I Said I'd Write A Ballot, But I Never Got The Time -- ILM Artist Poll #18 -- DEPECHE MODE (voting thread)

I love A Broken Frame. It has their best instrumental!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GztQLHanQc

I remember in high school being obsessed with Violator and Black Celebration, and I found a copy of A Broken Frame at the library. It pissed me the fuck off! Like I don't think I've ever been so MAD at an album. Just thinking about "My Secret Garden" would make send me into the fit of one who had been sold a bill of goods. I finally got over it this year but I had like 13 years of hate for it.

I wanted more bombast!

Everything about this post is OTM. I think I first heard A Broken Frame around 1988 and I stopped hating it around 2004.

full disclosure: after Violator the first thing I heard by Depeche Mode was a cassette of Catching Up With Depeche Mode (lol) and I ended up liking it/listening to it way more than Violator so I've always been more drawn to that earlier era. I may go down in history as the only person who will rep in earnest for "Flexible."

Nope, I love Flexible.

When I was younger my parents were friends with another German couple who had a daughter a couple years older than me who I thought was the coolest girl I'd ever known. She would feather my bangs (this was the 80s on Long Island) and tell me about boys. Her favorite band was Depeche Mode and her room was plastered in posters of the gang. She made me a mix tape once that had Flexible on it and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard.

She would feather my bangs (this was the 80s on Long Island) and tell me about boys.

That's a great sentence.

my favourite DM songs really stick out in my mind as being miles better than the rest, so a good half of my ballot is going to write itself.

Can we all agree that no one should vote for "It's Called A Heart"?

There's something beating here inside my body and it's called a shart

I like "It's Called A Heart"! I don't think it's going to make my ballot, though.

optional ballot of worst dm songs would have been interesting - "it's called a heart" wouldn't have been on mine. "get right with me" would have.

listening to SoF&D hot on the heels of Violator is interesting. Some great songs but seem to be utterly lacking in the details, the technical and emotional flourishes that lift Violator to the next level.

"I Feel You" doesn't suffer from any of those problems, though

My #1 is on SOFAD.

As is mine

"Walking in My Shoes" and "Mercy in You" are damn good. I remember a couple of interesting remixes of "In Your Room." Otherwise the rap on this album – Achtung Baby manqué – is correct imo

Ouch.

Yeah, no fan of SOFAD here. I don't even like the tracks people are saying are good.

well that's on you

Some tracks are superb, most are good, but at least half are far too long.

Like Gahan's hair.

lol I was able to get down to 50 tracks; I have no idea where I'm going from here

Refraining from voting in this cuz my ballot would be half Catching Up With (an important cassette for me circa 1986), 1/4 Music for the Masses and 1/4 Violator.

lol I was able to get down to 50 tracks; I have no idea where I'm going from here

― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:31 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

don't just cut the most popular tracks or you'll get a stern lecture on the ills of 'strategic voting'

That sounds like a pretty good ballot imo. xp

Refraining from voting in this cuz my ballot would be half Catching Up With (an important cassette for me circa 1986), 1/4 Music for the Masses and 1/4 Violator.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with that (although I would recommend listening to Construction Time Again, Black Celebration, Some Great Reward, Playing The Angel and Sounds of the Universe just on general principle)

don't just cut the most popular tracks or you'll get a stern lecture on the ills of 'strategic voting'

lol, weirdly this is a band where I'm kind of burnt out on the popular tracks so me cutting them is more in the vein of "I'm tired of this song now" rather than "this song doesn't need my help so I'm voting for something more obscure"

like, the reason why "Blasphemous Rumours" is likely to not appear on my ballot isn't because I really think other songs need the exposure, it's because after playing it on repeat for five years between the ages of 14 and 19 I'm kind of sick of it and never need to hear it again

ballot sent. didn't aim for it but got a neat split of 10 from the 80s, 10 from the 90s.

holy shit you guys, "New Life"

this is fucking impossible

this craziness about some ppl's #1 DM song being on SOFAD - my world is being turned on its head. and i like that album.

holy shit you guys, "New Life"

in high school we thought we were such wits by making up lines like:

copulating
masturbating
NEW LIFE
NEW LIFE

man, I wish Dave wasn't so sharp in the beginning of "Ice Machine" because otherwise that song would be perfect

it's kind of hilarious hearing how awkward his vocals were early on compared to now, even on his rougher live outings

oh man, you know what song no one really knows but is pretty fantastic, is "Comatose":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpE1Zo6XUEE

I like it's called a heart too.

I pretty much don't like anything after SoFAD though admittedly I haven't given it much of a shot.

Ultra is kind of boring with a couple of highlights, but starting with Exciter they started becoming a consistent album band again; I like Playing The Angel more than most of their classic period albums and the good songs on Sounds of the Universe are worth discussing with their famous favorites.

For context, I'd probably rank the albums something like:

Black Celebration
Playing the Angel
Construction Time Again
Music for the Masses
Some Great Reward
Violator
Exciter
Sounds of the Universe
Songs of Faith and Devotion
Speak and Spell
Ultra
A Broken Frame

E, you need to get hepped to Playing the Angel in short order.

"Precious" might make mine – their best single since "Walking in My Shoes."

E, have you seen the "Hole To Feed" video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i0TJtnyFj0

Nobody likes Barrel of a Gun? That's an extraordinary track.

It's an extraordinary track for Ultra, IMO.

(I do like it, I just think they've done better.)

They suffered the same trouble as the Pet Shop Boys. Their deepening craft got inversely proportional to their curiosity about interesting electronic rhythm tracks.

I don't think that's true at all, actually. Sounds of the Universe alone has "Hole To Feed", "Little Soul", "Spacewalker", "Jezebel" and "Corrupt" on it, none of which are what I would consider to be standard, uninteresting electronic rhythm tracks. Playing the Angel also has a bunch of tracks that are more interesting than your standard straight unsyncopated 4/4 beat ("John the Revelator", "The Sinner in Me", "Macro", "The Darkest Star") and several of the more straightforward tracks either use nonstandard percussion sounds ("I Want It All", "Damaged People") or a lot of offbeat rhythmic flourishes ("Nothing's Impossible").

"Barrel of a Gun" seemed bizarre and unpleasant to me at the time and, revisiting it recently, only moreso now

although i heard "It's No Good" today on the local alt-rock stations '90s at noon' block and it sounded alright

"it's No Good" is so fucking AWESOME, wld fit right in on Violator IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aieEZ950d1I

freeerrrrm freerrrmmm freerrrmm frerrrrm freerrrrrrm frerrrrm freerrrrrrm
frrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The rhythm track on "It's No Good" is precisely what I dislike about the song.

What do you dislike about it?

I love pretty much all their singles and at least an additional third of their album tracks. I don't know how I could do this, but then, Led Zeppelin is pretty much all albums tracks, and it turned out OK there in the end.