Depeche Mode Fans Of Devotion (Prospective Magazine, 1999)
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Fans of Devotion
Depeche Mode the Singles 86>98 Tour wagons rushed over the Baltic and Nordic countries in Autumn 1998 and left the fans dreaming of new possible venues on the future. We organised a little survey for knowing what is it like to be a fan of Depeche Mode and how was the concerts.The articles of music magazines are usually concentrated on bands and artists, especially on the superstars. The stars can be made by media, but the popularity will only last if there is faithful and devoted fan base.
Depeche Mode is a band with long history and rich fan culture, which flourishes also on the Internet. As a long-time fan of the band and a member of the Depeche Net community, I wanted to explore, what are the other people's feelings about the fanhood. For this task I made a small survey with questions like 'When you noticed that you are fan', 'How it shows', 'What is your favourite Depeche album', 'How you get the information on the band' and so on. With the questions, I tried to show similarities and differences between fans in the Nordic and the Baltic countries.
The survey was made on the Internet and the email questionnaire reached 34 fans in Estonia, Finland and Sweden. The average age of the answerers was 24 but most entries come from 26'ers. The oldest fan was 31 and the youngest 17. Just five of answerers was female, which can mean that Depeche Mode fan culture is male-oriented. Explanation might also be that the Net is full of men liking Mode and female fans can be found in somewhere else
The origin of fan
"I became a fan when other DM fans I didn't know personally started to greet me on the street." - Gert from EstoniaThe usual story is that Depeche Mode fanhood began in mid or late 80's and the real adoration has growth little by little. There are also some people considering themselves as fans since 1981 and one who has found Depeche Mode with 'Ultra' album (1997). Therefore it is impossible to define any actual moment, when most of the answerers has become a fan. In the meaning of Mode, the very big importance was put for the lyrics, which are very strong and touch deep personal feelings of listeners.
In many replies, there were a particular album or song mentioned as a catalysator of Mode enthusiasm. For example 'Master and Servant' and 'Enjoy the Silence' was named as the mover track. The latter is also number one song, when it was posed a question of three favourite Depeche track. Twelve of 34 answers has 'Enjoy the Silence' in top 3. 'Stripped' and 'Blasphemous Rumours' were first and second runner-ups.
The most popular album was 'Black Celebration' with 9 nominations and 'Violator' got the second place. Only album not mentioned in this category was 'A Broken Frame'. These results are not surprising, because they are almost the same like in all the polls that I have seen on the Net in last few years.
I also asked about the least favourite album. The question was very stupid and impossible to answer to several hard-core fans, because they love all the Mode productions. However, it seems that the albums in the beginning of career are the worse and also the latest ones, 'Songs of the Faith and Devotion' and 'Ultra' were liked less. Only ones with no score is this category were 'Black Celebration' and 'Violator'.
Love to digital music
"Nine Inch Nails, all sorts of other music. I do hate rap." - A guy from FinlandIt's very difficult to define the favourite music genre of Depeche fan. Lots of participants of the survey mentioned tons of EBM, synthpop and industrial bands, but dance, grunge and jazz acts were also in several lists.
I put also a list of 17 artist or bands onto survey and ask people to put them like/dislike order. That list included for example New Order, The Cure, Recoil, Bomb the Bass, David Bowie, Spice Girls, New Kids on the Block and Jimi Hendrix! It wasn't surprise that synth acts got the best nominations and current dance etc. groups were knocked out. Jimi Hendrix got quite controversial reception: few people like him and there were also few not knowing guitarist legend Hendrix at all. Also, Bomb the Bass, act of Tim Simenon, the current Depeche Mode producer was often not known or got just average positions. Maybe people have forgotten the classic house tracks like 'Beat Dis', 'Megablast' and 'Winter in July'.
A long-time member but now the ex-member of Depeche Mode, Alan Wilder and his Recoil project was very much praised. Many of answerers nodded that DM is not the same band anymore, after Alan's departure.
How to get information on the band
Due to the fact that the questionnaire was sent via email it's natural that the most important source of information on Depeche Mode was the Internet. Depeche Mode fans use the Net in many different ways. They browse Web pages, are members of several mailing lists, read Usenet news groups and participate online chatting. Among the most popular Web pages were
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, (the official site), commline.com (the site of Bong, Depeche Mode mailing list), Halo's and Zambak's sites. Jaakko's Depeche Mode page was also mentioned in few times, which can be just politeness for the poll-maker Music magazines were also very important source of information. In this category, there were national differences between answerers, because they read mostly magazines of their own country but also the English ones like New Musical Express and Melody Maker. For the Estonian fans it was also very important to be members of Depeche Mode fan club, which probably meant Estonian club.
It seems that almost every DM fan has a pall, who is even more DM oriented. Friends were one of the most important source of information. So, being a fan means usually very high social activeness instead of living alone in Depeche Mode world. Sometimes this is difficult, because of the living environment:
"Well, as I also was telling you before, that out of 700 students in my school, I am the only "Synthare"...I also live in an area, where there are no DMfans or synthmusicfreaks what so ever. In the building where I live there are no dmfans what so ever, the same case within my own family. The closest dmfans can I find in a distance of 5-10 km from me." - Leodardo from Sweden
Dressed in Black - at least for the concert
"If I was man, I would dress up like D. Gahan. Being a women, I have to be content with my own ideas. You have to own Doc Martens boots, anyway" - Sini from FinlandClothes don't make you as a fan of Depeche Mode. Almost everybody wrote that they are almost just ordinary looking gals and guys. However, Depeche Mode fan's favourite colour is black and she/he likes leather.
At least for going to a Depeche Mode party or gig, Mode fan want to dress up Depeche fashion, with leather jackets, band shirts, Martens shoes etc. At least before the Helsinki concert this meant coming back to late 80's Depeche Mode style and atmosphere spiced with several other sub-cultures like the Goth people.
Same kind of experience had my friend Paul from UK, who went to a Depeche Mode Party in Gothenburg. He wore a bright yellow t-shirt and felt like a man from Mars around the black masses of staring Depeche fans. He almost expected that somebody would share the darkness with him by spraying his shirts to black.
"Gooood evening Estonia, Finland, Sweden"
"I prepared with doing some sandwiches for doing some 6 hours standing in line" - Daniel from SwedenThe waiting of the Depeche Mode concert was very long process. For me it started in May, when I purchased the ticket for the first Mode concert in Finland. Few days before concert went in listening music, especially live recordings, lurking on the Net and trying to get to the right mood every way as possible. Questionnaire replies showed same kind of rituals of other people too: preparation for a concert or concerts meant listening music, contacting friends and other DM fans all over the world, choosing clothes, meditation, chilling and freaking out...
Usually people saw one or two venues, but there were also some with four to eight concert experiences in the Singles 86>98 Tour. Especially the Estonians travelled to see the band in many occasions and the most optimistic people will try to fly to the USA for seeing some American Tour venues.
Mostly atmosphere of the concert was described marvellous:
"I liked em lot. Why? Cause it has been my obsession very long time to be in dm concert and cause im fan we were so close to "THEM" that i mostly felt their breath on my face Atmosphere was soooo great everywhere - all the crowd was singing all the songs with the band and waving etc." - Tarmo from EstoniaDepeche Mode didn't let anyone down but few of answerers thought that it would have been nice to get some surprises for the set list, which was pretty secure hit parade excluding unfortunately 'Strangelove' and 'Behind the Wheel'. However, hoppy-poppy 'Just Can't Get Enough' from the first 'Speak & Spell' album (1981) was great ending of the concerts. Like it was said in one interpretation it meant that the world is not so dark place to live at all. At least Depeche Mode music can be painkiller when it feels no good. Hopefully, they will be back again: you just can't get enough of Depeche Mode or can you?
The numerical data of the survey
| Aswerers | 34 |
| Female | 5 |
| Male | 29 |
| All | |
|---|---|
| Average age | 24 |
| Median Age | 23 |
| Oldest | 31 |
| Youngest | 17 |