BIOGRAPHY1981
Overview: Released this year were Photographic on the Some Bizarre Album, the singles Dreaming Of Me / Ice Machine, New Life / Shout and Just Can't Get Enough as well as the album Speak & Spell.
At the time when Photographic was published on the Some Bizarre Album the first longer article about DM appeared on January 31, 1981 in Sounds. The journalist Betty Page described DM as "very young, tender and fresh-as-a-mountain-stream"[1] and so on. Maybe she actually found them cute but she stamped the image of DM in England with that for the next ten years. A couple of years later David remarked about this time: "You know what England's like - the first thing you ever do, that's it. It's written on your gravestone."[2]
Later they not only regretted their early naiveté according to the media but they
also regretted their appearance on the Some Bizarre Album because from that time
onwards they had to ward off against the prejudice to be part of the "futurist scene" or
to be one of the "new romantics".
David: "I don't like that scene at all. All the bands involved with it are in one
bunch together and they'll never escape from it. We write pop music, electric pop,
so we couldn't get tagged by appearing on that album. Once people hear the single
[Dreaming Of Me], they'll change their minds!"[3]
Well, they didn't. Not really. There are statements of this type to
about 1985 because they had been asked about the "futurist scene" and
"new romantic" over and over again. And it also took them a long time to not being
seen as cute anymore.
(with friendly permission of © Juan Luis V.C.)
As well as in 1980 DM also played a lot of gigs in small clubs in 1981
but at that time they were far away from something you could call a tour.
At the beginning of February they started to move away from London a bit and had
gigs on February 2 in Leeds and on February 3 in Sheffield.
They simply travelled by train or car, the synthesizers stuffed under their
arms.
On February 20 Dreaming Of Me / Ice Machine was released
as DM's first own single. It had been recorded at Blackwing Studios and
wasn't commercially released in the US. Two mixes of the song were released,
one which fades out, and one with a so called "cold end". The B-Side,
Ice Machine, is similarly available in a fading version, and one with
a "cold end". Due to the poor chart placement, Dreaming of Me did not
originally appear on Speak and Spell. In the US, it was on the original
pressing of the album, replacing I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead.
Nevertheless it was a special moment for the band, of course,
when the single got on place 57 of the charts and was played
on the radio for the first time. They all came to Mute's little office and sat
around the radio.
Fletch: "By comparison doing things like Top Of The Pops later in the year
for New Life wasn't the great thing I expected it to be - no excitement
at all."
David: "Hovering around the Top 40 with Dreaming was a great feeling
- unrepeatable."[4]
At that time everyone was still engaged in education or jobs. Fletch worked as a
pension clerk for the Sun Life insurance company, Martin was employee of the
National Westminster Bank, David made an education to become a window-dresser,
Vince was on the dole or did some jobs, e.g. at a yoghurt fabric.
And although they played a lot of gigs and had other duties they didn't dare to
give up their jobs. Especially Martin and Fletch hesitated.
Considering the high unemployment rate in England at that time this is understandable.
If they had failed with the band it would have been very difficult to get back in a
"normal" job.
But with the increasing success it became more and more difficult to keep their
day-jobs. When New Life charted Daniel Miller told them they should give
up their jobs but they still weren't certain about it.
David: "I used to be a window dresser on Oxford Street, John Lewis. We'd
started playing the clubs and someone tapped on the window: 'Are you in Depeche
Mode?' I left that afternoon."[5]
This is not completely correct actually. He might have given up this job but
from the college he was rather gone than he would have given it up himself.
David: "When the band first started, I was at college studying fashion.
I loved it - the lecturers, the people there - but my heart was in music. So
I was forever missing days and disappearing off to rehearse with the rest of
the band. This went on for ages, until I was hardly ever in college. So in
the end, there was only one thing the principal could do - expel me. I was
pretty upset at first as I enjoyed the course, but I know it wasn't totally right
for me. But I've been forgiven, thank goodness. When we got to the charts with
our first single, the principal sent me a note congratulating us on our success
- I was really pleased. I didn't think he'd ever speak to me again."[6]
According to rumours it was made clear that the college was the last stop before
borstal. So it wasn't that "harmless" that he had to leave school. Therefore he
was only "forgiven" apparently because of the visible success.
After Dreaming Of Me a licence-contract with Sire for the US-market
was sealed. Besides there were made European deals for the next single
New Life / Shout that was released on June 13.
There were two versions of New Life available. The 7" version would later
become the album version, as it would eventually appear on the UK version
of Speak And Spell, and a slightly different 12" remix. This would later
appear on the US version of Speak And Spell. The single itself wasn't
commercially released in the US.
The single became the band's breakthrough hit in the UK, peaking at number 11.
The B-side, Shout, was the first song to get a 12" extended remix,
called the "Rio Remix".
Right after the release of New Life the recording of Speak And Spell
started. The first song to be recorded was the third single Just Can't Get Enough
- as well as Dreaming Of Me and New Life in the Blackwing Studios.
David: "Just Can't Get Enough took an age to record because we still
had New Life on the boil and a lot of our time was taken up with interviews.
We just couldn't concentrate on recording and the first time we did
Just Can't Get Enough it was terrible. It was a relief when it came out."[7]
On July 16 DM had their debut at TOTP, (another source says it
had been on June 25), before they travelled "to
Europe" the first time - to The Hague where they played a gig at Zuiderspark
on July 25.
With Just Can't Get Enough an all time classic
was released on September 7, and DM travelled to the continent again.
On September 25 they had their first gig in Germany - in the "Markthalle"
in Hamburg. Besides they played in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.
Just Can't Get Enough was the first single to be released in the US.
The single version is the same that appears on the UK version of
Speak And Spell. The 12" single featured the "Schizo Mix", which appears
on the US version of Speak And Spell.
In addition, the single's B-side Any Second Now was the first
commercially available instrumental track of the band. A version including
vocals - sung by Martin - appeared on the album as Any Second Now (Voices).
The single reached number 8 on the UK Singles Charts. Just Can't Get Enough
also was the first song to get a music video, which was directed by Clive Richardson.
Fletch: "The Just Can't Get Enough video was a funny one. Made in
London - it was a real cheapo as we had to pay for it. We are in this club (in the
video) and there's all these girl dancers and we're drinking cocktails, we chat
them up and Martin gets left without a bird - really funny."[8]
Success was mainly credit of Vince. Not only because he had written the first hit
singles.
Fletch: "A lot of the reasons we made it was because of Vince. He was pushing
and pushing. You've got to give him credit - he was very ambitious.[9] It was his aim
to make money and drive a Rolls-Royce through the centre of Basildon. He used to
work in a yoghurt factory and earn £30 a week, of which he'd save £29.50. Without
Vince's drive Depeche Mode wouldn't have happened.[10]"
At that time the rest of the band still hadn't such ambitious endeavours.
It seemed to be some kind of dream to them. Here and there they were quite realistic,
and sometimes it seemed as if they simply couldn't believe it.
Fletch: "We didn't want to stay in garages, and obviously the dream is to be
successful. But we never thought it would happen. It just has!"[11]
David: "We've managed to avoid making the mistakes that so many young bands
make. We had lots of offers from big record companies and it was very tempting 'cos
they offer you a big advance, but what's the point, you only have to pay it back!"[12]
Maybe they'd managed to avoid making mistakes like these. Instead they made other ones. Handling the media was very difficult for them in these early days. So it happened that various journalists wrote articles in which they introduced the band to the public. Unfortunately, most of them found them "cute" and ridiculed them. Sometimes you got the feeling that the journalists didn't know what to ask them. It seems as if the boys were simply too nice and therefore not interesting enough as persons. On one hand this isn't a nice thing, on the other hand it shows that they could let their music speak for them and that they had a strong live appearance from the beginning. Otherwise people wouldn't have bought their records or went to their gigs.
Because of the band didn't seem interesting enough many journalists picked up
Basildon as a main topic. There are many descriptions of the town but Basildon was
and is such a boring place that I don't know why they even tried to find out how on
earth a band could be founded in a city like this. A band can be founded in
every city on this planet, so there was no need to make such a fuzz about it.
David: "We're from Basildon, Essex. It's a new town. A lot of people think
it's just a country town but it's quite built up. Housing estates ... and there's
an industrial estate there ..."[13]
Fletch: "In fact it has a population of 180,000."
Martin: "Oh, Andy knows everything, even the population."
Fletch: "Believe me, it's got an electoral roll of 107,000 and that's not
including kids. That's the biggest in the country, and next time it has got to be
split up into Basildon East and West."[14]
David: "When Simon Bates introduces us on Top Of The Pops, he makes a
special point about us coming from Basildon - why?"
Martin: "Because nothing good ever comes out of here?"[15]
(a place in Basildon - with friendly permission of © Julieanne Savage)
When they were asked about the music then it always was connected to clichés so
it seems the band members felt forced to statements like these:
David: "Just because we use synthesizers, we get classed as a futurist band.
Our music’s not futurist. Vince just writes pop songs."[16]
Vince: "I think the word pop is really good because it's light and happy. I
think it's a nice word. I like words. I like the sound of words, and the way words
fit together and rhyme - things like that. Or they way they sound coming from my
mouth. The sound of words rather than the meaning of words. For instance, when I
write a phrase or something, I think about how easy it is to sing, to fit in with
the melody. When I write songs I can't write like Simon and Garfunkel. I wish I
could in some ways, but I can't, so when I write lyrics I just use words as words.
I don't really write about anything. I think in the sort of stuff we're doing, it's
good to use certain words. I think words are very fashionable. I'll give you an
example, right? Words to use in a good electronic song - fade, switch, light -
anything like that. Room, door - words like that. It's quite nice. Fade
- that's an excellent word. It's a word for '81 - it's got to be! I think the word
pop, it's not just the words, right? It's the whole feel of the song. And it's
just light, y'know?"[17]
Or in a short form:
David: "It's just the pop sound of the '80s, that's what I would describe
Depeche Mode as."
Fletch: "A lot of people still don't realise that the whole of our set is pop.
Virtually all our songs are pop songs. I think people think it might not be like
that."
Martin: "They think we're jokes!"
Fletch: "Naah ... a lot of people have still got this thing - synthesiser,
he must be moody. You get a lot of Numanoids [fans of Gary Numan] coming to our
gigs."
David: "There was this bloke come to see us the other day and he said to me
after the show - I think it's really bad the way you have all your friends in the
audience talking to you and that, and then we're all over here and you don't react
to us. I said well what do you mean? He said: I think it's really bad that you have
like all your friends in the changing room. I said well what do you want me to
say c'mon all the audience into the changing room. He said - well have you got lots
of friends? I said well I've got a few. He said - well I haven't got any. Well pity
you mate! Isn't that a friend, a guy who was with him. He said - yeah he's a friend,
but not a friend like that. It was really weird! I couldn't be bothered talking to
him. He thought that we should be like Gary Numan and have the distant lonely
look and image. Because we play synthesisers and we're supposed to look strange at
people, and not smile. The bloke didn't like the way I smiled at people!"[18]
Unfortunately most of the questions they were asked were simply ridiculous. Like the
one what they would do as soon as the innocence was gone ...
Vince: "Grow into something else I suppose. I dunno. We haven't contrived
any particular image for ourselves. If people draw any conclusion from the lyrics
it's up to them. We don't set out to portray any particular image of innocence,
we don't pretend or anything."[19]
... or which tooth paste they used ...
David: "Well, round me girlfriend's house, I use Colgate." [And at home none? :D]
Fletch: "Ultrabrite I use."
David: "There's one really horrible one."
Martin: "Crest."
David: "Bloody horrible, that."
Martin: "It ain't that bad."
David: "It is. S'horrible."
Fletch: "It's alright on toast ... a ham and crest sandwich."
David: "This is a joke ... ho, ho, ho."[20]
... and they found out that Martin liked to strip. (A topic, that would
become "interesting" in later years.)
David: "When we play Basildon again it'll be crazy. Martin's just going to
have a loincloth. Mart likes to show his top off ... you like your body, don't you
Mart ..."
Fletch: "He loves it ..."
David: "Yeah, that's how he ended up on Top Of The Pops, he took his shirt
off in the dressing room and said, 'shall I go on like this'."
Fletch: "He's even been known to kiss his own body."
Martin: "You're making this up ... At least I don't wear Y-fronts. Andy used
to wear Y-fronts until a week ago, but we converted him to a briefs man ..."
Fletch: "What!? ... I don't wear them - you do!"
Martin: "Yeah, he said 'what shall I do if I get a girl on this tour' ...
this bit's going to be embarrassing."[21]
With the time it got clear to them that the thing with the media went wrong
completely.
David (years later): "We made a lot of mistakes in terms of the way we put
ourselves across and put ourselves about. We were prepared to do anything.
Not necessarily to sell ourselves. We were just completely naive. We thought
it would be good to be in Smash Hits answering questions about our socks,
appearing on Saturday morning television, making prats of ourselves. We didn't
realize at the time that we were degrading ourselves. Then it reached a point
where we realized it wasn't helping us anymore. In fact, it was becoming very
negative."[22]
Sometimes self-criticism came up in 1981, too:
Fletch: "There's nothing really that people can say about us is there?
All other bands go on about political things, we don't talk about our views."
David: "We don't have political views, I don't think."
Fletch: "There's always an extrovert member of a band with strong views."
Vince: "We don't stand for anything united do we?"
Fletch: "We haven't got a person who's domineering."
David: "That's good!"
Fletch: "On the other hand, that's why our interviews are very empty, 'cause
usually the loudmouth of a band goes on about what the Labour party are doing or
something."[23]
Here and there they tried to be more serious. Some of these quotations show the
starting conflict with Vince.
Vince: "We want to change our sound, get some new stuff together, get a
good live show. We don't want to get like Kraftwerk, we don't want to use tapes
anymore."[24]
The reel-to-reel tape machine was a standard feature in the early years. It was
visible on the stage because they didn't want to seem to pretend to be doing
something they weren't doing. While Vince obviously had other plans the rest
of the band seemed to feel quite comfortable with this tape machine.
David: "The tapes we've got now sound like real drums anyway. We don't need
a drummer anyway - it's just another person to pay![25]"
As we know today, it took a long time before they would use live drums on stage
and even more time before they would employ a full paid drummer for live shows.
Vince obviously didn't feel well with the band and the project from a certain point
onwards. Probably it was a growing dissatisfaction, although a special event was
blamed for it.
David: "There was a guy who interviewed us for the Daily Star, Ricky Sky,
and he was desperately looking for a headline, an angle, and he was saying to us -
haven't you done anything really exciting, what's been happening? We said well
nothing really, although when we played at Ronnie Scott's once all the lights went
out! He was excited by this, then he started to talk about looks and he said 'do
you think it's an advantage to be good looking and in a band?'' Vince said 'Yeah,
obviously, it's an advantage in life to be good looking'. Rick Sky made it out that
Vince had said 'ugly bands never make it, if you're good looking then you're number
one'. Since then Vince has never ventured out of his flat! He is so upset. It
really hit him hard. He hasn't been out for six weeks and he had a real bad
depression."[26]
From this on Vince hardly took part in common interviews. In his biography
Jonathan Miller brought up the rumour that Vince consumed a lot of speed at that time.
Maybe this was a reason for his depressions. Another rumour is that he didn't like
Martin and David letting their girlfriends take part in everything. He preferred
not to mix up private things with business. But I have doubts that these were the
reasons for Vince's strange behaviour.
Vince finished work at Speak & Spell (a title the band wasn't able to explain
- David: "Don't know why, it just sounds nice."[27]) - and was ready to go on
tour with the band for not spoiling the just sealed contracts.
But before the tour-start Vince told the other members that he was going to leave
the band: "Breaking the news was terrible. They were expecting it in some ways.
I'd been going through a gloomy phase, but I had to go round to their houses and
tell them. I knew they knew, but it was still horrible."[28]
Martin: "I was the one person Vince didn't tell. He went round and knocked on
Andy’s door, knocked on Dave's door. He said he would continue with the tour he'd
committed to with us, but basically after that he'd be leaving. But he never had
that conversation with me. Andy phoned me."
David: "I definitely felt betrayed. But in retrospect I see why he left.
What Vince saw was that being in a band, you kind of have to listen to each other.
You all have ideas, but Vince didn't want that."[29]
None of the other three thought about giving up the band. Martin could replace
Vince as a songwriter, and at that time - after they had given up their jobs -
there was no return.
Martin (years later): "I think we should have been slightly more worried
than we were. When your chief songwriter leaves the band, you should worry a bit.
I suppose that's one of the good things about being young. If we had panicked,
we probably wouldn't be here today."[30]
On October 5 Speak And Spell was released, and DM started
their first real tour. It took place in Great Britain, started on
October 31 in Newcastle, included 14 gigs and ended on November 16
in London.
They did the tour with a mini-bus together with with the two musicians of the
support band, Blancmange, the tour manager and the fiancées of Dave and Martin -
Jo[anne] and Anne. The girls worked on the promotional side of the tour, dealing
with requests from fans and selling t-shirts.
The atmosphere between the remaining band members and Vince was quite cold.
Martin: "He'd tended to sit up the front of the van, saying nothing."[31]
David: "He only spoke when he was spoken to."
Fletch: "It put us out on a limb really, but luckily we thought he was
going to leave a few months before he did so we'd been planning, sort of thing.
He'd been getting more distant from the group."[32]
During the tour they tried not to let their internal problem show to the surface
but sentences like this:
David: "Vince has written a lot of material in the past, but we're all
starting to write now."
or this one:
Martin: "Vince's lyrics are odd really, they don't mean anything. This is
a question Vince should answer ... but he won't."[33]
showed what the band was heading to.
Sources are not sure about the correct date of Vince's official leaving.
Some say that the last gig with him was the one on November 16, others count
the TVS TV Show in Chichester on December 3 as the last common
concert.
Some say that November 30 is the day when Vince's leaving was
announced officially, others say it was in the beginning of December
and others say it was on December 12.
Vince: "I never expected the band to be this successful. I didn't feel happy.
Or contented. Or fulfilled. And that's why I left. All the things that come with
success had suddenly become more important than the music. We used to get letters
from fans saying: 'I really like your songs'; then we got letters saying: 'Where do
you buy your trousers from?' There was never enough time
to do anything. Not with all the interviews and photo sessions.[34] Everything
happened for us very, very quickly. We had these massive egos by that time and
you know sitting inside the van was intolerable for all of us. We were all
intolerable to each other. We were all pretty young, it just went to our heads.[35]"
I don't know but I can't imagine that this was true. Most sources say
the band members were pretty naive and shy at this time. "Massive egos" and
"intolerable" sounds strange therefore. So
It's difficult to understand why Vince really left. It seems that the other three
band members didn't understand it either.
In 1982 David commented it with: "He didn't like what was happening to
Depeche Mode, didn't like being famous, didn't like touring. Now he's had a couple
of hit singles with Yazoo, they've got an album out and they go on tour in September -
it's a bit hypocritical really."[36]
And in 1990 simply with: "That's what he said, but I think that's a lot
of bulls***, to be quite honest."[37]
Well, can't help to see it similar. In the fan survey on this
website 20 percent of the participants also say that everything
he said seems to be illogical.
Vince's main argument that he didn't like being a star and couldn't handle
the fuzz seems to be absurd because he immediately founded a new band right after
leaving DM. There also must have been interviews - Yazoo had a number-one-hit!
- photoshootings, letters from fans, touring ... - all these things that had gone
beyond him before and hadn't made him happy.
Speculations like "he felt that they weren't at the same level" or "he wanted
to have control over the music and for his plans the others weren't the
right partners" probably hit the mark much better. Maybe he felt that
"the band was moving into another direction (although they were too shy
to tell him directly)". He once said that "Martin is a genius
but he doesn't know". Maybe he was anxious that Martin was the better
songwriter and would replace him silently in the course of time.
It's interesting that only 32 percent of the fans see his role as
"crucial because there would be no DM without him" while 21 percent are
"very glad that he's gone because otherwise DM would have been never become
what they are today."
So maybe it was a good thing that they refused when Vince offered to write
songs for DM further on. (Something that is strange too: Why he still wanted to
write songs for them but didn't want to be in the band anymore?)
Martin: "He came along to rehearsal with two new songs, and he was
teaching us how they went." (One of them was Only You, the later number 1 hit
of Yazoo.) "When he went to the toilet we just looked at each other and said,
'We can't sing these, they're terrible!'"[38]
(with friendly permission of © Anja - compositionofsound)
In December the band was looking for a stage-musician to replace Vince at gigs.
Alan: "After various other bands like The Hitmen, I was in my customary
state – broke, bored and leafing through the classifieds in the Melody Maker,
I saw an ad which said 'Known Band seek synth player. Must be under 21'."[39]
He didn't like the music of DM at all as he said later and it was clear to him that
it only could be DM because he had heard about Vince's leaving. Nevertheless he
went to the rehearsal and lied about his age (he was 22 at this time) -
"because I needed the money".[40]
Fletch: "We put an advert in Melody Maker. Daniel met the people first,
then we had an audition at Blackwing. It was down to about five people, heaven
knows the ones Daniel booted out. The funny thing is, Alan lied about his age.
He was over 21 but he was easily the best. There were some real Depeche Mode
fans there but Alan is a really great classically trained musician and we went
'what you have to do, you play this little one ... de de de ... but the hardest thing,
you have to sing this as well'. We were going 'what, that's amazing, in two seconds
he's done that!'. It was really funny."[41]
Daniel Miller wasn't that enthusiastic about Alan at first.
Alan: "I think Daniel felt I was overqualified with my classical
background ... that I could play, y'know, complicated pieces on the piano,
and Depeche Mode was born on the punk move really."[42]
Instead Daniel had a liking for another guy but the band preferred Alan.
There were some discussions and a second rehearsal although time was tight. There
were already plans for a tour.
Alan: "I went to two auditions before landing the job.[43] It was quite a
shock, because at the time they were using three of the smallest synths you
could find. At my audition, Martin had a little Yamaha CS5, Fletch was on a
Moog Source, and I was given a Moog Prodigy. We all played one-note riffs,"
(laughs) "and I have to admit I felt a little bit naked without more keyboards
around me.[44] I thought they were a bit wimpy – understandable at the time.
On the other hand they were charming and friendly and the music was simple.
I could appreciate that.[45] Therefore I decided to stay with them a couple of
months.[46]"
It's well known that from the months became years and probably DM wrote a couple
of songs within this time Alan liked. ;-)
Also in December 1981 See You was recorded - just with the
remaining three band members, without Alan but with Daniel Miller
as the producer.
Up to this point the band history is not very spectacular. You find this in almost every band biography: Some lads join together, make music, found a band, are lucky enough to get a record contract, one of the founding members is leaving and another one is joining. Working for a music magazine I've heard exactly this story a hundred times. And of course also in the later history there are many analogies to other bands - but nevertheless there are some very unique points in the history of DM that will be showed up during this biography.
References:
[1] This Year's Model(l), Sounds, 31st January 1981. Words: Betty Page
[2] Just Can't Get Enough, Uncut, May 2001. Words: Stephen Dalton
[3] This Year's Model(l), Sounds, 31st January 1981. Words: Betty Page
[4] A Year in the Life of Depeche Mode, The Face, January 1982. Words: Paul Tickell
[5] The Ten Commandments: Dave Gahan, Q, November 2005. Words: Dave Gahan / Johnny Davis
[6] We're in the Mode!, Oh Boy!, 24th October 1981. Words: Uncredited
[7] Modish Musings, Sounds, 7th November 1981. Words: Uncredited
[8] Bop Eye, Issue 3, Undated, 1982. Words: Jane-Nina Buchanan
[9] Hanging in the Balance, NME, 26th March 1983. Words: Matt Snow
[10] Songs of Innocence and Experience, Mojo, November 2005. Words: Danny Eccleston
[11] Modish Musings, Sounds, 7th November 1981. Words: Uncredited
[12] Basildon Band!, My Guy, 5th September 1981. Words: Uncredited
[13] Play for Tomorrow, New Sounds, New Styles, August 1981. Words: Pete Silverton
[14] Three Modes in a Boat, NME, 22nd August 1981. Words: Paul Morley
[15] Going U.P.!, Smash Hits, 9th-22nd July 1981. Words: Steve Taylor
[16] Smash Hits, 30th April 1981, Words: Ian Cranna
[17] Depeche Mode: Hurried Fashion, The Face, June 1981. Words: Ian Cranna
[18] Three Modes in a Boat, NME, 22nd August 1981. Words: Paul Morley
[19] Basildon a La Mode, NME, 21st March 1981. Words: Chris Bohn
[20] Play for Tomorrow, New Sounds, New Styles, August 1981. Words: Pete Silverton
[21] Learning the Highway Mode, Melody Maker, 14th November 1981. Words: Paul Colbert
[22] Depeche Mode Hip it up and Start Again, Melody Maker, 10th March 1990. Words: Jon Wilde
[23] Depeche Guevara, Sounds, 27th June 1981. Words: Betty Page
[24] Depeche Guevara, Sounds, 27th June 1981. Words: Betty Page
[25] This Year's Model(l), Sounds, 31st January 1981. Words: Betty Page
[26] Three Modes in a Boat, NME, 22nd August 1981. Words: Paul Morley
[27] Fresh Depeche, Record Mirror, 24th October 1981. Words: Mike Nicholls
[28] Depeche Mode, Bobcat Books, London 1986. Words: Dave Thomas
[29] Songs of Innocence and Experience, Mojo, November 2005. Words: Danny Eccleston
[30] Violator, Alligator, NME, 7th July 1990. Words: Jeff Giles
[31] A Clean Break, Smash Hits, 21st January - 3rd February 1982. Words: Mark Ellen
[32] "Some people think you're cute, but other people think you're slightly vile ...", Look In, 22nd May 1982, Words: Phil Parsons
[33] Learning the Highway Mode, Melody Maker, 14th November 1981. Words: Paul Colbert
[34] A Clean Break, Smash Hits, 21st January - 3rd February 1982. Words: Mark Ellen
[35] The Story Of Depeche Mode, BBC Radio London Live94.9, May 7th 2001, Producer: Tony Wood
[36] The Bright Side of the Moon, Sounds, 4th September 1982. Words: Karen Swayne
[37] Violator, Alligator, NME, 7th July 1990. Words: Jeff Giles
[38] Just Can't Get Enough, Uncut, May 2001. Words: Stephen Dalton
[39] Alan Wilder: The Band Boy, No. 1, 25th May 1985
[40] recoil.co.uk
[41] The Story Of Depeche Mode, BBC Radio London Live94.9, May 7th 2001, Producer: Tony Wood
[42] Videointerview (DLCTrading) 2010
[43] Alan Wilder: The Band Boy, No. 1, 25th May 1985
[44] Unsound Recordings, Sound On Sound, January 1998. Words: Bill Bruce
[45] Alan Wilder: The Band Boy, No. 1, 25th May 1985
[46] recoil.co.uk
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