The Depeche Mode song Martin Gore hates the most
They might have written the innocuous 1981 hit ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, but following this pop-oriented chapter at the start of their career, Depeche Mode would metamorphose and fuse the burgeoning dance music with rock and industrial to create a distinctive sound that made the trivial palettes of their early days just a distant memory.
Many of our favourite, more recent artists can be in part traced back to the Basildon group. In a demonstration of their pull, Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park, The Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt and Paul van Dyk have all cited their importance to their careers. Even heavy metal legends Fear Factory have effused about Depeche Mode’s impact.
One man to whom much of Depeche Mode’s success can be attributed is guitarist, keyboardist and sometime vocalist Martin Gore. The band was formed in 1980 by him, Dave Gahan, Vince Clarke and the late Andy Fletcher. A reason why they were so pop-oriented in the early days was that Clarke was the principal songwriter, with his new wave hallmarks found across the 1981 debut album Speak & Spell. However, Clarke would leave the group at the end of the year to form Yazoo with Alison Moyet before founding Erasure later in the decade.
After Clarke left, Gore took the reins as Depeche Mode’s primary songwriter, a position he has maintained ever since. Following this period, he was instrumental in them constructing a series of increasingly essential albums. Starting with 1982’s A Broken Frame, this heyday continued until 1995. It produced the likes of 1986’s Black Celebration and the following year’s Music for the Masses before culminating in 1990’s Violator, which brought the band immense international success. Reflecting the weight of the latter record, it contained two of the band’s definitive songs, ‘Enjoy the Silence’ and ‘Personal Jesus’.
Apart from the music becoming more robust and stimulating, thematically, Gore’s songs are a stark departure from Clarke’s, and this substance had a significant role in Depeche Mode rising to the heights they did. Often discussing sex, religion and politics, Gore himself has said that he thinks lyrics that analyse solitude and loneliness are a better representation of life than “happy songs”. However, he did maintain that to counterbalance such intense aspects, Depeche Mode’s music contains a dash of hope. You can hear this notion clearly in the bittersweet climax of ‘Enjoy the Silence’.
Despite Martin Gore being such an accomplished musician, he does have misgivings about some of his work, which is natural, given how extensive his back catalogue is. When appearing on Channel 4’s music show Popworld, Gore, Gahan, and Fletcher sat down with the impish host Simon Amstell to list their ‘Big Ones’. It was during this segment that the group were individually asked to name what they think is the worst Depeche Mode effort. Up first, Gore wasted no time in stating it is ‘What’s Your Name?’ from their debut album before Fletcher said the same. The lyrics were then mocked by both members. Unsurprisingly, the song in question was a Vince Clarke composition.
Listen to the song and watch the clip below.
