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

My list prob won't have anything post 1993 or so on it.

No! They were the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world there for a bit.

At least two songs from the 00s will be on my ballot (Martyr and John the Revelator).

"In Chains" is really, really, really great, as is "The Darkest Star"

I listened to But Not Tonight so much my sophomore year in college that my then boyfriend finally asked me to layoff it for a while because he couldn't handle it anymore. It's near perfect imo. It makes me feel, yo.

YES. The segue from the verses to "I haven't felt so alliiive. In years" is my favorite in the Depeche canon.

"But Not Tonight" really is kinda the last 'light' Depeche song I can think of, IE something that captures the breezier feeling of their earliest singles. Nothing else after that is anywhere near as giddy, for lack of a better term.

"Pleasure, Little Treasure"?

gah I have 19 spots taken and 10 more songs I want to vote for

xpost -- a little too harsh lyrically, I'd say.

holy shit I am reminding myself of "Shake the Disease"

this is fucking impossible

― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Monday, April 23, 2012 6:18 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

An easy inclusion on my ballot, that one! :D

would it be silly to vote for both "Stripped" and "Breathing In Fumes"?

Can I give all my votes to "Shake The Disease"?

The uh bit in the song that goes "you know how hard is for me to shake the disease" sends chills down my spine - Dan, is there a really obvious name for the vocal technique they employ here?

I don't know if there is a specific term for that vocal technique. Most people I know would describe that line as "flipping into head voice".

Most singers have three separate registers where they can sing; chest voice is low to medium range (think most of Dave's DM vocals), head voice is high but still full voice (think the held "yooooooooou" in "Precious"), and falsetto or whisper voice is basically half-voiced super high (the first "I know" in "In Chains"). Where those register breaks are varies from person to person; people with a higher register break between chest and head voice are considered to be tenors (men) or sopranos (women) while people with lower register breaks are baritones/basses (men) or mezzo-sopranos/altos (women). (I'm leaving out the whole thing of men singing in women's ranges as countertenors because that's confusing.) Dave Gahan is a baritone; that line is him doing a big leap up from his chest voice into his head voice, which pushes his comfortable vocal range right on the text "hard it is for me". The strain, while controlled, adds an extra emotional dimension to the delivery of the text.

the idea of even making this list is making me all sorts of O_O

Alfred gets it.

Thanks for that explanation Dan. It's absurd how little I know about singing.

my "But Not Tonight" is "Somebody"

Somebody is just a teensy bit too schmaltzy for me. That said, I still love it a lot.

(ps - it is great for the purpose you used it for tho iirc)

"But Not Tonight" really is kinda the last 'light' Depeche song I can think of, IE something that captures the breezier feeling of their earliest singles. Nothing else after that is anywhere near as giddy, for lack of a better term.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, April 23, 2012 6:32 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When I heard 'Lilian' from Playing The Angel for the first time, it came across as poppy in a way that Depeche hadn't been for years. I always thought it could have gone on one of Depeche's earlier albums. It's certainly not as 'light' as 'But Not Tonight', though, with it's 'pain and misery' lyric and everything.

I really don't know what to do with Enjoy The Silence. I love it so dearly, it's one of the rare elite tracks I'd've'd no hesitation at calling best-tune-ever at some point in life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Q-wq_YRlM

This is just about my favourite clip ever. Dave is having such a good time! I once bought a white vest purely so I could strut about at the top of our stairs, emulating his stagecraft here. Also, I'd forgotten until tonight but when I was in charge of a society at University I designed its official letterhead round a screengrab of Dave-as-Canute from the video.

And yet ... I don't think it'd be my listen of choice today, so it wouldn't be my no.1. In which case giving it a minor placing feels so wrong. I may have to exclude it entirely and hope others pick up the slack.

surprisingly, "Enjoy The Silence" and "Personal Jesus" are not candidates for my ballot (neither are "People Are People" or "Blasphemous Rumours")

however, "The Things You Said", "World Full Of Nothing", "Shine" and "Stories of Old" are

It's not my place to tell you how to arrange your ballot, but that logic is bonkers.

eh, not really; the only one of those Big Four I would really consider is "Personal Jesus", which I'm kind of tired of

the other four, OTOH, are all personal favorites that were instant loves from the first time I heard them that I played just as often as the Big Four, only I haven't gotten tired of them

Sorry, I was referring to ismael's post.

that famous ten-minute mix of "Never Let Me Down" will make my ballot -- a better car song than "Route 66."

Sorry, I was referring to ismael's post.

oh lol

in that case: OTM, vote for your favorites IMO

ha, fair enough - bonkers logic is the lifeblood of these things imo

btw PAIN
WILL YOU RETURN IT
I WON'T SAY IT AGAIN

Dan waht? You are excluding some stone cold classics.

you're talking about a band with something like 75+ stone-cold classics!

I mean not that they'll need your vote but still.

right now I have 19 songs on my ballot:

9 from the 80s
4 from the 90s
6 from the 00s

A Broken Frame and Ultra are the only albums completely unrepresented

as long as "Pimpf" is on your ballot all's right with the world

oh dear

dammit I have to leave for work but "World Full Of Nothing" just started

er rehearsal rather

9 from the 80s
8 from the 90s
3 from the 00s

I keep forgetting Violator is 90s, not 80s; those totals seemed ridiculously unbalanced 'til I checked

... can't we just vote for 40?

Lol two of my fab DM songs are on a broken frame.

It has the best sleeve

I really only like "Shouldn't Have Done That" and "The Sun & The Rainfall" off that album but at least one of them really should be on my ballot

'Satellite' is such a beautiful little track

Satellite' is such a beautiful little track

― Ismael Klata, Monday, April 23, 2012 9:30 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Meh. It's down there as easily one of my least favourite tracks from A Broken Frame, and one of my least favourite Depeche Mode tracks full stop!

I really only like "Shouldn't Have Done That" and "The Sun & The Rainfall" off that album but at least one of them really should be on my ballot

― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Monday, April 23, 2012 9:27 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Alan Wilder wanted Depeche Mode to do 'The Sun & The Rainfall' on the Devotional tour, but the others wouldn't go for it. I would have loved to have heard what the band would have done with the track at that point in time. One of my favourites.

My ballot goes something like:

13 from the 80s
6 from the 90s
1 from the 00s

Okay, that was long enough. Sent.

been listening/compiling chronologically, ballot is at 19 and i've only made it up to music for the masses.

If it's "The Landscape Is Changing" then I don't get you.

;_;

"Lilian" is the only post-Violator song that has any chance of making it onto my (still unfinished -- this is hard) ballot. Kudos to the people who already got their ballots sent in!

"Stories of Old" is one of the definitive Depeche songs imo. I think about that synth melody all the time.

poll is closed. will try to get results thread started by Thursday afternoon.