I'm not sure if either Depeche Mode in general or Violator in particular get the respect they deserve these days, perhaps because they had the temerity to be bigger in the US than they were at home. Whatever. I can tell you I played my cassette of Violator to death in the latter half of my undergraduate days. It's a dark, dark album, as far removed from Speak & Spell as you can imagine.
Of Halo, songwriter Martin Gore is quoted as saying, "I'm saying 'let's give in to this' but there's also a real feeling of wrongfulness [...] I suppose my songs do seem to advocate immorality but if you listen there's always a sense of guilt."
In other words, this song may well be blue, but also so dark it's almost black... enjoy!
Great stuff and yet I missed out on them at the time - I think the older I get the more I appreciate how good they were.
ReplyDeleteOnce many years ago, I almost bumped (literally) into Martin Gore in a clothes shop in Brighton (I think he'd just boughta long dark coat...)
I wonder how different an animal DM would have been if Vince Clarke had never left?
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