ENJOY THE SILENCE

From sugary pop to drug-addled stadium fillers, Depeche Mode have seen it all. Music Legends’ own personal Jesus, Nigel Williamson, just can’t get enough

- Nigel Williamson

Look through the archives of Smash Hits from the early Eighties and you will be confronted by pages of quiffed-up synth-pop acts and new romantics. Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Kajagoogoo, Japan, A Flock Of Seagulls, Heaven 17, Ultravox… the list is endless. Most have long since been lost in action or reduced to sad nostalgia tours. But one name stands out for its endurance and uncompromising determination to continue making challenging and fearless music: Depeche Mode.

Not only did the band from Essex survive the yuppie decade of big hair and shoulder pads with their dignity intact, they only hit their peak once the Eighties were over when they enjoyed the biggest-selling album of their career with 1990’s Violator.

The album broke them in America, sold six million copies and turned them into electronic music’s first stadium band. The World Violation tour which followed saw them playing to 1.2 million people and reportedly breaking the record for merchandise sales previously held by Bon Jovi. Hell, even Johnny Cash dug them and proved it by covering Personal Jesus.

Success on such a level brought the inevitable problems – bust-ups, drug overdoses, addiction, alcoholism, nervous breakdowns and suicide attempts, fear and loathing. It was the usual volatile dysfunctional mayhem that left members reluctant to live on the same continent, let alone share a tour bus.