Depeche Mode Looking Good (The Daily Star, 1981)

[demoderus]

Looking Good
[The Daily Star, 13th July 1981. Words: Rick Sky. Picture: Joe Bangay.]

This apparently harmless tabloid introduction to Depeche Mode set the ball rolling towards Vince's eventual departure. Regarding the author to have twisted his words quite nastily, Vince spent a large part of 1981 in media purdah. When he left the band not long after, the reasons involved disaffection with the trappings and lifestyle of a successful chart act, and that included the attendant PR circus. For this reason alone, one of the most important articles on Sacred DM.
" Vince Clarke, 21, says, “Ugly bands really don’t get anywhere in this business. "
Summary: This apparently harmless tabloid introduction to Depeche Mode set the ball rolling towards Vince's eventual departure. Regarding the author to have twisted his words quite nastily, Vince spent a large part of 1981 in media purdah. When he left the band not long after, the reasons involved disaffection with the trappings and lifestyle of a successful chart act, and that included the attendant PR circus. For this reason alone, one of the most important articles on Sacred DM. [246 words]

LOOKING GOOD

Depeche Mode are one of the best-looking bands around. And they reckon that gives them an edge over the competition.
Vince Clarke, 21, says, “Ugly bands really don’t get anywhere in this business.
“But let’s face it, being good looking gives you a real advantage in life. It opens a lot of doors.” [1]
The boys – Vince, Dave Gahan, 19, Martin Gore, 19, and Andrew Fletcher, 20 – are looking good in the charts, too.
They are riding high this week with their second disc, New Life.
Depeche Mode also believe in travelling light.
Their equipment consists of three small synthesisers and a tape recorder.
Singer Dave says: “Because we’re an electronic band we don’t need mounds of speakers and huge drum kits.

Huge
“Our equipment is very easy to carry.
“We don’t need huge vans to ferry us around and make our journeys difficult.
“We don’t even employ roadies because there is nothing for them to carry.”
Depeche Mode are part of the growing number of futurist electronic dance bands whose fans are colourfully-dressed and outrageous New Romantics. Vince says: “Too many bands take themselves too seriously – we don’t. We don’t let heavy political meaning get in the way of our songs.
“We just like having fun and we want our fans to have fun, too.”
The boys are the first successful band to come out of Basildon – a sprawling new town on the outskirts of London.
Dave says: “We hope to put Basildon on the map.”

[1] - This is the offending exchange. The actual conversation has been recounted by Vince and the bands over the years as running something like this: Sky had seemed to be fishing for something juicy for some time, and began asking questions about looks, such as whether being good-looking and in a band was an advantage (which is of course not the same as asking if being good-looking is an advantage to being in a band). Vince replied that being good-looking would certainly seem to be an advantage in life generally. Sky's next question was "So, you think you are pretty, do you?" From there, by all accounts, the tone went right downhill.