Poll of the Day > I wrote a Depeche Mode parody song

(+) Yeah! (+)

This started out as a joke between my daughter and I during a road trip while listening to the Black Celebration album. Basically, how everything had mad reverb on it and how songs had all those tinkles and shit in the background lol

https://youtu.be/bgGGgo4zlNg

Do you know of a Depeche Mode song that kind of sounds like there's an engine revving sound in it? It was part of a bunch of songs my friend gave me on a flash drive like 15 years ago, but I no longer have it or remember the name of the song.

lihlih posted...

Do you know of a Depeche Mode song that kind of sounds like there's an engine revving sound in it? It was part of a bunch of songs my friend gave me on a flash drive like 15 years ago, but I no longer have it or remember the name of the song.

Revving?

Hmmmmm... It might be a remix version of Behind the Wheel. Was it this one?

https://youtu.be/VEAuMiKqP-4

Probably Stripped.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU8UfYdKHvs

Yeah, was going to say Stripped. Though there's a lot of industrial sounds on some of their earlier albums (especially Construction Time Again), so it might be something else as well.

Though on the subject of Stripped, everyone who knows/likes Depeche Mode (and especially the song Stripped) should experience this version at some point in their life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzC10Gixw8E

I suddenly remembered that it was Dead of Night.
I've never heard any of their other songs before, so I'll check out the other songs you guys posted though.

Weirdly enough making this has me listening to a lot of their super old stuff I didnt know all that well. I cant believe how good this one is on particular. The little jazzy chords are really great:

https://youtu.be/zyjRfBfT7b0

Black_Crusher posted...

Weirdly enough making this has me listening to a lot of their super old stuff I didnt know all that well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_zaEcrpCbI

This sounds like spot on like a Blancmange song. Pretty good though I like it

Garlands_Soul posted...

This sounds like spot on like a Blancmange song. Pretty good though I like it

Thanks, man

I had a ton of trouble mixing it the EQ is all over the place. The important part of course is that the reverb was turned all the way up hah

https://youtu.be/k26aeJL1x44?t=12

The_tall_midget posted...

https://youtu.be/k26aeJL1x44?t=12

HAHAHA

This must be about Martin Gore, who could get basically any of the hottest euro chicks out there. Probably even still!

Black_Crusher posted...

This must be about Martin Gore, who could get basically any of the hottest euro chicks out there. Probably even still!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4e/de/75/4ede757490f8722dc3c6aa8aeeddf2d6.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/b3/8b/cb/b38bcb1e1a6a5eb0a9ab075105ec1b33--martin-gore-martin-omalley.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0e/13/0a/0e130adfcdf4b3a754d29e291f12c7e3.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/29/37/88/2937888969bf6938422d45ab64e7d7d9.png



...though on a semi-related note, I saw Dave Gahan's Paper Monsters solo tour about 20 years ago, and while he's up on stage in his tight pants and topless and just wiggling his ass in the way he does, my gf turns to me and goes "I would totally have sex with him," and I replied "So would I."

Martin may have been the one who was always going for a weird androgyny thing, but Dave was always a bit of a sex machine. And Andrew was a weird asexual lump of wood.

Thats cool you were able to see them in some capacity, I only had one chance years ago and of course the show sells out like nothing.

I guess theyre still going to write, Martin and Dave, though to be honest I kind of think their last good album was Playing the Angel so Im not really going to get my hopes up too much.

Honestly other than Black Celebration I've never been that big on em. Their knockoffs like Camouflage were more my thing

There is nothing Depeche Mode that is parody its just all sad and pathetic.

Conner4REAL posted...

There is nothing Depeche Mode that is parody its just all sad and pathetic.

So all of your posts?

Garlands_Soul posted...

Honestly other than Black Celebration I've never been that big on em. Their knockoffs like Camouflage were more my thing

While I don't like every single one of their songs, they have a shit load of good songs. If I had to put together a top 10 or 15 it'd be pretty hard to do. Totally different band of course but this is how I feel about Rush- just awesome bands with expansive catalogs filled with good stuff.

Do you have a Spotify page or anything?

Black_Crusher posted...

Thats cool you were able to see them in some capacity, I only had one chance years ago and of course the show sells out like nothing.

Oh, I've seen them in concert multiple times. I almost went to the Songs of Faith and Devotion tour concert (but a friend of mine kind of screwed that up for us), but I manged to catch them when they did the Singles tour in 98 (we were in like the 6th row back, Martin actually pointed out my friend at one point). Then again for the Exciter tour and Playing the Angel.

I also met them in person and got a signed copy of Playing the Angel when that tour was in Madison Square Garden - I wound up sitting on line for about 10 hours.

They were pretty much my favorite band for years. I got into them when Violator came out, worked my way back though all their old albums, then bought all their old singles. Bought a few posters, shirts, etc.

The problem is, much like you I kind of lost interest with their sound after Playing the Angel - to the point where I passed on opportunities to go see them on those tours (which, in retrospect, maybe I should have, because they still would have played some of/mostly the old songs). So while I'll still happily listen to the older stuff (and talk about it, or recommend it to people), there really isn't much on the last three albums I care all that much about. So Andrew dying doesn't feel like an ending to me, because it kind of feels like the band I cared about already ended years ago. Which is a shame.



Black_Crusher posted...

While I don't like every single one of their songs, they have a shit load of good songs. If I had to put together a top 10 or 15 it'd be pretty hard to do.

The trick with Depeche Mode is that they have very different sounds depending on which era you're listening to them in, which means even if you don't like one era it's entirely possible you might like another.

The first album is mostly written by Vince Clarke (who later went on to form Yaz and Erasure), and it has a much lighter feel in a lot of ways. Then after he leaves Martin mostly takes over writing and the songs get darker in tone and lyrics. Then the state of the band tends to affect the tone of the music - Songs of Faith and Devotion is a very dark album because pretty much everyone in the band was borderline self-destructing when they wrote it.

The first few albums are very electronic, then there's a strong industrial period (where they literally went to a construction site and sampled noises to program into the synths), then they kind of move into a more melodic phase. Then they move into a phase which is a bit more rock-influenced and mainstream-friendly (which is the period they got really popular in the US), then they go darker, then lighter, then into whatever you'd call their current phase.

Though I kind of feel like, at this point, while they may still put out another album or two, Dave and Martin might be more inclined to mostly just do solo stuff in the future. Or maybe retire entirely - because they are getting older, and neither of them really needs the money at this point.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The trick with Depeche Mode is that they have very different sounds depending on which era you're listening to them in, which means even if you don't like one era it's entirely possible you might like another.

Oh, and on this note - just for fun, listen to these two songs and tell me they sound like the same band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TayT7NLgV4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fphsbLtrDe8

Garlands_Soul posted...

Do you have a Spotify page or anything?

Oh no, sorry. I just put some stuff up on Youtube but fair warning my music doesn't sound alike from song to song and is definitely not for everyone. It's a lot of fun though and keeps me active haha.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Oh, and on this note - just for fun, listen to these two songs and tell me they sound like the same band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TayT7NLgV4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fphsbLtrDe8

Yeah totally different, and this time you don't even have Dave's voice as the constant (which as you know was remarkably "mature"-sounding from even way back when. I suppose when you have a career as long as theirs it's probably impossible to sound exactly the same from album to album, as people might tend to get burnt out on them and then your career isn't quite as long!

One thing about the band is sometimes trying to find the right mix of a song, since there are so many of them. A great example would be the video version of In Your Room, which is far superior to the album version, the guitars and more prominent drums make it for me. Same thing with Strangelove, I like the faster beat.

Video version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGvZyrhObrg

Album version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izdW2k1bhhU

Black_Crusher posted...

it's probably impossible to sound exactly the same from album to album, as people might tend to get burnt out on them and then your career isn't quite as long!

Never mind the audience, the band itself would probably get burned out trying to sound exactly the same and never really evolving.

But that's the main key to why bands change their sound over time. Because the people in the band change. Martin at age 20 is not the same man he was at 30, or 40, or 50 (or 61 today). He's not going to write the same sorts of songs while in the depths of his alcoholic period as he would when completely sober. He's going to have a different view of the world as a young punk trying to establish an identity than he will as an adult with multiple kids and a 40-year legacy as part of one of the world's most famous bands (especially in Europe). Alan Wilder offering ideas when he was part of the band is going to help create a different sound than after he's gone. Dave's own interests and influences may lead to him offering advice or creative input. As the band goes from being influenced by the people who came before them to blatantly influencing tons of people who came after them, their own sound is going to evolve simply by virtue of the world they exist in.

Bands that sound the same album after album are almost certainly trying to just make the same songs over and over again (because it was succcesful for them before) rather than writing and performing what actually interests them. Which is why so many bands like that tend to burn out or fade away.



Black_Crusher posted...

One thing about the band is sometimes trying to find the right mix of a song, since there are so many of them. A great example would be the video version of In Your Room, which is far superior to the album version

Absolutely - I definitely prefer the Zephyr Mix to the album version. Helped by the fact that it was remixed by Garbage (and I was a fan of that band at the time as well).

It's one of the reasons why I posted the Some Bizarre Album version of Photographic up there - not only is it essentially their official "first" song (it was released before their debut album), but the album version of it is significantly different. Compare the two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkKueyJaA0A

That was one of the advantages of getting all the singles - most of them come with B-sides. A bunch of them are remix versions of album songs.

Of course, the other advantage to the singles is that some of them have entirely new songs that don't show up on the albums at all. Some of which are really, really good. Dangerous and Sea of Sin could easily have been on Violator, for instance (and honestly, I prefer them to some of the songs that were on the album).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LHuEvw56F8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPb-59BPHAk

Dont forget probably their most famous B side or whatever youd call it of all, Shake the Disease.

How that never made an actual album is beyond me.

Black_Crusher posted...

Dont forget probably their most famous B side or whatever youd call it of all, Shake the Disease.

How that never made an actual album is beyond me.

Well, it kind of did. But it depends on if you count Catching Up with Depeche Mode as an album or not.

It was a full compilation album in the UK/Europe where it was released as "The Singles 81-85", but it was generally treated more like a full album in the US.

Regardless, I will never forget Shake the Disease, because it's always been one of my favorite songs of theirs. As much as I love Violator (it's what got me into them in the first place) and Songs of Faith and Devotion (which is probably the rawest their sound has ever been), Some Great Reward may be my favorite era overall... and Shake the Disease sort of falls into the tail end of that time period for their sound (it's kind of the bridge between Some Great Reward and Black Celebration in a lot of ways).