Depeche Mode

When I first heard and totally enjoyed "People are People" by Depeche Mode in the summer of 1985, and subsequently abandoned the band for decades as being "uncool" (or whatever my rationale), I never would have imagined that in 2023 I'd be led back to them.  It was a confluence of events that made this happen. The enthusiastic recommendations of a few friends, the appearance of "Never Let Me Down Again" in the HBO series The Last of Us, and the release of a terrific new album, Memento Mori.

I backtracked and picked up Some Great Reward, Music for the Masses, and Violator. I'm realizing the error of my ways all those years ago. In my late teens and twenties (and maybe even to a lesser extent thirties and forties) I had a bifurcated view of music: it was either cool or not cool. What determined "coolness" was fairly arbitrary. It could be the way the musician(s) looked or dressed, the degree of "profundity" or "relevance" in their lyrics, and too much synthesizer was "fake," "inauthentic," or some such nonsense.

Truth be told, I liked a lot of what I heard from Depeche Mode in the late '80s and early '90s. Their Anton Corbijn-directed black & white videos were unfailingly artistic, and hits like "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Personal Jesus" (the ones that had MTV videos attached to them) were evocative, dramatic songs. I just wasn't able or willing to create room for them back then.

Better late than never, though.

I am currently enjoying that music I ignored, as well as the new stuff on Memento Mori. This most recent album captures that late '80s/early '90s sound while also offering the lyrical perspective of middle age. The band lost Andrew Fletcher quite suddenly last year, so it seems mortality is on their minds--but the approach is never maudlin.

Speaking of middle age problems, I am now being bothered by a whining dog, so I guess it's time to put this particular blog post to bed.