Pop Classics #6 - Depeche Mode

My last Pop Classics was Blondie where people told me they are not pop - ich sag nur Hive account@w74 - new wave ist für mich pop - Punk hmmm - aber für mich war es Pop weil eben populär - die Leuten fanden es gut, es wurde rauf und runter gepielt im Radio, TV Auftritte - von daher Pop. Es gab ja selbst Punk was Pop wurde - Tote Hosen mal als Beispiel, die weichgespülte Pop Musik machten irgendwann - aber Campino hatten, der in Talk Shows das Image versuchte weiter rüberzubringen (naja Fortuna Düsseldorf Fan sagt alles) und da wir alle wissen, dass ich Techno liebe und Metal - selbst diese Genres wurden in die Pop Ecke gedrängt - zum Teil berechtigt, zum Teil nicht.

Pop Classics 6 - Depeche Mode

Back to topic now - no matter if people pout them into a different genre - to me they are pop. Depeche Mode started as result of great producers in the UK from Visage and others (Vince Clark was mastermind first who I admire still) - in my youth i hated them during the metal phase.

Depeche Mode was in my youth the personification of POP - a sound we did not like, we called them and their suporters in a negative way popper stuff - nothing for the cool rock kids - folks with strange hairstyles playing synthi pop - so true pop (sorry Hive account@w74) - after years I appreciated some of their songs, even pop it was good pop, pop I liked (since People are People), pop i did move my body to, pop i bought, pop I still love to listen to nowadays (what I never expected in the 80ies).

I have to confess now they did good stuff for music - and even could play live - they even had their own scandals you usually only have with Rock bands - in a nutshell now I am not an enemy, not a fan either but appreciate what they did for electronic music.

But they changed a bit from pure synthi pop stuff to even a "darker" phase. Depeche Mode's status as a frontrunner or pioneer in electronic music, despite these other major contributors, stems less from being the absolute first (a title often reserved for Kraftwerk) and more from their*unique and sustained evolution, commercial success, and profound, cross-genre influence.

While Depeche Mode started in 1980 with bright, early synth-pop (like "Just Can't Get Enough"—which is the "poppy" side after Vince Clarke's departure, Martin Gore took over songwriting and steered the band toward a darker, more experimental, and emotionally complex sound also regarding text towards religion and topics about existing / life in general. Later they even incorporated industrial rock parts e.g. with "Personal Jesus".

In summary, Depeche Mode's genius lies in their ability to take the minimalist, machine-driven sounds of their predecessors (like Kraftwerk) and infuse them with gothic romance, pop hooks, and a stadium-rock scale making them one of the most commercially successful and cross-genre influential electronic bands of all time.