Looking at it from the outside, Depeche Mode were one of the biggest success stories of the 80s. The Basildon electro pioneers had morphed from poppy upstarts into a darker, more muscular proposition by the decade’s end. They had basically become a rock band with synths. On their imperious seventh album Violator, they became a rock band with synths and guitars.
Not that the band’s chief songwriter Martin Gore thought it would make a difference. For all of their achievements – and, by this point, they were a stadium band in the US – Gore felt frustrated by their record sales.
