Depeche Mode "Pimpf"

"Pimpf" is a dark instrumental that is mostly piano, named after a magazine of the Hitler Youth organizations. "Pimpf" later shows up as the final track on Music for the Masses. There is also a remix available on some "Strangelove" single releases called "Fpmip" ("Pimpf" backwards).

There was also a Corbijn-directed video for "Pimpf", exclusive to the Strange video, which features Dave Gahan, Andy Fletcher and Alan Wilder shouting at each other and syncing with the synthetic chanting, while Martin Gore plays the song on a piano. While Gore plays the piano in the video, it is Wilder who plays the piano on all piano-instrumentals by the band from 1987–1990 as well as "Somebody".

Depeche Mode "Behind The Wheel (Single & Video)"

"Behind the Wheel" is Depeche Mode's twentieth UK single, released on 28 December 1987, and the third single for the album Music for the Masses. Peaking at #21 in the UK charts, it hit #6 in West Germany.

In 1989, the single was ranked #30 on Spin magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Singles Of All Time".

The music video was directed by Anton Corbijn and included on the Strange compilation. Shot entirely in black and white, the video depicts Dave Gahan's car from the Never Let Me Down Again video being towed away while he waits on crutches, only to discard those crutches as he rides on the back of a Vespa SS180 driven by a female companion to a local southwestern village, where the rest of the band play the song while Gahan and the woman dance.

The video features the 7" remix of the song, although an alternative video also exists set to the original album version.

Depeche Mode "Never Let Me Down Again (Single & Video)"

"Never Let Me Down Again" is Depeche Mode's nineteenth UK single, released on 24 August 1987, and the second single for the then upcoming album Music for the Masses. A relatively moderate hit in the UK at number 22, it was a smash in West Germany, where it hit number 2, and a Top 10 success in several other European countries (Sweden, Switzerland, etc.). The cover art features fragments of a Soviet map of Russia and Europe, with different fragments used for the different editions of the single.

Studio impresario Alan Wilder and the other members of the band considered the track an "obvious single" with much potential. They developed it throughout so that dramatic-type elements such as the Led Zeppelin-influenced drum patterns and Martin Gore's distinctive guitar riffs sound in the forefront. The lyrics of the song, starting with the strident vocals of "I'm taking a ride with my best friend", are generally regarded as reflecting drug use, with the track being labeled by NME music journalist Jane Solanas as a "masterpiece" that well conveys the feeling of "drug euphoria".

The coda of "Never Let Me Down Again" references Soft Cell's song "Torch". The main remix version of the track, known as the "Split Mix", came about with direct involvement from the band. The 12" maxi release stretched to exactly nine and a half minutes long. Oddly enough, despite the pleasing results from the point of view of the band, that proved to be the last time in decades that a remix came out with their direct involvement.

The song became a favourite among fans, especially live. Shows during Depeche Mode's 1988 tour were often concluded with this song. Notable in the 101 video is when Dave Gahan waves his arms in the air toward the end of the song, and the sold out crowd of 60,000 mimics Gahan's movements. It is now customary at Depeche Mode shows for fans to wave their arms in the air during the coda section of "Never Let Me Down Again".

During the 1990 World Violation Tour, the band played a different version of the song, known as the "Split Mix", including their massive live performances at the Giants and Dodger Stadiums, which were being broadcast live on MTV.

On 8 November 2001, shortly after their final Exciter Tour concert in Mannheim, Germany, the band played "Never Let Me Down Again" during the MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt, which aired in the US on MTV2.

The main 12" remix of "Never Let Me Down Again" is known as the "Split Mix", as stated above, and the nine-and-a-half-minute track featured direct involvement from the band during its creation. In detail, the remix features the regular song, an added intro piece, and a techno-like musical arrangement appended at the end. The arrangement was expanded to the "Aggro Mix" on the 12" B-side, a piece additionally available as a bonus track on the CD and cassette tape versions of Music for the Masses.

The "Split Mix" appears on the album collection Remixes 81–04, a release that came out on October 2004. Another remix of the track, done by the German group Digitalism, came out in 2006 as one of the 'Digital Deluxe Bonus Tracks' found in The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1 (also being released as a limited double vinyl 12" piece). That remix appears on the band's remix compilation Remixes 2: 81–11 as well. Eric Prydz also remixed the song for this album.

There are two music videos for "Never Let Me Down Again", directed by Anton Corbijn. The long version is featured on the Strange video, and uses the "Split Mix" (minus the intro and outro) and during the later EBM portion of the song, Gahan's shoes are shown walking without anyone wearing them, before someone puts them on and wears them to dance. There is also a short video with just the single version of the song, which ends before the animated shoes. The short version appears on The Videos 86>98, the DVD of The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1 and on Video Singles Collection.

Depeche Mode "Strangelove (Single & Video)"

"Strangelove" is the eighteenth UK single by Depeche Mode, released on 13 April 1987 as the lead single from their sixth studio album Music for the Masses. It reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, number 2 in West Germany and in South Africa, and was a Top 10 success in several other countries, including Sweden and Switzerland. In the US it reached number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first of 9 number-ones on the US Dance charts, where it stayed for three weeks at the top.

The original version of "Strangelove" is a fast-paced pop track. Though successful, this did not seem to fit with Music for the Masses's darker style, so Daniel Miller made a slower version that became the album version. Alan Wilder, in the Q&A section of his Recoil website, writes that the band felt the single version was "too cluttered" and was the reason Miller's remix was commissioned. Miller expounded on this in the Music for the Masses re-master documentary DVD, stating he felt the original single version was too complicated and would benefit from being simplified.

It was remixed by production team Bomb the Bass and released again as a single in the US as "Strangelove '88", finally reaching number 50 on the Hot 100.

The music video for "Strangelove" was directed by Anton Corbijn and appears on the Strange video and The Videos 86>98. Shot on Super 8 and monochrome, the video sees the band in various Paris locations, hotel rooms and in a studio posing in front of a rolling backdrop. The live action is combined with short stop-frame animation sequences. The video also stars two models in underwear (one of whom was Anton Corbijn's partner), as well as passing pedestrians, featured in the closing 'out-takes' sequence of fast-edit shots. In the USA, MTV objected to some of the more revealing footage of the models and the video was edited to replace them with images of the band.

In 1988, another video for "Strangelove" was released for the album version. It was directed by Martyn Atkins, who did photography for earlier DM albums. It was not publicly released on any videocassettes or DVDs until The Videos 86>98+ DVD in 2002. This video is much simpler than the original, and features the band performing inside a city-scape location (Senate House, the federal headquarters of the University of London).

Depeche Mode "Music For The Masses"

Music for the Masses is the sixth studio album by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released on 28 September 1987 by Mute Records, and was supported by the Music for the Masses Tour.

Daniel Miller, who had produced Depeche Mode's previous album, voluntarily stepped away from production duties for this album, citing the growing tension in the studio that they had experienced during the recording of Black Celebration. With Miller's approval, the band co-produced the album with David Bascombe, who had previously worked as a recording engineer with Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel.

Band members Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore both explained the album's title was conceived as a joke. Fletcher said, "The title's ... a bit tongue-in-cheek, really. Everyone is telling us we should make more commercial music, so that's the reason we chose that title." According to Gore, the title "was a joke on the uncommerciality of [the album]. It was anything but music for the masses!"

The megaphone (or its iconic representation) on the album's cover was used during the breadth of the album's release: at press events, on the covers of the album's singles, and during the tour. Alan Wilder gave credit to Martyn Atkins, who had been a longtime Depeche Mode collaborator, for the use of the megaphone. "[Martyn came] up with this idea of a speaker, but, to give the kind of ironic element which the title has, to put this speaker in a setting which wasn't really to do with the masses at all. It was, in fact, the opposite. So you end up with this kind of eerie thing where you get these speakers or megaphones in the middle of a setting that doesn't suit it at all, like a desert or whatever." The deserted natural setting in question being Peak District.

An early alternative cover was rejected for the album. The rejected cover was also designed by Martyn Atkins and a test pressing copy was auctioned off by Alan Wilder in 2011. It features a white-and-orange stylised design of the megaphone emitting sound waves.

In 2006, Music for the Masses became one of the first Depeche Mode albums (along with Speak & Spell and Violator) to be released on a special 2-Disc SACD/CD Hybrid + DVD format, in the vein of their 2005 album Playing the Angel, which had a limited edition SACD + DVD release. The format was the same as Playing the Angel's, the first disc had a special digitally remastered version of the album, while the DVD had the album on three formats (PCM Stereo, 5.1 surround sound and DTS 5.1) plus bonus tracks, and a documentary on the album. The re-release preserves the album as it was originally intended. Thus, the four bonus tracks do not appear on the SACD, but appear on the DVD. The DVD also features all B-sides from the Music for the Masses era, but unlike the album and the bonus tracks, the B-sides are only available in PCM Stereo.

The documentary, a thirty-seven-minute short film called Depeche Mode: 1987–88 (Sometimes You Do Need Some New Jokes) is an extensive look at the album, featuring commentary from a wide variety of people, including the current Depeche Mode, former member Alan Wilder, producer Dave Bascombe, Daniel Miller, Daryl Bamonte, Martyn Atkins (who came up with the loudspeakers idea for the cover), Anton Corbijn, and others. The documentary features new facts on the album, and also an extensive look at the film 101.

The re-release was released on 3 April 2006 in Europe. The US version was delayed to 2 June 2006 and is only available on a CD + DVD format, with no SACD. The DVD on all the versions are region independent however, so one can simply import the SACD version without worrying about the DVD being incompatible. The remastered album was released on "deluxe" vinyl 2 March 2007 in Germany and 5 March 2007 internationally.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Martin L. Gore, except where noted.

Side one

1. "Never Let Me Down Again" 4:47
2. "The Things You Said" 4:02
3. "Strangelove" 4:56
4. "Sacred" 4:47
5. "Little 15" 4:18

Side two

1. "Behind the Wheel" 5:18
2. "I Want You Now" 3:44
3. "To Have and to Hold" 2:51
4. "Nothing" 4:18
5. "Pimpf" (includes a hidden track "Interlude #1 - (Mission Impossible)", starting at 4:18) 5:00

Depeche Mode "A Question Of Time (Single & Video)"

"A Question of Time" is Depeche Mode's seventeenth UK single, released on 11 August 1986, following the similarly titled "A Question of Lust" single.The single charts 17 in UK single charts.

The 7" remix of "A Question of Time" runs at a slightly faster tempo and pitch than the original "Black Celebration" album version. A version of the remix with an even faster tempo appeared on The Singles 86-98.

There is no new track for a B-Side (the first Depeche Mode single, other than the Double A-Side "Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody" without one), but instead includes a remix of "Black Celebration" and various live tracks.

The "New Town Remix" directly segues into the "Live Remix" on the limited 12" single.

The music video for "A Question of Time" is the first DM video to be directed by Anton Corbijn, and was the start of a relationship with him and the band which still lasts to this day. It was included on the Strange video, The Videos 86-98, the DVD of The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1 and on Video Singles Collection.

The music video directed by Anton Corbijn features all of the band members holding babies. In the beginning of the music video, Alan Wilder is shown on a porch waiting for something. A man dressed almost like a daredevil rides a motorcycle with a baby. He drives to Alan on the porch and hands him the baby. The video shows the other members of the band holding a baby. One baby grabs onto Martin's hair and yanks it profusely while he smiles.

Dutch electronic band Clan of Xymox recorded the song on their cover theme album Kindred Spirits (2012)

International cover band Exit Eden covered the song on their debut album "Rhapsodies in Black".

Depeche Mode "Stripped (Single & Video)"

Stripped is Depeche Mode's fifteenth UK single, released on 10 February 1986. It was the first single from the album Black Celebration, and the band's thirteenth overall and sixth consecutive single to hit the UK Top 20, peaking at number 15. "Stripped" is well known for its innovative use of sampling. The underlying beat is a distorted and slowed-down sound of a motorcycle engine running, while the main melody begins with a car's ignition starting, and the end uses sounds of fireworks.

The band's U.S. label Sire Records, however, decided to use the B-side "But Not Tonight" on the soundtrack to the movie Modern Girls and included the song on US editions of Black Celebration. As a result, the single was flipped, and released as "But Not Tonight" in the United States to help promote the movie. The band was not happy with this decision, seeing "But Not Tonight" as a useless pop track recorded in less than a day. The single did not chart. Surprisingly, despite previous criticism of the song by the band, an acoustic version of "But Not Tonight" was sometimes performed by Martin Gore on Depeche Mode’s Delta Machine Tour and is included in the 2014 album "Live in Berlin".

The other two B-Sides are "Breathing in Fumes" and "Black Day". "Breathing in Fumes" was a new song using samples from "Stripped", mixed by the band and Thomas Stiehler. "Black Day" is an acoustic, alternate version of "Black Celebration" sung by Martin Gore, and is co-written by him, Alan Wilder, and producer Daniel Miller – the only Depeche Mode song where Miller receives a writing credit.

The "Highland Mix" of "Stripped" was mixed by Mark Ellis (better known as Flood), who in the future would produce Depeche Mode's Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion records. Some editions of the Black Celebration CD include the extended remix of "But Not Tonight" along with "Black Day" and "Breathing in Fumes" as bonus tracks.

The music video for "Stripped" was the last Depeche Mode video to be directed by Peter Care and was filmed outside Hansa Studios in Berlin. The music video for "But Not Tonight" was directed by Tamra Davis. Two differently cut versions of both "Stripped" and "But Not Tonight" are available on "Video Singles Collection".

"Stripped" was featured in the film Say Anything....

Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein released a cover of "Stripped" in 1998. This version cuts the line "Let me see you stripped down to the bone" to "Let me see you stripped", which was due to singer Till Lindemann's difficulty singing "down to the bone". (the entire line is restored in the "Heavy Mental Mix" by Charlie Clouser). The song was originally on the tribute album For the Masses and reached number 14 in the German single charts. The song also appears as a twelfth track on some special editions of the band's sophomore release Sehnsucht. It was the first English song released by the band.

The video for the song incorporated footage from the Leni Riefenstahl Nazi propaganda film Olympia, which led to threats against the band. Members of the band praised Riefenstahl's filmmaking abilities and aesthetic choices in a 2011 documentary of the making of the video, particularly the imagery of the athletes, while simultaneously disassociating themselves from Riefenstahl's politics. Members of Depeche Mode, especially Dave Gahan, responded positively to the cover, since it was so different from any other versions of Depeche Mode's work.