One Reason to Love the '80s
Depeche Mode, of course. I first started listening to them in the '80s, when they became popular with songs like "Just Can't Get Enough," "Everything Counts" and "Blasphemous Rumors." Since then they've continued to put out albums that update their sound without changing it radically, most very good—Violator, Ultra—and only one (Exciter) subpar. Lately, they've been starting to get the critical respect they deserve; Johnny Cash soulfully covered one of their biggest hits, "Personal Jesus."
Still, when I announced that I planned to see them live at the Garden last week, some were skeptical. "They're still around?" was the typical response.
Unknown to the pop culture ignorami, it's actually a fair question, in that the two most important band members, Martin Gore and David Gahan, have both struggled with alcohol and drug abuse over the years, and
Gahan briefly died. (His heart was restarted after a couple of minutes of inaction.) And that's not even counting the slashed wrists....
But I'm happy to report that the show was just fantastic, one of the best concerts I've seen in years. Loud, raucous, intense, Depeche Mode had the crowd on its feet, usually singing along, for the entire two-hour show. On songs such as "Enjoy the Silence," the crowd actually handled most of the vocals; we Depeche Mode diehards know the words. Gahan is a great lead singer—charismatic, passionate, edgy. And guitar player Gore is charismatic in his own weird way; for most of the concert, he played wearing what the Times described as a "plumed, centurion-style helmet, leather kilt, and black wings." (The Times loved the show, by the way.) Gore is one of the great songwriters of popular music; you will laugh, but I'd put him on the Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards, Springsteen level. If you don't believe me, check out the double cd of Depeche Mode's greatest hits—as the expression goes, they just keep coming.
What's the point? Well, two things. First, you should all go buy DM's latest, Playing the Angel, which is absolutely addictive. As if to announce a triumphant return, it starts with a fantastic blast of industrial-sounding synthesizer...and gets even better from there.
But second, our culture obsesses over things that are hot-hot-hot now-now-now. So I find it strangely encouraging that somehow great artists can still fly below the radar, with enough success to fill two shows at Madison Square Garden and yet somehow there are people who say, "They're still around?"
The question says more, I think, about how we associate music with the period of youth, and when we lose our youth, we lose our music.
Or is it the other way around?
