Random Records - 3. Depeche Mode - "Music for the Masses"

Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses

1987

Sire Records

(acquired at Silver Platters in Northgate)
Best Song: "Never Let Me Down Again"

My students claim I’m a hipster. They may be right. It’s easier to just acquiesce to their perceptions than it is to provide a cohesive refutation. Do I listen to a lot of music that my students have never heard? Sure. Do I try to dress well? I try, though I always think I can do better. Do I collect vinyl? Well, since that’s what these articles are all about, yes. There are a lot of stereotypical hipster activities in which I do not take part, but in the eyes of my students, I am, and therefore I have resigned myself to that fate. I remember playing a song for my class by the Scottish band Frightened Rabbit, and having all of them stare at me in confusion upon telling them the band’s name. Is it that I listen to weird stuff, or is that they are 17 and have a limited perspective? I'll let you decide. 

As a music connoisseur, I have a list of bands in my accessible memory that could easily be considered “the bands I hold in high esteem.” They may not be my favorites, but they are ones that I respect, admire, and understand their gravitas in the rock canon. These bands have grown on me over time. The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Bruce Springsteen, and Sonic Youth are all artists that grew on me over time. But, are these the bands that I look to first when selecting a record with which to unwind? Not usually.

The records I look to first are those that had a significant impact on me in my formative years. The records I look to first are those that moved me emotionally. The records I look to first are those that came from bands that shaped my eventual fledgling tastes in music that would stay with me for the rest of my life. So, when Music for the Masses by Depeche Mode came up as the third random record in my ongoing survey, I was immediately transported back to a time when music was not just a distraction or background noise. I was teleported to a time when music felt as much a part of my life as breathing.

Every day at my school, I see kids wearing headphones. There are the kids with the over-ear headphones, blocking out the rest of the world: hallway warriors creating their own private worlds. I see kids with earbuds hanging out of the inside of their shirt collars like uncut store tags, or draped over their ears as reminders that their music is still physically close to their aural cavities, despite their being inert. The teacher I am shakes my head at their inability to distance themselves from their devices. The nostalgic teenager in me connects with them on a level I didn’t expect, remembering the music that was so much a part of my life in high school.

One of the albums that will be forever cemented in my teenage years is this sixth album from Depeche Mode. Released just two days before my 16^th birthday, it pressed all the buttons of my teenage psyche. From the betrayal of friendship in “Never Let Me Down Again” to the Nietzschean nihilism of “Nothing,” DM played to both the young adult fantasizer and the burgeoning thinker. Though I will often rightfully claim that Violator is Mode’s best album, Music for the Masses is that rarest of albums, the one that made an impression in a particular time and a particular place. While there are plenty of touchstone books and movies that appeal to the mind being transformed from adolescent to nascent adult, this is one of the few albums I can pinpoint as being transformative in my youth.

With this album, Depeche Mode challenged my ideas of sexuality. I wondered if singer Dave Gahan and main songwriter Martin Gore had a relationship beyond just bandmate or friend after hearing “Never Let Me Down Again.” There was just something about Gore’s plaintive background vocal of “See the stars, they’re shining bright / Everything’s alright tonight” that made me think there was more to that union. I wondered what “Strangelove” really meant. “Master and Servant” was a bit more on the nose, but this song made me contemplate different forms of relationships. “Little 15” was borderline creepy, and it would be quite a few more years until I would read Lolita, but I am still not sure I am fully understanding the impetus of this song.

With this album, Depeche Mode challenged my ideas of imagery and longevity. Before the album was released, “Strangelove” was released as a single a few months prior. The record had a close up image of a red speaker with the letter G and the number 13 dominating the space. As time went on, I saw the speaker motif repeated through other single releases as well as the album release. I came to realize that the G 13 was part of “Bong 13” and that DM had been numbering each single with a kind of internal “catalog” number. This immediately appealed to the collector in me that would be tempted to then fill in the rest of the catalog to be “complete.” I loved everything about the construction of the concept. And this brings me back to the idea of my being called a hipster.

To this day, I am not sure whether or not Depeche Mode is a hipster band. I have friends who I could argue are more “hipster” than I am who revile them. To these friends, DM is the Coldplay of our generation. They may be right. I don’t think I have the proper perspective to judge. I think DM are a bit more artistic, creative, and daring than Coldplay, but I am too close to it. Some may think of Depeche Mode as one of those “alternative radio” bands that never hit the mainstream in a way it really could or should have. Some may think of them as being one of the biggest bands of the 80’s and early 90’s, selling out huge arenas in the wake of this album. Their documentary film, 101, shows a sellout crowd at the Rose Bowl, one of the highest capacity venues in Los Angeles.

Considering the title of the album, this is exactly what Depeche Mode was trying to do. They wanted to appeal to everyone. This was indeed an attempt to create “music for the masses.” Amazingly, they never had a US or UK number one hit. They hit on the alternative and dance charts, but never on the mainstream pop charts. So, were they a hipster band or a mainstream, sellout band? Or something else entirely? Though there are some bands from my youth that I may consider a “guilty pleasure,” Depeche Mode is not one of those bands. I will always revere their music, seeing it not only as an expression of sheer joy, but also as a reminder of sixteen-year-old me, a hallway warrior, mouthing:

“What am I trying to do?
What am I trying to say?
I’m not trying to tell you anything

You didn’t know when you woke up today”