Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode was originally founded in 1980 as a synth pop band in the town of Basildon, England. They have been one of the longest-lived and most successful bands to have emerged during the New Wave/New Romantic era; many of their videos have been heavily rotated on MTV and MuchMusic. As of 2005, Depeche Mode are estimated to have sold over 70 million albums worldwide. They have influenced many of today's popular recording artists, in part due to their innovative work, recording techniques and use of sampling. Their 1990 album Violator is considered a gem of electronic music. Though influential in the modern techno scene, they remain in the alternative genre.

Depeche Mode Today

While Depeche Mode remains quite popular in the US, Western Europe and Australia, its most loyal fan base and widest appeal seems to lie in Central Europe and Eastern Europe, fed by the timely confluence of several key events in this part of the world in the early 90's: the then world-wide popularity of Depeche Mode and synthesized dance music in general (which has since waned in the US), the collapse of communism, and the rise of the Internet with the instant access this brought to a region thirsting for western music and ideals. Today there are countless fan-created web sites, in nearly every language, propelling the band to perpetual fame.

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In 2001, Depeche Mode released Exciter, which did not place well in the charts outside of Continental Europe. Although it spawned several dance club hits such as Danny Tenaglia's remixes of "I Feel Loved", many fans felt the album was uninspired and underproduced, although the record was noted as containing some of the strongest vocal stylings of Dave Gahan since joining the band. Web blogs from L.A. to Sydney questioned if this wasn't a manifestation that indeed Depeche Mode had in essence broken up with the departure of Alan Wilder in 1995. Shortly after the Exciter tour, Martin and Dave seemed to sense that this would be a good time to busy themselves with new solo efforts.

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2003 saw the release of Dave Gahan's solo album, Paper Monsters, followed by a worldwide tour and a DVD taken from it, titled Live Monsters; Martin Gore continued his solo career with the release of Counterfeit 2 (a furthering of re-recordings of some of Martin's most beloved and influential songs first canonised in his 1989 release Counterfeit); and Andrew Fletcher launched his own label, Toast Hawaii.

Related Topics:
2003 - Paper Monsters - Live Monsters - Counterfeit 2 - Counterfeit - Toast Hawaii

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In August 2004, Mute released the DVD version of "Devotional," filmed during their world tour in 1993, and a new remix compilation album Remixes 81-04 that covers some new & unreleased promo mixes of the singles from 1981 to 2004, highlighted with a re-release and new renditions of their timeworn classic "Enjoy the Silence." This single peaked at #7 in the UK, but did poorly in the US.

Related Topics:
August - 2004

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In November 2004, it was announced on the band's official web site that the band was planning on going into the studio to record an album in early 2005 with producer Ben Hillier. On June 16 2005 the band held a press conference to outline plans for their 2005/2006 tour. Dates for the 2005/2006 US and Europe tour have now been finalized. On July 4 2005 the band announced that the title of the album would be Playing the Angel. In late July, a prototype of the video for the album's first single "Precious" was leaked onto the internet(Qfilm putting a full workvideo for the track in its public downloadsection for everyone to download). On August 22, the official version of the single was made available on iTunes, with the official single release slated for October 3. David Gahan had confirmed that Martin Gore was going through a divorce on BBC Radio's Stuart Maconie show on September 5th. The Precious music video was released on September 12 on the Depeche Mode website, www.depechemode.com. The album is scheduled for release on October 17. A first for the band and first in download terms was a deal struck with TicketMaster whereby people would be supplied with a password upon downloading the new album through iTunes that allowed them to buy tickets for the US tour.

Related Topics:
November - 2004 - Ben Hillier - June 16 - 2005 - July 4 - Playing the Angel - August 22 - ITunes - October 3 - September 12 - October 17 - TicketMaster

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Depeche Mode has sold nearly 70 Million Albums worldwide (releasing a new album every four years since mid-career), and have cemented their position as one of the most popular artists of all time.

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