Depeche Mode is an English electronic band, founded in 1980, originally from the town of Basildon, United Kingdom. They are one of the most enduring and successful bands to have emerged during the new wave/new romantic era. As of 2006, it was estimated that Depeche Mode had sold over 91 million records (56 million albums / 35 million singles) worldwide and have had 44 songs in the UK singles chart.

Depeche Mode influenced many of today's popular recording artists, in part due to their recording techniques and innovative use of sampling. For example, Pet Shop Boys cited Violator (and "Enjoy the Silence" in particular) as one of the main sources of inspiration during recording of their critically acclaimed album Behaviour. Neil Tennant says, "We were listening to Violator by Depeche Mode, which was a very good album and we were deeply jealous of it." Bandmate Chris Lowe agrees, "They had raised the stakes."

Techno pioneers Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins regularly quoted Depeche Mode as an influence on the development of techno music during the Detroit Techno explosion in the mid 1980s. Appreciation of Depeche Mode within today's electronic music scene is shown by the numerous Depeche Mode remixes by contemporary DJs.

In August 2008, Coldplay released a cover for the video "Enjoy the Silence" as an alternate video for their single "Viva la Vida". On their website where the video is shown, they are quoted as saying, "This is our attempt at a video cover version, made out of love for Depeche Mode and the genius of Anton Corbijn." The video shows Chris Martin dressed as a king like Dave Gahan, walking through The Hague, Anton Corbijns' place of birth.

Radio

Tune in and listen to Depeche Mode and similar artists now:
Sorry, you must be logged in to listen.
Login or register now!