Dumbravescu Carmen

Sauvage

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Contents
I) 1.*Motivational speech*
2.Albums
3. Before Depeche
- spicy bio factsII) 1. Beginings
2. Growing succes
III) 2.Dark theems
3. New offerings
4. *Personal opinion*

IV) 1. Enjoy the silence

( this is not a chapter, just a song)

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Motivational Speech

Depeche appeard in my life by accident. It all happed in a Wednesday on the first of june
2005. My father had just arrived from work carrying with him a bunch of miniclip games
alongsinde a pale painted music CD .Nothing out of the oridinary, I thought.Not being that
passionate into gaming I auditioned the record entitled Playing the Angel. Owing to its
dark tone and unwilling substance I wasnt that impressed at first, I was quite skeptical
at first, it wasnt my type of music.
Maybe, the album was destined to my father? I should have thought of thismaybe this
was one of the good accidentsbut still I cant stop asking myself if D.M sang about my
life , about theirs or just about life in general ?
A few weeks passed and those hursh and mind twisting words started to bounce in my
mind, that blanck eco had a new substance now, a new colour . I was expecting some
relaxing 2000 tunes speaking about love and freedom. But no, this guys were way pass
that period. That was a new one. Yet something wasnt quite right. The themes of the
songs were mainly about: lies, shame and pain. After listening the hole thing I felt
exhausted but released at the same time and wanting more .even if everything was a bit
out of the context
After a while, it seemed that the truth they spoked was something I trusted ,so.starting
from then my journey began. Fortunate enough .They were my joy, my reason and my
support: thay gave me, not stability but a methahizical shoulder to cry on, every now and
then.
When I was to pick my topic I told myself that if a sigh from nowhere was to face me and
could have ment something for me I would writte about that particularry thing or
phenomena,
Curiosly enough , a few days ago a car had just parked on my street when I was coming
home from school . The speakers of the car were booming out some verses of great
pleasure to my ears, which sounded something like this : words like violence break the
silence, come crushing in , into my little world , painfull to me pierce right through meoh
cant you understand , my little girl ? from the song Enjoy the silence and YES! those
words made me write about thie guys.
And so, if I want to tell you something Ill put you a song, for theve captured almast all
emotions of happiness and angst one can have in a lifetime. Finally I can say that at some
extent they are the mirror in wich everybody can see its true nature.

Enjoy the silence

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A new working mechanism had born... imagine you are going back in time.
Its 1981, the beginning of a new era, you are nearly 19 and D.M
have just released their debut album Speak and Spell.
Prepare yourself to hear the story of a music legend. .
You will withness it all : rules ,stakes and tragedies

Albums realeases
1.Speak& spell (1981)

Band Members

2.A broken frame (1982)

Current Members:

3.Construction Time Again( 1983)

Dave Gahan - lead vocals (1980)

4.Some Great Reward (1984)

Martin Gore - keyboards, guitars,

5.Black celebration(1986)

percussion, vocals (1980)

Andy Fletcher - keyboards, bass,

percussion, vocals (1980)

Past members:

Vince Clarke - keyboards, guitars,

vocals (19801981)

Alan Wilder - keyboards, piano,

drums,
percussion, vocals (19821995)

6. Music for the Masses(1987)

7. Violator(1990)

8. Songs of Faith and Devotion aka

SOFAD(1993)
9.Ultra(1997)
10.Exciter(2001)
11.Playing the anglel(2006)
12.Sounds Of The Univers(2009)
13.Delta Machine(2013)

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working class family.When David was

6 mounths old, his father left the

Dave Gahan
To be honest , music saved me

Born in Epping, on the 9th of may

1962, the
vocalist of
Depeche
Mode
,
Dave

family. Several years later his

mother Sylvia met her second
husband.

But

the

damadge

was

Gahan, has

done,The Gahan family continued to

grow with the birth of two boys:

a
strong
religious

Peter and Phil and sister Sue who

lived with the impression, that their

family

ste
pfa
the
r
Jac
k,

ascendance. The relattives from his

mother side were part of an
organization named: The Salvation
Army. He rejected from the very
beginning this idea. In his childhood,
he especially enjoyed going out with
friends rather than attending the
church mettings with his mother.
When he was only 6 months , his
father left home and was never to
be heard. David Gahan was born into
a

was

I was prettly wild.I loved the

excitement of nicking a motor,
screetching off and being chased
by the police. Hiding dehind the
wallwith your heart beating gives
you a real kick: ,,will they get you?

their
father.

natura
After

Jacks
death
Gahan met his
biological father
in 1972 for the
first
time,
Shortly
thereafter
his
father left again,
but this time definitely. To fill in the
gap, left behind by his runaway
father he was forced by different
conjunctures: to become a rebel, as
he
will
later
affirm

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Martin Lee. Gore

When I was young, Ive losted myself in the fantasy world

His interest in music started at the

age of eleven , when he discovered a
few
old
records of his
mom in the
cupboard
,
here including
: Elvis, Chuck
Berry , Del
Shannon.
After hearing
those records
Born on the 23th of june 1961..
M.Gore was raised by his stepfather
and biological mother. I led a normal

childhood Martin said about himself,

family life was stable ,
nothing too traumatic
occured. I remembered
I was a very good boy
until the age of five
when I started beating

more, he becamed more passionate in

music, From there on we can talk
about the birth of a little fire in his

spent most of my time in my

room, reading fairy-tales

cought me putting a brick over

another childs head. My father was
furious. He told me to never do that
again and so I did, becoming a passive
and harmless little chop. He was an
introverted child, according to his own
sayings. . I lost myself in the
fantasy world. At school I had a big
of

of times , or

I always had one friend or

only a few friends and I

other children. One day my mother

shortage

for a couple

self-confidence.

The

teachers only seldom heard my voice.

heart. At 11 , his
parents bought him his
first
guitar,
and
Norman
And
the
Worms was born. In

the same period he started to write

his first songs, even if they were silly.
In retrospective he is proud of them
now, His band lasted until 1979. I
stayed at school until I was 18 , in
opposition with Dave he really liked
school. Before D.M, he worked at a
bank. After finnishing high-school,
that was it, he couldnt have faced
university.

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Alan Wilder

I was raised in a musicians family

Classical music was played at our
house the whole time mainly due to my
brothers practising the piano
"I only got three O-levels because I
was lazy [12], left school during the
sixth form and went on the dole.[13]
There wasn't an idea of what I
wanted to do but a lot of things I
wouldn't want to do
After being turned down 40 times I
got a job at DJM Studios in New

Alan Charles Wilder was born 1 June

1959 in London
Alan grew
Acton,

up in
West-

London, in a normal,
and
presumably
conservative, middle
class environment.

The only good thing about DJM was

And, as arrogant as it
sounds, I always had
absolute conviction that
I'd be able to forge a
career for myself in
music

"The youth isn't so rebellion there

like in Basildon, where the others
come from. My parents weren't rich
nor
poor."[4]
They
"wanted
their
children
to have a
musical
education

Oxford Street. I was a tea boy,

really, an over-worked gofer.
that when bands finished
studio
often

sessions
leave

they'd
their

instruments behind so I
could muck about on a
keyboard or bash some
drums

Apparently his parents weren't

enthusiastic about his way of life and
wouldn't give him any financial
support. Many years later, Alan would
say that one of the things he
regretted was that he hadn't been in
with his parents for a while because
of "some sort of teenage angst".

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Andrew Fletcher
Before D.M I took religion seriosly alongside Vince Clarke.

Born on 6
july 1961 in
Nottingham.
His father
worked

and

Susan.

job at a insurance company, when he

could have done better, and he did
obviously, hes now part of D.M.

as

At the age of eighteen had stopped

an engineer,
and
his

practicing as a Christian , but it

remains in the blood. Fletch went to

mother Joy
was
a
housewife.

Nicholas Comprehensive and was in

the same
class
as

He

Martin. He
got
to

had a
brother

Simon ans
two sisters
Karen

In 1979 he did level A in politics, but

instead of going to university he got a

Rumours

about

know
Martin
and made

Fletch depression can be linked to the

early death of his sister and his

him
to

father maniac-depressive psychosis.

His family moved in Basildon, a new
founded town in the early 60. The

Boys Brigade too. He thought he

might have converted Martin. But
Marin was more interested in singing

town expanded quickly ,but it was very

unstable economicaly, finding a job
there being nearly impossible. When

and the atmosphere, albeit Martin

must have been influenced strongly by
this experience. Many of his lyrics

he was eight, he becomed involved by

accident with the church, entering

have a religious backround.

the Boys Brigade so he could play

football, at the request of his father.
It wasnt until 14 he got interested in
music, picking his first chords inside a
church. He took religion seriously ,
preaching alongside Vince Clarke.

come
the

9 | Page

entitled Orchestral Manoeuvres in the

Dark) they heard their own feature.

Beginings Problems with

labels
The New Wave music genre gave us
many amazing bands. One of the most
interesting aspects of New Wave was
the fact that it was so open-ended in

D.M couldnt afford it, but they

bought their own synthezisers (aka.
Keyboards) to make new waves of
music. For their group name theyd
copied the name of a French Magazine
because they wanted to be out
front. They made a demo tape, and
took it to the record labels, and sat
there in the office, insisting that the
label play the tape. Back then, labels
hardly behave that way, though David
Gahan recalled, Most of them would
tell us to fuck off. Theyd say just
leave the tape with us Wed answer
its our only one. Them wed say Bye

terms of style. This meant that a wide

range

of

groups

were

able

to

contribute to the genre thanks to it

lacking a certain musical homogeneity.
The most important aspects of New
Wave werent a strict adherence to
specific songwriting rules but rather
an attitude and spirit that combined
aspects of punk and pop with a slick
production sheen and more thoughtprovoking lyrics that were typically
found in 80s radio playlists.
During

the

80s,

Depeche

Mode

issued six albums.Their eears were

open and when they heard the beginng
of electronic music ( a single
Electricity by an Electronical duo

and go to another label .

But they were in London now, dragging
their synthesizers around town by
hand until their first Mute Recors
single Dreaming of me got to #57
in English Charts. Their second single
, New life went up to #11. Then
their third , a Top Ten now just
cant get enough- wich even got them
their first music video . With three
hit singles in a row, the guys were now
pleased to sing to an audience with
new ears. But it wasnt until Violator,
they could really affirm as a powerfull
act with growing roots in the history
of music.

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1995 to focus on his solo project,

Growing succes

Recoil, and Gahans heroin addiction,

On the heels of their 1987 album

Music for the Masses, Depeche Mode
played a follow-up world tour in
198788 to sold-out venues. The tour
culminated in a final concert at the
Pasadena Rose Bowl with a sell-out
attendance of 80,000+ (the highest in
eight years for the venue).

attempted
recovery,

The groups next

effort, Ultra,

released

in

1997, featured hits Its No

Good and Barrel
of
a
Gun and stronger, more
controlled vocals by Gahan.
The 2000 A new Era
2001- Exciters sound is
almost like a summer-

The cause of this topping

was a synth-pop album
named Violator, a title they explained
as a joke. We wanted to come up with
the most extreme, ridiculously Heavy
Metal title that we could. They
thought of Violator as a pro-rapist
word.
The group fallowed the succes of
Violator with SOFAD in 1993 wich
debuted on the charts at number one.
Though a commercial and popular
success, the album-wich reached
platinum in may of 1993- and its
characteristically synth-heavy though
mostly guitar-driven tracks did not
fair as well critically This is a slicky
produced , highly listenable album, but
there is in the end a failure of nerve
hiatus,

lengthy
release

1995 = Alan leaves the band ,

The
BIGGEST
splash
opening of any album came
in 1990. Depeche Mode sold
big, chart topping like
those four Beatles, and
other whoppers.

four-year

and
the

of Songs. In the same manner , Martin

turns to alchool and Fletch goes mad.

1990 = Violator

suicide,
followed

marked

by

Wilders departure from the group in

breeze,
a
compulsionary

mix
of
and organic

sounds,
2005 - Playing the angel
Considered one of the best albums
since SOFAD The mood swings from
hurt in tracks like "A Pain That I'm
Used To" and "I Want It All" to hope,
which tentatively radiates from
"Nothing's Impossible". The first
single, "Precious", manages to retain a
pop catchiness while still remaining
very much a lament. The whole album
is an ode to isolation and confusion.
Glowing with crystalline synths, softly
menacing
guitars
and
fragile
contemplation, Playing The Angel
conjures up an almost tangible sense
of damage

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2009 = S.O.T.U

I was dreaming of the past, and

my heart was beating fast/ I began
to loose control, I began to loose
control Jealous Guy - The
Beatles
Depeche Mode's twelfth album opens
with a tone of such a high frequency
that maybe some of their older fans
may at first struggle to make it out.
The result sounds like a time machine
back to the Eighties",

Corrupt'
This
opens
like
a
track
from Violator complete with Gahan's
lizard croon: "I could corrupt you/it
would be easy. / Watching you suffer
/ girl, it would be easy." It seems that
despite maturity and all, the Mode can
still be slightly creepy if they want.

A wrong track
The first single is classic Mode with
Gore casting Gahan in the role of
corrupt preacher, like a character
from Flannery O'Connor's southern
gothic novel Wise Blood, railing
against his almost apocalyptic bad
luck. His slightly mad ravings elevate
the scenario to the scale of black
comedy:

"I was born in the wrong house / with

the wrong sign / in the wrong
ascendency. / I took the wrong road /
that led to / the wrong tendencies. /
I was in the wrong place / at the
wrong time / for the wrong reasons /
on the wrong night / of the wrong day
/ on the wrong week. / I used the
wrong method / with the wrong
technique".

Who knows who the 'intended victim'

of the song is and what she's done to
upset the Basildon boys but this is
perhaps a reminder that no matter
how old they get physically, we don't
want them to mature too much.

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Dark themes

Alienation is a prevalent theme in

Depeche Modes oeuvre.
The group formed in 1981 after
feeling disenfranchised from the
music scene.

Despite the paranoid sounds, the band

still managed to crank out crowdpleasing anthems such as the dazzling
Enjoy the Silence, the pensive
Personal Jesus and the rocking I Feel
You.

We felt rock came to a dead end and

electronics were a way forward. We
started out as a purist electronic
band as we felt that was the only way
to go with th music, Gore says.

Down-to-earth beats

Depeche Modes 1981 debut Speak and

Spell was a calling card that was led
by
the
atmospheric
debut
single
New Life and
the danceable
Just Cant Get
Enough.
The
groups sound
and image took
an increasingly
darker
turn
with
each
releas.

Despite the paranoid sounds, the

still managed to crank out crowdpleasing anthems such as the dazzling
Enjoy
the
Silence,
the
pensive Personal
Jesus and the
rocking I Feel
You.

By the time the groups twin

masterworks 1990s Violator and
1993s Songs of Faith and Devotion
arrived, the singer Dave Gahan
transformed from pop posterboy to a
writhing mascara-clad frontman. On
the music front, the chilly synths of
earlier albums made away for harder
blues and rock elements.

On the music front, the chilly synths

of earlier albums made away for
harder blues and rock elements.

While admitting
the band always
had an eye for the future, Gore says
Depeche Mode songs are always downto-earth.
The way I always try to describe it is

that we try to capture the emotion

and passion in music, he says. I find
that if you can make that real for
yourself it will somehow translate to
other people. We want to be realistic
and honest with our music and not
create some false world.

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delighted Delta Machine was created

with relative ease.

We have never had a full game plan

especially not a long-term one. Id
like to think that what we do
happens
organically.
We
just
finished a tour , so we will take a

break for a while When it feels

right, we will get togheter and talk
about the future.
Martin L. Gore March 2014

New offerings
2013 Delta Machine

While still imbued with its fair share

of darkness, the 13th album has

I dont think that we genuinely

appeal to the average person, Gore
says. We are outsiders and we
attract outsiders and there are a lot
of them around at the moment.
shards of light and hope.
The lead single Heaven is as close as
the boys get to a gospel song.
While the slow-burning ballad is an
odd choice to introduce the album
Gore says it summed up the new-found
belief within the group.
Making Depeche Mode music is not a
torturous affair anymore, he says.

Another aspect, the band are honest

about, is the tensions within the
group.
The groups internal ructions included
both Gore and Gahan battling heavy
substance abuse and the founding
member Vince Clarke quitting the
band after their debut album to find
success with Erasure.
With numerous albums recorded in
fraught circumstances,
Gore
is

We have a really good formula going,

says Gore. Dave puts a lot of time
and effort into working on the vocals,
which makes the recordings so much
easier. He would go in every day and
do vocal warm-ups so when the time
comes to record, it will be three or
four takes and weve got it.
Despite the success, the
outsider status continues.

bands

The bands guitarist, keyboardist and

chief songwriter Martin Gore says
there is truth to the statement that
Depeche Mode are the worlds biggest

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cult band. The Depechies are not a

normal

lot,

he

Conclusions
Who are they? What have we learned ? Pioneers in industrial rock, sensational in live
concerts with a portfolio bagadge of 36 years and still counting .Not like any other bands
DM oscilated their sound as quickly as their name.
In the early 80,the sound was a sort of techno music with pop
elemets, later on confirmed to be a great recipe for
international success. When their first album, "speak and spell
"was conquering fresh audience that was when "people were
people" and all the members were singing their hearts off. After
this first breakthrough it was clear that they had something
seriously going on, so the only thing to do was to work, and work and
again work issuing a total of 8 albums in the 80.
After a while a member thought it through and
decided to
the band
due to the increasing
popularity. And so, the next
tranzitory period was marked by the dearture of
Vince and the arrival of Alan.
As from that moment. That former girlish glam
band sorted out their adolescence drammas and
went to a higher level of experience with a non
album release..."get the ballance right"..and so it
was . In 1987 they performed on Pasadena
Stadium, gathering a crowd of 80.000, a record
for the venue. Succes doesnt come alone, so after
just three years they released Violator . In 1995
, a downfall was announced by Daves heroin addiction
and Gores drinking probems , and so, the band sufferd a
major
breakdown and left Alan no choise but to quit the team on the
first
of
june ,later that year.Later on, things changed dramatically
when
the
guys had started to work on their own solo performances. The
question was why. Maybe they wanted a break just like Alan. Even so the fracture left
behind by their own doings must have certaintly triggerd off Alan among others.
However, a thing is sure , we can always find an answer to this crisis in the 1997 Songs of
faith and devotion . All in all , D.M can be represented by the mask of Ianus , from greek
mythology, one side is showing laughter and joy, whereas the other one is in sorrow and
pain. As to conclude, the sogs talk for theimselfs all you have to do is to listen.

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Sitography:
http://thequietus.com/articles/01306-depeche-mode-sounds-of-the-universethe-first-review-of-new-album
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Depeche_Mode.aspx
http://www.allmusic.com/album/exciter-mw0000000268
http://www.last.fm/music/Depeche+Mode
www. Wikipedia.org

Bibliography:
Revista Sunete
Revista Roling Stones

Books:
Depeche Mode Monument
Stripped