The 500 - #342 - Violator - Depeche Mode

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 342

Album Title: Violator

Artist: Depeche Mode

Genre: Synth Pop, Gothic Rock

Recorded: 5 Studios - Italy, Denmark, UK, New York

Released: March, 1990

My age at release: 24

How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #167 (Up 175 places)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Personal Jesus (Acoustic)

Depeche Mode were one of the many British synth-pop bands that I dismissed off-hand in my teens and early twenties. My dismissal was largely due to the social clique with which I aligned. I was a committed rocker (a prog-rocker no less) and, as a young man, that commitment was, well, rock solid. Preppies were the cultural enemy, and preppies loved The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure and this week's artist, Depeche Mode. (Four bands who, collectively, have seven records on The 500).

Stereotypical 80s Preppies

What is it about opinionated teens? That's not fair. It isn't just teens. The world is full of opinionated people, many operating with limited, incorrect or misguided information.

According to psychologists, being zealously opinionated is usually about control. In this line of thinking, obnoxiously opinionated people are often struggling with their emotional intelligence -- the ability to perceive, regulate and manage their emotions. Consequently, they fight vociferously for their assumptions -- which often represent an emotional and intellectual safe-space for them. I suppose that is why teens and young adults can be disproportionately opinionated.

As a Grade 7 educator, the importance of fostering critical thinking in my students is important to me, particularly as their world view shifts from black and white to complex shades of gray. The task is to encourage my young charges to question things in their world and to appreciate different perspectives. In class, we often discuss the complex motivations of a fictional character or the myriad causes for an event from history.

Perhaps I am hoping they won’t make the same teen-age mistakes I made. Some of the things I espoused in vigorous defence of my opinions still make me shudder. My uniformed disregard for Depeche Mode’s music was, at the outset, a hill to defend. How times can change one’s perspective. In my recent review of the group’s output, I did a 180-degree turn.

Violator is the seventh studio release by the group from Basildon, a large town 42 km east of central London. Influenced by Talking Heads, David Bowie, Ultravox, The Damned and Iggy Pop, Depeche formed in 1980, taking their name from a French fashion magazine. Roughly translated, Depeche Mode means "Fashion Dispatch" or, more simply, "Fashion News".

Depeche Mode in 1990

The band enjoyed early success in Europe and Australia. The 1981 song, Just Can't Get Enough, from their debut album, Speak and Spell, had limited airplay in North America. It was also the first time I heard them. At the time, I was 15 and still solidifying my taste in music. Consequently, I didn't mind the song when it was played on pop radio stations. 

In March, 1984, the band released People Are People in advance of their upcoming record Some Great Reward. The single and album cemented their success internationally. It was also a departure from their earlier synth-sound as they began experimenting with harsher industrial sounds. The genre of industrial music is noted for its abrasive, avant-garde fusion of rock and electronic music with the rhythmic, albeit sometimes cacophonous, clang of metal pipes and machinery. 

This was the music of the club-scene in the mid-eighties, about the time my friends and I were old enough to go to clubs. Collectively, we unequivocally decided we hated industrial club music. Group-think had locked in and I went along despite my earlier tolerance. We endured the club-scene but retreated to the safe space of our favourite high school sounds in our cars and homes. We were not going to enjoy "preppy music" no matter how popular it got.

By the time Violator was released in 1990, my opinion was softening and, quietly, I enjoyed the two biggest songs from the record, Enjoy The Silence and Personal Jesus. In 2002, Johnny Cash recorded a hauntingly beautiful version of the latter for his record American IV: The Man Comes Around. This track reinforced my appreciation for Depeche Mode as songwriters. Indeed, Personal Jesus is recognized in several music publications as "one of the greatest songs ever written".

Album Cover for American IV: The Man Comes Around

Much like Cash, I have also "come around". I was operating with limited information as a young man and my emotional intelligence has improved. I'm okay with "preppy music" now. It turns out that I should have been all along.