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

I sent it. Treat it kindly, crüt.

one of the things i love about ilm is seeing a poll like this pop up of a band i never really thought twice about since 1983, reading posts and becoming interested, acquiring copies of random albums (black celebration, a broken frame) and finding out i was wrong. really liking the synth programming and drum sounds in particular....and looking forward to some results

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

get those ballots in!

i have 20 songs. just ordering them and will send them across shortly.

I'm extending the deadline to Wednesday evening at 11:59:59 PM EST.

aw

was really hoping the results would roll out this week

jesus that was impossible; voted

for those curious, here are the ten tracks that ended up at 21-30, just missing my ballot:

Here Is The House
The Things You Said
Wrong
Policy of Truth
And Then...
New Life
Everything Counts
Dream On
Something To Do
The Sun and the Rainfall

― I'M THAT POSTA, AAAAAAAAAH (DJP), Thursday, April 26, 2012 9:10 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Some excellent tracks there.... some of which may or may not have appeared on my ballot!

sent!

thanks for the extension

I voted for three of the tracks DJP couldn't fit on his ballot.

three of djp's cuts are in my top 6

man I want to sock the hell out of this poll, just because the process of going through all of those songs was so fun

also I managed to start liking Ultra again

Ultra has some of my favourite Dave Gahan vocal performances on it. Even though he was obviously in bad health at the time and it was affecting his voice, the production team really helped Dave pull some great vocal tracks out of the bag on that. Marvellously, the record sounds as if Dave is at his vocal peak, even though the reality of it is that he was at his lowest and the vocals were heavily comp'd.

'The Love Thieves', for example. I've never really rated it as a song, but I remember listening to it for the first time and being blown away by the singing.

I get what you're saying but I really think he's been on an upward trajectory since then (esp. when you look at songs like "Precious" and "In Chains", the latter especially as I think that's the greatest thing he's sung post-"Strangelove")

I'd agree that 'Precious' isn't a bad vocal. On the whole though, I've noticed that Dave generally seems to do this croaky thing at the beginning of every lyric these days, which drives me crazy! It seems to be a bit of a vocal trait of his on the last couple of albums especially, I never really noticed it too much before.

This still gives me the giggles...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIE7HKE8WsM

Can I rep for this weird, dirgey Gore-sung Enjoy The Silence?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_5hX_mnWd8

Yeah, that was a recording based on his original demo -- came out as a B-side on the single release.

Voted. Ta for the extension.

everybody get your ballots in by tonight!!

I will! Doing mine at work this morning. :)

Sent. No deep cuts. All singles (I think) Nothing after 1993, lol.

I'll be interested to see how many post-93 tracks do well. Pretty much all these polls overlook later albums.

pretty much no poll with 20 songs or fewer per ballot will ever find room for post-peak period material (sorry, beating a dead horse, but i really think that's what happens)

^^^ OTM

If we ever do a New Order poll I wonder how many participants would consider "Regret" or "Crystal" post-peak.

i certainly would.

Even extending the ballot probably wouldn't help much. Extending the countdown might help a bit - but probably only an e.g. 'Rolling Stones 1980-present' poll would solve it, and who bar me would want to vote in that?

Alfred would have been all over that one.

like cream cheese on a bagel

i always find it interesting to see where the "peak" tracks pop up in relation to themselves. you always know they're coming, but there's the occasional curveball as to when exactly.

some bands have post-peak songs that there's a pretty strong consensus around -- "Beautiful Day" did well in the U2 poll, "Eminence Front" will probably do well in the Who poll. i don't know if the Stones or Depeche or a lot of other long-running acts have a song like that.

is "Start Me Up" post-peak? I'd say it isn't.

Tattoo You isn't necessarily considered part of their peak period, but when people talk about the point after which there's not much consensus they generally say "post-Tattoo You"

Sure. I've also heard "post-Some Girls" just as often. I'd say Bowie has the same trouble: "post-Scary Monsters" or "post-Let's Dance."

Post-first-crappy-demo Bon Jovi. Actually make that post-founding-of-band Bon Jovi...

Maybe it's a shortage of standout tracks - Depeche and Bowie have made solid albums past their peak but they don't feature big consensus singles.

I expect "Precious" and "Wrong" to do well on this poll, with at least one of them cracking the top 20

Post-first-crappy-demo Bon Jovi. Actually make that post-founding-of-band Bon Jovi...

Ned Raggett, bad medicine is what you need

I've done my part to ensure "Precious" does well.

xpost -- I have this image of being interrogated by the ghost of Sam Kinison holding a crappy 8mm camera...

I think Precious is a big contender - that was my only post-93 pick. It's also one of their few attempts at going outside their guilt/pain comfort zone and addressing genuinely adult emotion. My major issue with their later albums isn't the music so much as the lyrical tail-chasing.

Sent. No deep cuts. All singles (I think) Nothing after 1993, lol.

― pandemic, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 7:39 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They're a great singles band!! I have nothing after 1993 either and for very good reason.

Also mine will look similar. I think I may have two songs that weren't singles. Maybe.

ok barely on this site these days but I bookmarked this thread thinking I'd somehow find time to put together a ballot & missed the deadline but if it's still open maybe I can fling one together today. I just wanted enough time to listen through the oeuvre but I know what I like already (i.e. Music for the Masses b-sides) & it won't take long I suppose.

My major issue with their later albums isn't the music so much as the lyrical tail-chasing.

I don't really see their later lyrics as being demonstrably worse as their earlier lyrics.

I mean, we're talking about a band who, in the smack middle of their artistic peak, released a single that opens with the lyric "There's something beating here inside my body and it's called a heart"

that's not a bad lyric in itself

I voted for at least five post-93 tracks