'Disintegration' vs 'Violator': a POLL

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 knew that people lump(ed) these groups, and even the Smiths, together in North America, though I never really thought anyone associated them with punk in North America. I was curious how people from their home country saw it, because they don't necessarily seem all that similar. In fact, I'd assumed that half the reason North Americans grouped them together was because they were British. My sense was that the Smiths were definitely categorized differently from DM in the UK, as were the Mary Chain.)

I never really thought anyone associated them with punk in North America.

DM/NO anyway.

I remember a Smash Hits cover with New Order that had the headline: "We're the last punks left!" in 1987. As a North American teenager it was really confusing to me, because I had no idea of their background and associated them with dance pop like the Pet Shop Boys and Madonna.

If this helps the Smiths' last three albums are certified gold in America, NO have three, and Depeche Mode and the Cure each boast several albums that have gone at least platinum.

I vividly remember tons of folks in high school with "Disintegration" t-shirts after the show. Never saw a "Violator" shirt. But in college, I saw tons of "Songs of Faith and Devotion" shirts.

Violator makes the best shirt of these.

I had 4 different tshirts from the Violator tour, I remember spending all of my disposable income on them. I wish I still had them, they were awesome.

yeah, "Love Song" was an honest smash, but DM were a party band by comparison

i didn't hear depeche mode (or the smiths) until somewhat later, but there was a guy in my high school who was into hot hot hot.

he was on my basketball team and was the fucking dirtiest player you can imagine -- he'd step on peoples' feet, yank your jersey, spit on you, whatever.

i'm curious what he thought of disintegration.

I was waiting for you to say he hooked up with the power forward.

Roffle.

haha i was the power forward

iykwim

what

disintegration is pretty good so i voted for it

no one in 20 odd years attempted to recreate the sound of disintegration, i'm constantly amazed by that. lots of bands are taking cues from early cure these days but you won't get disintegration-type records any time soon. for such an era defining album that's pretty weird, the lack of inheritors i mean.

well, no one is as sad as robert smith

Absolutely, in my experience. Depeche Mode, New Order and the Cure were the holy trinity for my friends when I was 15, 16.

everybody in my circle would rep for New Order & the Cure, Depeche Mode was not even considered anywhere near that level & I'd still argue that. "Words like violence/break the silence" Jesus Christ dude even Barney is better than that & he's terrible

oh shi

Here comes love, it's like violence/You can't buy it with silence

Well, at least Barney does not impart his nonsense with portent. You get the feeling he views lyrics as a formality. Martin Gore one imagines considers his lyrics poetry of the heart.

Or the music of the night.

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.

― Get wolves (DL), Tuesday, May 15, 2012 6:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and

I knew that people lump(ed) these groups, and even the Smiths, together in North America

lol, yeah

For most of my life (from early teens through pretty recently) if you'd asked me who my all time fav bands were My answer would have been these four though which order I'd rank them in has changed throughout the years.

My best friend's mom let her older sister paint the walls of her bedroom black and paint the lyrics to "Pictures of You" on it in swirly Cure script. I thought it was just about the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

Echo & the Bunnymen was certainly a big part of that milieu, too, for a while at least. John Hughes knew what was up.

Didn't think E&tB had anything close to the stature of these other bands this side of the Atlantic? According to Wikipedia, they peaked at #51 on the US album charts, #41 on Canada's. No silver or gold albums afaik.

yeah &B had a clutch of college radio singles played a bit in the US but nothing like the Cure, NO, or Depeche's sales.

I just know what people in my class had on their Trapper Keepers.

*E&B

I could ask Will Sergeant what he thought about it all, I'm meeting him this Saturday.

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.