Who wrote ‘Stripped’?
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 11 October 2018 19:03 (five years ago) link
Jonathan Miller. I haven't read it for years, which I guess is a good excuse to re-read it!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 11 October 2018 19:25 (five years ago) link
Jeremy Deller and Nick Abrahams' doco about eastern European DM fans, Our Hobby Is Depeche Mode (aka The Posters Came From The Walls) is up on Vimeo and apparently free to view this week
Deller's blurb: http://www.jeremydeller.org/OurHobbyIsDepechMode/OurHobbyIsDepecheMode_Video.php
― donald failson (sic), Thursday, 23 April 2020 22:05 (four years ago) link
also western Californian, and registered Maryland drivers
― donald failson (sic), Saturday, 25 April 2020 19:45 (three years ago) link
Great film, that -- forgot to say so last year when we caught it!
Meantime, a bit secondary to Depeche here, I admit, but last week I interviewed Gareth Jones, ie the guy who engineered the Depeche sessions from Construction Time Again through Black Celebration among a ton of other things to the present day, about his favorite albums. Fun chat!
https://thequietus.com/articles/29883-gareth-jones-interview-favourite-albums
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 April 2021 14:52 (three years ago) link
So not directly about DM, but I did write about this...
https://thequietus.com/articles/30108-depeche-mode-anton-corbijn-taschen-book-review
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 19 June 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
pic.twitter.com/RlB7QM6ckW— Depeche Mode (@depechemode) May 26, 2022
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 26 May 2022 19:16 (one year ago) link
wtf! awful news. RIP
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 26 May 2022 19:22 (one year ago) link
God damn it. This is so sad. And then there were two.
― Vast Halo, Thursday, 26 May 2022 19:26 (one year ago) link
ah man, me happily opening this thread thinking there's maybe an announcement of a new album or something.
RIP, truly terrible.
― silverfish, Thursday, 26 May 2022 19:41 (one year ago) link
RIP
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 26 May 2022 19:45 (one year ago) link
He was the Paul English to Mart's Willie Nelson and I am not joking about that.
Yeah, this is a day.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 26 May 2022 20:11 (one year ago) link
RIP :(
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Thursday, 26 May 2022 20:11 (one year ago) link
everyone likes to joke that he was useless but anyone who's tried to play a synth bassline on a keyboard consistently knows how difficult his work was
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Thursday, 26 May 2022 20:12 (one year ago) link
Accurate:
What a shock. A very sweet man with a dry sense of humour, Martin's best friend, the least pop starry person ever to be in a global stadium band and a noun - a Fletch - for someone with an indeterminate musical role who is nonetheless essential to the whole. https://t.co/uh4xV0epJ7— Dorian Lynskey (@Dorianlynskey) May 26, 2022
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 26 May 2022 20:13 (one year ago) link
Wouldn't I love to be a Fletch in a band of Fletches.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 May 2022 20:14 (one year ago) link
fletch reminds me of paul morley from the art of noise anyways they dominated the 80s and lost me after violator!
― xzanfar, Thursday, 26 May 2022 20:26 (one year ago) link
Can hardly believe it ... I'm in shock. What a tragedy. RIP Fletch.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 26 May 2022 21:02 (one year ago) link
My friend's doing an all DM video TwitchStream this evening starting at 6:00 CST.
https://m.twitch.tv/VJBigSuit
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 26 May 2022 22:26 (one year ago) link
Such terrible news. I've been pretty lukewarm to what the band's been doing this past decade but I hope they can still continue now, they've made it clear that he was an important part of the band. RIP Fletch
― Vinnie, Thursday, 26 May 2022 23:18 (one year ago) link
I mean I hate to be blunt but there's a part of me that feels that the band is over. The 'lukewarm water' joke from Spinal Tap has a real place in small group dynamics and he was, as a friend said, the 'peacemaker' between Gahan and Gore over time. If they do continue, well, stranger has happened -- I mean I still can't believe the Who barely skipped a beat after Entwistle died -- but personally I don't think we're seeing Depeche again, and I'm glad I have seen them so many times already.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 26 May 2022 23:22 (one year ago) link
This is a big one, RIP
― Bee OK, Friday, 27 May 2022 01:00 (one year ago) link
RIP Fletch, a true inspiration for all of us normie goths <3
― Roz, Friday, 27 May 2022 01:48 (one year ago) link
RIP Andy. I don't know much about his creative input in DM but speaking as a fan, his goofy joy up there dancing and playing keys was always an important and welcome counterweight to the earnest brooding of the rest of the band.
― Chyiv Kyiv (Fetchboy), Friday, 27 May 2022 05:11 (one year ago) link
Also, his name was the password to my first email account
― Chyiv Kyiv (Fetchboy), Friday, 27 May 2022 05:12 (one year ago) link
Fletchboy
― Yul Brynner film festival on Channel 48... (sic), Friday, 27 May 2022 05:13 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYg8OcT_vhc
― xzanfar, Friday, 27 May 2022 13:22 (one year ago) link
I grew up near Basildon. It is an absolute shithole. Full of petty, mindless violence. Tories everywhere. Some of the scariest nights of my life were in my younger days when I would (stupidly) meet friends there for drinks. The fact that anything of note came out of there is truly miraculous.
― Position Position, Friday, 27 May 2022 13:29 (one year ago) link
I used to run the websites for the band Client and Fletch's Toast Hawaii label and do lots of other web/graphics odds and ends about 20 years ago (that terrible pineapple logo was mine). He was a such a nice man, and I was absolutely awed how, despite being a massive star, he was so enthusiastic to get a bit DIY with it all, flying economy with the band to do gigs, DJing in little basement clubs (which I occasionally helped with) and indeed having a kid in his late teens run his web operation with a cracked copy of Dreamweaver. He even DJed a student gig I put on at my uni, which blows my mind in retrospect. Absolutely top bloke and, as others have observed, 100% the secret weapon for DM's longevity. I'd hoped to run into him again some day. So sad he's gone.
― bamboohouses, Friday, 27 May 2022 13:37 (one year ago) link
it would be weird for DM to continue as a duo, but maybe Wilder will come back? That said I don't know what their apptetite aand interest is for even continuing.
― akm, Friday, 27 May 2022 14:51 (one year ago) link
if clark came back too that would be kinda interesting as the 3 could battle it out and dave as usual just sings along!
― xzanfar, Friday, 27 May 2022 15:15 (one year ago) link
Man, I really don't think any of that will happen.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 May 2022 17:32 (one year ago) link
Nope. I’m pretty sure that’s it for DM. At most one could imagine a Gahan/Gore project à la Songs for Drella but not sure either for them would see any sense in that.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 27 May 2022 18:02 (one year ago) link
I had some thoughts.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/66972756
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 May 2022 18:50 (one year ago) link
I don't know, bands don't break up anymore. Heck, New Order kept going without Peter Hook, and he was absolutely key to their sound. I could see DM doing a farewell tour, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 May 2022 20:41 (one year ago) link
alan is magical and they were the best with him and he has the best solo material too as i was not impressed with martins solo material and i never have been a fan of anything of vinces so alan and dave could have something very special together!
― xzanfar, Friday, 27 May 2022 20:41 (one year ago) link
the last martin gore solo album is really good
― akm, Friday, 27 May 2022 21:04 (one year ago) link
Great piece, Ned. Thank you
― I am using your worlds, Friday, 27 May 2022 21:20 (one year ago) link
You're welcome.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 May 2022 21:36 (one year ago) link
I had to do some further thoughts and processing, and I wrote this:
https://theshfl.com/guide/depeche-mode
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 31 May 2022 18:54 (one year ago) link
Great piece. I am at best a surface level fan (the sonic textures are frequently fantastic, the lyrics and vocals ...less to my taste) but am listening to Ultra this afternoon.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 19:16 (one year ago) link
Yeah, thanks for that Ned! It's been years since I listened to a Recoil album and am enjoying digging back in now. Also, somehow VCMG had slipped my radar so I'm very excited to check it out.
― Chyiv Kyiv (Fetchboy), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 19:21 (one year ago) link
It’s a bit of a monster, that VCMG album, definitely not what anyone was expecting. Ultra was the first album I relistened to after last week’s news, when it was late and I had space to think. It’s always been an excellent late night album. Thanks to you both.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 31 May 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
VCMG bangs, it's fantastic
Greatly enjoyed that writeup and was surprised to see at least one solo Gore release I don't remember ever hearing about before
― castanuts (DJP), Wednesday, 1 June 2022 15:55 (one year ago) link
A terrific piece, Ned.
never have been a fan of anything of vinces
whaaaat -- not even Yazoo? If you say, "Alison Moyet makes them worthwhile," then sure.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 1 June 2022 16:23 (one year ago) link
Thanks again. It is a little weird realizing Ultra is 25 years old now.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 1 June 2022 16:46 (one year ago) link
This VCMG album is great.
Considering how much I like Depeche Mode (I'm pretty sure they were my first "favorite band"), it's weird that I never checked out any of the side projects, I guess this is what I'm doing in the next couple of weeks.
― silverfish, Wednesday, 1 June 2022 18:15 (one year ago) link
What's interesting about the side projects is that while on the one hand you can tell they're all from Depeche one way or another, even Wilder, on the other even if you added up all the parts it still wouldn't be Depeche -- there's enough individuality down all the paths over time, and there's a different kind of synthesis when they all work together (admittedly long gone in the case of Wilder).
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 1 June 2022 18:34 (one year ago) link
whaaaat -- not even Yazoo?
Just to note, you won't be able to debate that question, as the person you're responding to has been perma-banned.
― Vast Halo, Wednesday, 1 June 2022 19:09 (one year ago) link
All I know is that I find the encore performance of "Everything Counts" in "101" oddly moving. There's the bittersweet song itself, there's the exultant celebration of conquering America, there's their youth, the singalong, Dave just listening, all that together I just find so weirdly touching.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 4 June 2022 01:10 (one year ago) link