“Quite different”: The Depeche Mode song Martin Gore compared to rap music
Most of the divisive viewpoints surrounding Depeche Mode centre around what their music should be categorised as. While the obvious points to electronic, this has evolved into a dirty word for some, namely sceptics who believe that anything resembling electronic is associated with shortcuts and easy cheats. This is a fallacy, of course, especially considering the energy the band brings to live performances, but sometimes their music veers into realms distinguishable from the usual terrain.
Part of what made the band so globally cherished in the 1980s was their ability to bring an overt aura of heaviness to the music. This wasn’t electronic in the usual sense; it was music with bite, mainly due to their ability to combine rock and metal influences with melodic charm. Martin Gore always had a knack for songwriting, but it was Dave Gahan’s distinctive vocals that gave each track its endearing and haunting atmosphere.
It’s a sign of genuinely great music when a band transitions from generational appeal to somewhat of a cultish entity, but Depeche Mode’s trajectory is easy to understand, largely because it reflects their penchant for blending subtleties into their music, which often held a palpable energy on sound alone. Take some of their biggest hits, for instance, like ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’, ‘Never Let Me Down Again’, and ‘Shake The Disease’—there’s an inexplicable headiness there, almost like the records come adorned in an endearing hazy mist.
This persevered even in the band’s post-drug abuse, post-eclecticism eras when a return to more traditional electronic conventions to create something that best reflected the changes that occurred in their lives. With Sounds of the Universe, Gahan and Gore worked somewhat separately on some occasions, but the sounds they crafted maintained their signature darkness even in the crux of more overtly electronic notes.
For instance, even in sobriety, Gahan could tap into inexplicable musings with songs like ‘Hole to Feed’, navigating the perils of feeling a certain emptiness without knowing why or how it remained there. With ‘Wrong’, Gore injected the song with his signature darkness while instilling a layer of ambiguity to prevent it from becoming too sinister. According to Andy Fletcher, this was the perfect approach for a song he claimed to be “an antidote” to the inappropriateness of glossy, upbeat pop and its place in a broken society.
As a result, it plays out like something of a rant, with Gahan listing all of the ways he feels out of place in today’s world, like a defeatist chant, the venting kind that feels like a necessary burst of negative relief. “There’s something wrong with me chemically / Something wrong with me inherently,” Gahan sings, the consistency of his conjecture reflecting something outside of their usual territory, almost R&B-like.
This wasn’t entirely an accident; the “rap” feel mirrors the song’s sentiment perfectly, upholding its despaired core with unrelenting fervour. According to Gore, this was the closest they ever got to releasing an R&B-style song, making it difficult to categorise. “It’s quite different to anything we’ve released before,” he explained. “I don’t know quite what category to put it in musically, but it’s got a kind of rap feel to it. It’s probably as close to R&B as we’re ever going to sound.”
Although their signature dark electronic sound remains, ‘Wrong’ proves Depeche Mode’s ability to unknowingly converge the more appealing aspects of various genres while maintaining their usual roots. It’s a unique execution but one with enough Mode-specific familiarity to make it a thoroughly enjoyable addition.
