Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode (sometimes stylized DM) is a British electronic and alternative rock band, affiliated with new wave, originating from Basildon in Essex, England. Formed in 1980, it emerged within the synthpop movement and quickly became influential and popular on the international scene. The name derives from the French magazine Dépêche Mode.

Discovered by the agent of Soft Cell and then directed by Daniel Miller who signed them to his Mute Records label in 1981, DM achieved its first success in Europe in the fall of that same year with Just Can't Get Enough and in the United States in 1984-1985 with the single People Are People.

The success of its synthpop style, heavily influenced by industrial music, remained constant until 1990 with the album Violator, featuring the tracks Personal Jesus, Policy of Truth and especially Enjoy the Silence. The 1990s were marked by the drug addiction, overdose and suicide attempt of lead singer Dave Gahan, who was not detoxified until 1996, and by the departure of Alan Wilder in 1995. DM, reduced to three members, continued to release records (Ultra in 1997, Exciter in 2001, Playing the Angel in 2005, Sounds of the Universe in 2009, Delta Machine in 2013 and Spirit in 2017). The year 2022 was marked by the sudden death of Andrew Fletcher, leaving Depeche Mode to continue as a duo. In March 2023, DM released Memento Mori, its fifteenth studio album.

Nearly all of their songs were composed by Martin L. Gore, except those of the first album (Speak and Spell), which were mostly the work of Vince Clarke, who quickly left to found Yazoo and later Erasure. Since 2005, singer Dave Gahan has participated in writing some songs. Martin L. Gore worked hard to ensure that DM was not solely considered a "synth band," particularly through his use of guitar.

Depeche Mode charted fifty times on the UK Singles Chart, and several albums were number one in the United Kingdom, the United States and other European countries. According to Mute Records, by 2008, DM had sold 75 million albums worldwide and over 100 million records including singles. In November 2020, their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame consecrated a career spanning four decades.