Violators Are Blue
[NME, 17th March 1990. Words: Helen Mead. Picture: Anton Corbijn.]
Depeche Mode Violator (Mute LP / Cassette / CD)
With the current musical climate settling so far into “electronically produced” music, it’s very hard to think of anything in this genre as being other than House music or clanging Front 242 New Beat bastards. But that of course is forgetting the influence of Depeche Mode – who, in terms of “new product” – have been off the scene since ‘87’s ‘Music For The Masses’, a lush, dense escapade into the world of grandiose pop songs.
You’d expect to hear a leap in musical logic between ‘Music For The Masses’ and ‘Violator’, but instead it seems almost a step back, in that it’s cleaner, sparser, more clinical. And herein lies the contradiction, as that should mean they also get pervier, but they don’t. They’re still too obsessed with the perfect relationship.
So ‘Violator’ – a preposterous title for a Heavy Metal album or a hardcore porn comic – either way Radio 1 still won’t ban it – just titter wryly, ‘cos Depeche Mode are nice boys and thankfully don’t seem to have anything to do with drugs – OR the Acid House scene! [1]
Lyrically they’re still dealing with raw emotions: religion in ‘The Policy Of Truth’, betrayal and foolhardy honesty; ‘Personal Jesus’, a Glitter-stomp all over purchasable faith; and obsessive love of ‘Sweetest Perfection’. All those big subjects, that can be hard to capture in a three minute pop song, let alone being able to present such adult struggles to the pre-teen market. Then there’s the kinky song – ‘Blue Dress’ breaking you gently into the knowledge that fetishes make a man’s world go round, not love – all in waltz time. Isn’t that nice and proper!
‘Enjoy The Silence’ is an excellent Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Opportunities’ soundalike. While ‘Waiting For The Night’ you could almost call ambient; with its “And when I squinted / The world seemed rose tinted” lyric, you could almost believe that you were sitting alone in the echoing chambers of a submarine listening to the radar pips cross the screen. The nearest Depeche Mode ever get to being trippy is on their version of Tangerine Dream’s ‘Clean’. [2]
There is black. And there is white. And there is security in the knowledge that everything is very clear cut in Depeche Mode’s blue and white world. (8)
[NME, 17th March 1990. Words: Helen Mead. Picture: Anton Corbijn.]
Depeche Mode Violator (Mute LP / Cassette / CD)
With the current musical climate settling so far into “electronically produced” music, it’s very hard to think of anything in this genre as being other than House music or clanging Front 242 New Beat bastards. But that of course is forgetting the influence of Depeche Mode – who, in terms of “new product” – have been off the scene since ‘87’s ‘Music For The Masses’, a lush, dense escapade into the world of grandiose pop songs.
You’d expect to hear a leap in musical logic between ‘Music For The Masses’ and ‘Violator’, but instead it seems almost a step back, in that it’s cleaner, sparser, more clinical. And herein lies the contradiction, as that should mean they also get pervier, but they don’t. They’re still too obsessed with the perfect relationship.
So ‘Violator’ – a preposterous title for a Heavy Metal album or a hardcore porn comic – either way Radio 1 still won’t ban it – just titter wryly, ‘cos Depeche Mode are nice boys and thankfully don’t seem to have anything to do with drugs – OR the Acid House scene! [1]
Lyrically they’re still dealing with raw emotions: religion in ‘The Policy Of Truth’, betrayal and foolhardy honesty; ‘Personal Jesus’, a Glitter-stomp all over purchasable faith; and obsessive love of ‘Sweetest Perfection’. All those big subjects, that can be hard to capture in a three minute pop song, let alone being able to present such adult struggles to the pre-teen market. Then there’s the kinky song – ‘Blue Dress’ breaking you gently into the knowledge that fetishes make a man’s world go round, not love – all in waltz time. Isn’t that nice and proper!
‘Enjoy The Silence’ is an excellent Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Opportunities’ soundalike. While ‘Waiting For The Night’ you could almost call ambient; with its “And when I squinted / The world seemed rose tinted” lyric, you could almost believe that you were sitting alone in the echoing chambers of a submarine listening to the radar pips cross the screen. The nearest Depeche Mode ever get to being trippy is on their version of Tangerine Dream’s ‘Clean’. [2]
There is black. And there is white. And there is security in the knowledge that everything is very clear cut in Depeche Mode’s blue and white world. (8)