Depeche Mode: "Strangelove"

22 April 1987

"This is very much their style, isn't it?"

— Gary Numan

• Hi everyone! My name is Vince and I'm 14 years old. I'm looking for pop music fans to write to. I like the Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Gary Numan and The Style Council. Anyone out there interested? If so please drop me a line at 116 Lister Rd., The Mumbles, Swansea, DMF 101.

~~~~~

Dear Vince,

Hi! My name is Paul and I am almost 12. I saw your message in RSVP in the last issue of Smash Hits. I think we like a lot of the same music!

I'm from Canada but I'm currently living in Essex with my family for a year. We're going back home in a few months and I would like to have lots of friends in the UK to keep in touch with and talk about music. I hope you don't mind having a penpal in another country!

So I also really like the Pet Shop Boys. I got their tape for Christmas and it's really good. I keep listening to the first side and then rewinding back to the start. I also really like The Cure and New Order. My sister has the Style Council tape and we listen to that a lot too. I don't know much about the Smiths but I think they did that song Panic last year, right? I liked it but my sister didn't. She also really likes Tears for Fears but I just think they're okay. So why do you like Depeche Mode so much? Don't all their songs sound the same? And who's Gary Numan?

I hope you'll write back. Take care!

Paul

~~~~~

Dear Paul,

You're from Canada? That's cool. What's pop music like there? Do you like Bryan Adams? He's from Canada, right?

I'm glad to hear you like a lot of the same music as me but it's all right if we have different opinions. Maybe we can convince each other to listen to some different stuff.

You might be a bit young for Depeche Mode. I'm in third year and they have a lot of songs that are about some dark thoughts that people my age have. I know what you mean about their songs being kind of samey but they used to have more variety. Try listening closely to the words, there's some deep meaning in their lyrics.

It sounds like your sister has good taste in music too. I have an older brother who got me into music. Ask her what she thinks of Depeche Mode. I notice that you're living in Basildon: did you know that's where they're from?

You've never heard of Gary Numan? He used to be really popular. I think if you like a lot of stuff with synthesizers then you'll like him.

Until next time mate!

V.

~~~~~

Hi Vince! How have you been? The term is almost over and so is our year in Basildon. We're going to take a coach trip of Europe soon and then we'll be back in Canada soon after that. So what are you going to do this summer?

Yeah, Bryan Adams is from Canada. I used to like him. My mum got me the tape of his song "Diana" which I think is about Princess Diana. He says he loves her but I don't think he does. Do you know his song "Summer of '69"? It's pretty good. I don't really like his songs anymore though.

So I found a copy of "Strangelove" by Depeche Mode at the local Woolworths in an old box with a bunch of other singles. It was 50p so I thought I'd buy it and follow your advice. I think I saw them do it on Top of the Pops a while ago. I've been playing it a lot at home and now the rest of my family is sick of it!

The song is pretty good but what does it all mean? I don't understand why he wants to give pain to his girlfriend. If I tried to give pain to any of the girls in my class they'd thump me and go crying to the teacher!

No one here in Basildon seems to care that Depeche Mode are from here. One lad in my class told me they went to our school in Billericay but I don't believe him. He also told me that he knows the the singer from Level 42.

I asked my sister about Gary Numan and she doesn't know anything about him either. I wonder if I can find out more about him when I get back to Canada.

Have a great summer!

Paul

~~~~~

Dear Vince,

Hi mate! Sorry, I forgot to give you my address in Canada. Did you try to write to me in Basildon?

I've now been back here for 2 months and I miss Britain. My friends here really like looking at pictures of cars but I think it's boring. They also hate all my music because they all like rap or metal. I really miss my mates in Basildon and Billericay and I also miss Smash Hits and Top of the Pops. Most of the music magazines here are so serious. There are some good music video shows on here but they don't seem as important as TOTP. The number one over here is "La Bamba" by a group called Los Lobos. Have you heard of them? It's being used in a movie about an older singer who died. It's okay but I'm already sick of it being played everywhere.

I'm spending a lot of time on my own in the school library. I found a music book called The Rock Book which I borrowed. It has short bios of different groups and singers and lots of photos. I was looking at it and it has information about most of our favourite bands! I was really surprised. I liked reading about Depeche Mode and New Order. And they even have info about Gary Numan! I'm really interested in listening to some of his songs!

So, how's being back at school? You're in fourth year now, right? The only good thing about being in school here is that I don't have to wear a uniform anymore. I like wearing jeans to school.

I hope you're well!

Paul

~~~~~

Paul! How are you doing mate? It's good to hear from you! I was worried I might not hear from you again!

I'm sorry to hear that returning to Canada isn't going well. It sounds like you need some new friends. My mates from junior school all became a bunch of prats when we moved up to our comprehensive and I was rid of them all by the end of first year. Try to find some people who like the same music if you can — or at least people who have more interesting hobbies than looking at a bunch of bloody cars!

But one of the nice things about music is that it's there when we're lonely. When I'm feeling down, I really like having the Pet Shop Boys and Cure and Depeche Mode on.

Wow, you lot in Canada are behind. Los Lobos were at number one here back in August. We just had a month of this bloke called Rick Astley at the top with Never Gonna Give You Up. I predict people will forget all about it in the future. But the new number one is called "Pump Up the Volume" by MARRS and it's brill! Have you heard it? I hope it comes over to Canada soon, I think you'll love it as much as I do.

Gotta go now. Top of the Pops is on!

V.

~~~~~

Hey Vince. So, I've been trying to find some people to talk music with but it's not going well. Mr. Coutts, the art teacher at my school, lets us play tapes during class time and I put on The Style Council. Everyone in the class demanded it be turned off by the second song. Then, Mr. Coutts said that he liked it and that made matters worse. Everyone says I have the worst taste in music in the entire school.

I've been feeling down a lot and I've been playing that Depeche Mode song quite a bit. I still don't really know what it's about but I think I understand what they mean about wanting someone to take your pain away. But don't you think it's strange that you want to listen to depressing music when you're feeling depressed? Don't we end up feeling more depressed?

I haven't heard this "Pump Up the Volume" song yet but I'll try to remember it. I'm really looking forward to hearing it.

My one good news is that I've joined a band with my friend Ethan who lives just down my street. He's a year younger than me but he and some of his school friends have had this group for a year already. We met just yesterday so I could talk to everyone. We want to play everything except for no country and no rap. We also have lots of song titles. Ethan's all have just one word which I think is dead boring. Jeff is the leader and is trying to save up for a drum kit and I'm going to try to get a bass guitar soon. Maybe I'll send you a tape of our stuff someday!

I hope it was a good TOTP. I miss that show!

Yours,

Paul

~~~~~

Hi Paul. I know what you mean about depressing music but it's like they're singing directly to me and they understand what I'm going through even if no one else gives a toss. You're right about "Strangelove", it's all about wanting someone to be there to take that pain away. There aren't any girls around who'll look twice at me at the moment but until then there's loads of good records to help me through.

It's good to hear you've joined a band with the lads down the road from you. My mate Steve asked me to join his group a while ago and I'm still thinking about it. I want to be the singer but they've got a girl on vocals and they want me to play keyboards. I might do it, I don't know.

How are the charts in Canada these days? There's this terrible song by this group called T'Pau at number one now. They aren't popular in Canada too, are they?

By the way, I met a girl at the roller rink last week and she's a big fan of Depeche Mode too! She likes lots of good music in fact. See? There are girls out there for lads like us! (Though she doesn't like Gary Numan...)

Rock on Tommy!

Vince

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Latin Quarter: "Nomzamo (One People One Cause)"

• Pop veteran who's down the dumper looking to rant further. Greetings. I was once a pop giant who fell on hard times but I'm still active and keen to discuss many of my passions: myself, everything that's wrong with the state of current pop, aviation, etc. I enjoy making value judgements about others but bitterly resent it when they're directed at me — but at least I'm honest. I don't like giving my money away and also wonder why those who do don't just give it all away. I think that being commercial is the best way to get through to as many people as possible even if that will eventually fly in the face of my eventual courtship of Trent Reznor and my status as a godfather of industrial rock. I don't stand for anything and I am convinced that there's something seriously wrong with those who do. I like myself, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Nick Kamen and I hate Latin Quarter, The Smiths, Talking Heads, Beastie Boys and anything to do with Paul Weller. Write to me if you're a Numanoid in need of direction: 37 Replica St., Stanwell, Surrey, AFE 818.

Madness: "Madness"

6 September 1979

"The A-side is a cover version of the 1964 cult single, and the B-side is the band's own tribute to Prince Buster."

— Steve Bush

This would be an accurate summation of what's on the A and B sides if it wasn't completely wrong. Steve Bush's error may have been because he was sent a botched promo copy, because his Smash Hits mates purposefully gave him false information or because he made a careless mistake. And, while the purported flip is clearly the superior track, I can kind of understand why might have assumed "Madness" to have been their lead single's flagship song. It's an introduction to a new band where "The Prince" is a call back to a name from the past. Ver kids could have got their rocks out to some jolly rocksteady fun and it's easy to see why it could make a popular concert standout. And who kicks their career off by longing for an old ska veteran to make his return: didn't the members of Madness want to show off what they were capable of?

The late seventies ska revival seemed to come out of nowhere and, if you weren't a Coventry scenester, you would have had good reason for assuming so. Unknown acts became stars overnight as everyone came flying out of the gate. The old Coventry Automatics were now The Special A.K.A. and they debuted with the brilliant "Gangsters", catchy as all hell, something everyone would want to dance to but with a dark heart of aching melancholy in Terry Hall's vocals. Flip the single over and you got "The Selecter", an eponymous number which is almost as wonderful as its better-remembered A-side. Pauline Black's singing is an acquired taste and the group was never quite as "special" as their ska associates but it's a great track in its own right and you'd have every reason to believe they had as much of a future as anyone. The Beat chose to get things started with a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" (matched with their own "Ranking Full Stop" as a double A), something of a risk if you consider that Motown/Northern soul fans were still an influential presence at the time and their distaste for a tenth rate rendition of a Miracles classic could have torpedoed the chances of Dave Wakeling, Ranking Roger and the rest. Good thing they did it well and their Kingston-Motor City crossover may have only led to a more widespread acceptance of British ska.

Also recording their first single at this time was a group from Camden Town. Midlands groups could very easily have spurned a bunch of wacky Londoners but Specials leader Jerry Dammers saw something in them, even if he himself couldn't quite quantify it. "I went to see them and they were really basic," he observes, "just like a school band". Indeed, with Suggs being just eighteen, they were barely out of that playing-Cockney Rebel-records-on-full-volume-in-the-sixth-form-common-room-much-to-the-dismay-of-the-school-headmaster phase that we all go through. (Or was that just me, even if I went to high school in Canada, played Beautiful South albums in the school drama room and my teachers were the only ones who didn't tell me to turn them off) Their playing was rudimentary but they did have a couple songs including future hit "My Girl". Dammers signed them up for a one off 2 Tone single.

The result is not something you'll find on a Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Debut Singles list (notably, they also left off "Gangsters" so they may not have been looking at ska when they put it together) but "The Prince" is a tremendous work and a sign of things to come. In isolation, however, it may have seemed like a slight let down next to their 2 Tone compatriots. The Special A.K.A, The Beat and The Selecter had all been pounding out sweaty ska classics live but Madness didn't come from this same world. More closely connected to Ian Dury, they were entertainers and songsmiths. Politics played a part of their sound but there was so much more waiting to come out. Ska remained though more often in spirit than in practice. They weren't to know it at the time but they were set to be the group we would all want to bring back whenever they'd disappear like Prince Buster.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Gary Numan: "Cars"

Taken all the way to the top of the charts then and regarded as a post-punk, synth-pop classic today, it's amazing there aren't more who see through the emptiness of "Cars". "Are 'Friends' Electric?" is still extraordinary and ought to be the one everyone remembers. Sure, Trent Reznor still reckons it's the bees knees (and he's right) but it doesn't get the love of this "disappointing" follow up. Far more purely synthy than its predecessor, "Cars" lacks the ecstatic thrill of the best records of its (or any) time. Gary Numan would admit trying to pen a hit and he certainly succeeded but a musical achievement this ain't.