'Disintegration' vs 'Violator': a POLL

Depeche Mode > The Cure
Violator > Disintregration.

Both great, but Depeche are Depeche after all.

Disintegration

Disintegration. Violator has great singles, but Depeche Mode never had an album after Speak and Spell that I really liked.

This is hard! Violator doesn't really look like it's going to need much help and I love them both so Disintegration. Plus, it was the first CD I ever bought.

I vote for the breakout album with the huge chart hits that helped the group in question play arena tours as they deserved.

Disintegration not only because I have bad memories of Violator, but because it's something I can still put on and enjoy thoroughly. I love the instrumentals on the reissue too.

Also the cover of Pirate Ships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BnGQ31YOYM

Both great but I'd definitely say Violator - it's everything I like about the band's aesthetic in one package, which isn't something I could say about Disintegration (plus it's a stronger collection of songs front-to-back).

I knew you couldn't choose, Ned.

It's like I look at the choices and go "Uh...pass." We're talking about albums I both picked up on their first day of sale that I played into the ground. I can't even decide which one has the better set of B-sides! (With "Babble," "2 Late" and "Fear of Ghosts" you'd think the Cure in a walk but "Happiest Girl," "Dangerous" and "Sea of Sin" are all wonderful too so...)

Violator sounds a little less dated.

I would not want to live in a world where I could not have both of these albums.

Disintegration - warm
Violator - cold

I p much always go with warm when given the chance.

Plainsong is icy!

I dunno, to me it sounds warm and comfortable, whereas Violator sounds antiseptically cold and detached. Perhaps I'm projecting.

I have a feeling Disintegration is going to win but Violator was an easy choice for me.

xp wow - Disintegration, the song, warm and comfortable?
I kinda see what you mean. Songs like Pictures of You or Untitled are pretty lush, fitting for melancholy winter nights by the chimney but still... the title track, Last Dance or Homesick to me feel like waking up in a freezing train station on a January morning.

I meant that as a whole, Disintegration the album sounds warm and comfortable to me. It's roughly equivalent to a long bath; Violator is wearing a jacket that's not warm enough in strong winds.

I prefer The Cure overall but there's too many goddamn songs on Disintegration so Violator wins easy.

Ha, I don't think it's the number of songs that makes "Disintegration" so imposing! But man, "Violator" is so sharp, and for something that should have aged horribly, it still sounds totally fresh. Not that "Disintegration" sounds stale, but it's so monolithic it's like visiting ancient ruins or stonehenge or something.

That explains why it appeals to me more, I guess.

Violator.

Disintegration.

Not that "Disintegration" sounds stale, but it's so monolithic it's like visiting ancient ruins or stonehenge or something.

the second side is one of those monoliths with alcoves full of stagnant water and dead lizards.

Crybating vs. Actual Sex

"Prayers for Rain" and the title track are incredible, though, but I will concede "The Same Deep Water As You" can be enervating unless one is willing to be totally immersed in the record. Which, further in its defense, I don't find to be the case with "Violator." It's just a great record, but never something transcendent. Like, I would never just casually throw on "Disintegration," but that sort of underscores its merits.

I'm not sure I can answer this one.

But I think I'm leaning towards Violator.

The title track of Disintegration is quite possibly one of my personal Top 10 Cure songs of all time. 'The Same Deep Water As You' is definitely down there with 'Bananafishbones' as one of my least favourite; I understand why people like it, but it's always bored the hell out of me... and I'm a massive fan of the Seventeen Seconds/Faith/Pornography era.

haha I love Bananafishbones!

Disintegration is like warm summer rain, while Violator is more like... hanging out at IKEA and wishing you'd brought a jacket.

I never listened to all of Violator until this year. It's amazing! Such masterful production.

I don't think I've ever been able to sit through all of Disintegration at once.

What Sund4r said. Violator is great!

Disintegration is my all time favorite album. it open with "Plainsong" for heaven sake.

lord knows I love Depeche Mode, and Violator is a fantastic album even if it's not my favorite DM moment - it's got great beats and synths and hooks and melodies and it's easily the slicker and sexier of these two choices - but Disintegration fucking breathes fire while being one of the most palpably cold albums ever recorded and it hits me hard in a way that few albums can. Plainsong. The title track. Good lord.

The two albums are really not that similar imo.

They're not, but they both represent the commercial and what many consider the artistic peak of both bands and they came out at roughly the same time and appealed to the same crowd.

I was always a bigger Cure fan, so it's Disintegration easy for me. But even so, and I know I'm on my own on this one, Violator kind of disappointed me after Music For The Masses.

I really thought my Cure fandom was waning until I saw this poll.

I like both of these albums and have played the shit out of both in the past, but neither of these albums are my favourite album by either band. Violator is something like my 4th favourite Depeche Mode album, and Disintegration wouldn't even make my Top 5 Cure albums.

disintegration

it's so cold it's like the cold if you were dead

Favourite DM album vs 3rd favourite Cure album. Josh OTM about being able to play Violator whenever but needing to immerse yourself in Disintegration so they're completely different listening experiences but the sound of Violator is so perfect - black and hard and shiny like a beetle.

In the UK/Europe, did/do people see these two as appealing to the same crowd?

Generally speaking, I'd say no.

Absolutely, in my experience. Depeche Mode, New Order and the Cure were the holy trinity for my friends when I was 15, 16. We all had Disintegration, Violator and Technique - three big post-punk bands hitting their commercial (and arguably creative) peaks at around the same time. They felt inseparable to me.

Seconded -- in America. The Holy Trinity dictum applied.

In America Technique was not as ubiquitous or as big a seller as the other two though.

I dunno, Violator was massive at the time even amongst the normals at my high school, whilst Disintegration hit only amongst the moodier alt-y kids.

i traded bob mould's workbook to an acquaintance for disintegration

i won

"Love Song," man

xpost

People really think of DM and synthpop-era New Order as "postpunk"?

Depeche Mode were always bigger with the normals (especially girls) than The Cure.

I don't either!

re listen to "Clean" or "Blue Dress."

Which sort of detracts from the album, no? And reduces it to more of an ... awesome EP? Minus those two tracks it drops down to 35 minutes. It's in some ways I think more forgivable for "Disintegration" to go on too long, seeing as it's designed to be sort of oppressive, monolithic, even hypnotically turgid, than it is for "Violator" to peter out after it blows its wad with the incredible "Policy of Truth." "Homesick" and "Untitled," on the other hand, are the perfect comes downs after the epic-ness of "Disintegration."

(BTW, I once interviewed Robert Smith, and I asked him if he made Simon Gallop play those repetitive basslines on songs like "Disintegration" as a form of torture. He laughed and claimed Gallop actually liked playing those parts.)

but Violator FEELS shorter

I never think, "Ugh -- second side coming"

Because you (like me) skip the last two songs! That's a full quarter of the running time.

Whereas "Disintegration" is at least designed as a slog. As opposed to, say, the last two Red Hot Chili Peppers records, which are simply too long. (Just as an example)

But Violator boasts "Halo," "The Sweetest Perfection" and "Waiting For the Night" besides the singles while Disintegration only coughs up "Untitled" at the end.

I dunno. I think we're all just dancing around the consensus that "The Same Deep Water As You" is what drags down the second side; the rest of the non-singles on "Disintegration" are pretty strong.

same deep water is great
clean is great

Nah. Don't care for the title track, "Homesick," "Prayers for Rain," "Closedown," "The Same Deep Water As You," or "Last Dance."

The rehabilitation of the album in the last fifteen years has mystified me. At the time it got okay to middling reviews despite being their biggest hit. I still prefer Wish and its two predecessors.

I like wish as much, just about, and prefer head on the door (sort if their violator).

Speaking of reviews, I've always liked christgaus takedown of kiss me x3,, but his disintegration pan is as patronizing as his takedowns of depeche mode.

nah -- he's on point about who Smith and Gahan were writing for and to. He gives MFTM a good review!

Is that the one he says the little girls will understand?

maybe. Depeche are teen pop!

I watched 101 recently.

Huh, Violator went to #5 and double platinum in Canada. I don't think I knew anyone who listened to Depeche Mode until I was 19 or so. Maybe I didn't talk to enough girls when I was 11. As far as I could tell, they were listening to Vanilla Ice or NKOTB.

"Enjoy The Silence" sounded awesome amid "Step by Step," "Vogue," and Tyler Collins' "Girls Night Out."

Oh yeah, Madonna.

xpost I'm thinking of the "Catching Up" review, which ends:

First they "Just Can't Get Enough," then they ponder "The Meaning of Love," then they doubt "Love in Itself," then they play "Master and Servant." The little girls understand.

Of course, his "Violator" review:

Violator [Sire/Reprise, 1990]
Fearing the loss of their silly grip on America's angst-ridden teens, who they're old enough to know are a fickle lot, they forge on toward the rap market by rhyming "drug" and "thug." And for the U.K.'s ecstasy-riding teens, who God knows are even more fickle, there's the techno-perfect synth/guitar sigh/moan that punctuates the easily rescinded "Policy of Truth." C-

mm yeah he's wrong

I remember Disintergration getting great reviews at the time from both critics and fans. I wouldn't call it "rehabilitated" at all.
Maybe some people were hoping for more pop singles, but everybody seemed to agree it was pretty masterful. Oh and I looove "Last Dance". So underrated.

Christgau's writing is such a strange phenomenon (but does seem to disprove that everyone thought Disintegration was masterful!).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Violator = Better Singles.
Disintegration = Better Album.

They're both great tho. They should be friends and hang out instead of fighting over which one is better. A tied result would be fair.

I love the Violator singles (esp "World In My Eyes" and "Policy of Truth") but all four of the Disintegration singles are outstanding. Also all of you people bagging on the second half of the album, particularly "The Same Deep Water As You", are fucking INSANE.

what he said

Dan, I think it's just that "Same Deep Water As You" is a breaking point for some. It's a 10 minute dirge without the bite of the title track, so I can imagine if someone makes it that far under duress, it could be just what it takes to make them turn it off. I mean, I like it fine, but as I said upthread, it entails a certain degree of commitment.

actually my only complaint about Disintegration is that "Same Deep Water As You" isn't ten million years long. they really fucked that one up.

that includes at least 1.2 million years of thunder sounds

I imagine for some people, "Disintegration" is just the infinite soundtrack to their sad, lonely, thunder-rumble of a life. ***sighs/cries***

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

righteous.

Ugh.

crütm

yeah, and it wasn't even close.

If I get 67 ballots in for my Cure poll in a couple of weeks I'll be v v happy.

I think I forgot to vote in the end! (think I would have gone for Violatot TBH but not like it'd have made a difference)

I think the Cure poll is going to be fantastic nate. Big fanbase on ILX and no obvious Top 10. They're the kind of band whose most loved songs often aren't the big singles.

Seeing as none of the polls in the mean time interest me much I though I'd get a start on my Cure ballot. I could go with 20 'b' sides and be more than happy with ensuing playlist! Just as well I've a few weeks to ruminate 'cos my initial list is 50+ thus far.