Bathroom Reads #12: DEPECHE MODE: A BIOGRAPHY by Steve Malins

I can't remember exactly when it was that I began to get into Depeche Mode, but I want to say it was probably around 2001 or thereabouts . . . I know it was while I was still in college. At the time I had been listening to a lot of aggressive electronic music of the Industrial/Power Electronics variety (Throbbing Gristle, Whitehouse, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Suicide and so on), along with bands that often fall into the Goth category (Bauhaus, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Switchblade Symphony, The Cure, and so on and so forth). But I was also starting to explore electronic music in general, in all its varieties, from experimental avant-garde stuff to synth-pop. Given my interest in electronic music and Gothic leanings, I suppose it was only natural that I would eventually investigate Depeche Mode. I do remember that the first album I ever got by them was BLACK CELEBRATION, which to this day still remains one of my all-time favorite albums. I also remain a big fan of the band, to the extent I place them right up there with my Top Ten Favorite Musical Groups/Acts. I think they just have that total package: a great sound, catchy songs, iconic visuals and striking album covers. Certainly they've been a big inspiration for me, both as a music fan and as a creator of electronic music myself. 

I think I got this book as a birthday gift from my parents in 2002. Unlike most of the other books I've covered in this series, this one I almost always take with me as a bathroom book to read when I'm on vacation. Why, I have no idea... maybe I see it as a good luck charm (incidentally, this year I also read it in an official context, from the first page to the last). Just glancing at the generic cover and the terse page count (under 250 pages) one might dismiss this book as just another cheap cash-in, but in fact Steve Malins interviewed quite a few people involved with DM, not only the essential trio of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher themselves but also Mute Records founder Daniel Miller, ex-band members Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder, and other people associated with the band or the scene in general: Flood, Chris Carr, Anton Corbijn, Daryl Balmonte, John Foxx, Juan Atkins, Gareth Jones, Gary Numan, Andy McCluskey, Genesis P-Orridge, DJ Shadow, Stevo, and so on. And he does a pretty good job of covering the first 20 or so years of the band's existence: this book came out in 1998, and covers all of the albums from SPEAK & SPELL to the then-recently-released ULTRA. Through this book, I discovered other early Mute acts like Fad Gadget, DAF, The Normal, The Silicon Teens, and others, so it was an educational experience. A lot of attention is also paid to how Depeche Mode was received by the music press in their home country, be it via album/single reviews or live concert reviews. It would seem that, like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Bauhaus, and others, that Depeche Mode was another one of those British bands I liked that were pretty much mocked by the musical journalist establishment in their home country, which makes me think that in turn the music journalists of that era (1970s-1990s) were pretty clueless.  

In any event, I would recommend this book to fans of Depeche Mode and also lovers of electronic music in general.