RadixJournal - Depeche Mode： Spirit

00:00:00.000 What do you want to say about this album?

00:00:30.000 Um, not too many good things.

00:01:00.000 Think about Depeche Mode without that album.

00:01:02.960 Um, I think you can think about Depeche Mode without Spirit.

00:01:05.560 We're going backwards, ignoring the realities, going backwards.

00:01:20.660 Are you counting all the casualties?

00:01:26.980 Yeah, so I listened to this album in full start to finish, probably when I started to get

00:01:42.200 into Depeche Mode or 2018, 19-ish.

00:01:47.460 Um, but I remember, uh, a 2017 Michael Malice tweet.

00:01:55.520 It was actually in response to your controversy, um, with the band.

00:02:01.660 But, uh, he said in the tweet something like, Depeche Mode sucks, but you just can't get 0.93

00:02:05.900 enough.

00:02:06.480 You know, fast forward about, uh, two or three years after I had really just sat down and

00:02:11.960 listened to this album.

00:02:13.120 So, um, and, you know, I'm kind of just bored by the album.

00:02:19.660 And even when the lyrics struck my brain more than my heart or, or, or gut, um, it, the music

00:02:30.500 wasn't there to compliment it.

00:02:31.760 Uh, you know, um, I mean, I'm glad there was no nostalgia on the album, no kind of, you

00:02:37.360 know, Depeche Mode's not a band like that.

00:02:39.080 That's kind of going to mimic the, their 1983 or four or five sound or anything.

00:02:45.220 Um, but I, I don't know.

00:02:48.260 I just, I think it comes down to the, the production and listening to this album.

00:02:53.520 I've listened to this album probably five times in, you know, two or three weeks.

00:02:57.640 And I, there's not one that strikes me.

00:03:02.060 And the more I listened to it, I think less, I like it.

00:03:05.720 I mean, there's, there's a couple, but yeah, which is the exact opposite of my Depeche Mode

00:03:12.040 experiences.

00:03:13.580 Um, I mean, the more, it's kind of your, yeah, it's the opposite of how you feel about a lot

00:03:19.940 of things.

00:03:20.400 Some even films have gotten better as I've gotten older and I've rewatched, but, uh, in

00:03:26.840 albums as well, speak and spell, for example, um, okay, let's, let's go backwards.

00:03:35.860 So maybe the, the crazy controversy might actually be a good place to start.

00:03:41.720 I'm not surprised that Michael Malice dislikes Depeche Mode.

00:03:46.620 I would be concerned if he actually liked Depeche Mode, but this was going back to a time when

00:03:55.680 it's fair to say that the media was hanging on my every word because I did not, I actually

00:04:06.420 didn't mean to create a controversy or have a response or anything like that.

00:04:11.340 I know, obviously I've been a Depeche Mode fan since the mid eighties.

00:04:18.040 I mean, I, I mentioned the story a couple of weeks ago about overhearing a vinyl recording.

00:04:24.540 I think it's what it was, a vinyl recording of either some great reward or, uh, black celebration

00:04:30.280 in my sister's room through the door.

00:04:33.040 And I just knew that I, like I'd found my band and it's weird.

00:04:37.500 Uh, this has stuck with me and in the way that other things haven't.

00:04:41.480 But anyway, um, I, I was a massive fan.

00:04:45.300 I do agree with many of my off the cuff comments.

00:04:51.860 I don't think all, all, not all of my comments were actually taken into account.

00:04:57.620 I'll, I'll actually look up my, um, what I wrote to Sarah Posner that many, many years

00:05:05.900 ago.

00:05:06.140 I'll, I'll, I'll try to go way back in time here, February, 2017.

00:05:12.920 I was going to ask what the context was.

00:05:15.160 Cause it was CPAC, right?

00:05:17.560 Where this was.

00:05:18.500 Yes, it was.

00:05:19.620 So let me go through all of this because there's, there's a lot here.

00:05:27.880 Um, so I had a very long conversation with Sarah Posner about Depeche Mode where she's

00:05:34.120 I think older or around the same age and, um, it, she was very interested in it and she

00:05:41.120 kind of was in a way scandalized by what I was saying, but so I was, I walked into CPAC

00:05:50.360 and, uh, the, these controversies have now happened again with Laura Loomer or, or Nick

00:05:57.300 Fuentes, but, um, they, they were definitely happening, happening with, um, me at the time.

00:06:04.820 And I was first welcomed there.

00:06:09.440 They were actually talking about how, um, you know, some journalists had called up CPAC

00:06:16.260 almost as like their, you know, their, uh, job is hall monitor.

00:06:20.840 And, uh, they were like, that's fine.

00:06:23.280 He's not doing anything.

00:06:24.940 And, uh, so yeah, I was there at CPAC.

00:06:28.260 I was planning on asking a question or anything, but there was, there were no questions to be

00:06:32.800 asked.

00:06:34.500 And, um, then a, a kind of like one journalist came up and then, uh, uh, more did and it just

00:06:44.360 became a kind of scrum and it just overwhelmed CPAC.

00:06:49.840 So I was standing there and I was surrounded by like 30 or 40 journalists and then onlookers

00:06:56.000 and, you know, uh, understandably in a way on the part of CPAC, it was distracting and

00:07:03.940 detracting from their event.

00:07:05.400 So I, I kind of get it.

00:07:07.220 Um, they asked me to leave and I was like, well, okay.

00:07:10.980 Uh, it is a private gathering.

00:07:12.600 I didn't really want to, uh, cause a riot or anything, but that in itself became its

00:07:17.800 own story.

00:07:20.020 But I remember I was just talking with people and was just going off the cuff and I, uh,

00:07:27.180 I, I forgot how it came up, but someone was made, I think, you know, at one point someone

00:07:32.520 was asking me if I liked new order.

00:07:34.480 And I was like, well, Depeche Mode is the official band of the alt-right.

00:07:37.240 And one journalist tweeted that out.

00:07:39.440 Um, and then by the time I had left CPAC, there was already a statement by Depeche Mode's

00:07:45.200 publicist, you know, denouncing racism, you know, all this kind of stuff.

00:07:50.860 Yeah.

00:07:51.300 It was pretty remarkable.

00:07:53.580 It happened that fast.

00:07:54.560 Of course, that's the age of social media where that publicist might very well have just

00:07:58.480 been on Twitter and seen it and got, you know, someone sent it to him and it, it happened.

00:08:03.700 And maybe, maybe it wasn't 15 minutes, but it, you know, within two or three hours.

00:08:08.200 And, um, I wrote this to Sarah Posner and she didn't repeat everything I said, but I'll

00:08:16.240 just go back in time.

00:08:17.140 These are text messages.

00:08:19.360 Um, uh, no, I said, no tongue, uh, was firmly planted in cheek when, uh, she was saying, uh, 0.70

00:08:28.740 they've come out publicly against Trump Depeche Mode.

00:08:31.820 I said, first, the long time Depeche Mode fan.

00:08:34.120 Second, uh, there's always been a certain nostalgic synthwave vibe to the alt-right in

00:08:38.820 terms of aesthetics.

00:08:40.300 And she said, nostalgic synthwave vibe.

00:08:43.060 Why does the alt-right have that aesthetic?

00:08:45.740 Um, why do you, I don't think I answered that question.

00:08:49.240 Why do you think it does?

00:08:50.440 Why do you think it did have that aesthetic?

00:08:52.260 Because Depeche Mode, look, they've been going for three decades since the 1980s.

00:08:58.600 But if you ask a casual, you know, music fan, they would think, they would probably, you

00:09:06.680 know, think about enjoy the silence maybe, but just can't get enough 80s band, et cetera.

00:09:13.820 Um, but the, the question, I guess I didn't fully answer is like, why?

00:09:18.480 Oh, here I did answer it.

00:09:19.800 Excuse me.

00:09:20.200 It's a good question.

00:09:21.820 It might have something to do with generations.

00:09:24.560 Perhaps my age are, um, are grasping for our childhoods.

00:09:30.320 Younger kids are grasping for an imaginary childhood.

00:09:33.080 There's some, there's something 80s about Trump too.

00:09:36.760 That's clearly the decade that defined him much like Depeche Mode might've been the last

00:09:41.800 moment that there was a recognizable white America or in the, uh, or in the case of DM,

00:09:46.360 white Britain, um, DM originated in a suburb called Basildon.

00:09:51.360 See, I was going deep history here.

00:09:53.340 I've never been there, but it's a kind of post-industrial culture-less, soulless suburb.

00:09:58.380 Uh, you can see some of that in the aesthetic Spartan quality of their music.

00:10:02.300 Uh, they were also grasping for some, for something else.

00:10:06.180 The fact that, that DM or Depeche Mode was always most popular in central Europe, the

00:10:11.460 Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union is interesting in that regard.

00:10:14.860 Uh, DM was bigger in East Germany than in England.

00:10:18.300 True.

00:10:18.900 Um, that's, I, I think that's all interesting and it actually gels with what we, we've been

00:10:28.480 talking about over these past two podcasts.

00:10:33.060 Um, uh, in terms of the Trump thing and the, the synth wave or fash wave or vapor wave or

00:10:41.460 whatever it's called, I think all of those are accurate points.

00:10:46.100 Um, there was actually an artist, um, uh, what was his name?

00:10:51.460 Uh, Zarius? 0.97

00:10:52.440 Yeah, Zarius. 1.00

00:10:53.480 Yeah.

00:10:53.740 And he would do a title like the great replacement or Brexit or, uh, you know, traitors will be

00:11:19.680 punished or something, you know, something a little harder core and, but it's just great

00:11:24.420 stuff or something like that.

00:11:25.760 Yeah.

00:11:26.240 Yeah.

00:11:26.840 Sleeping sax and awakening.

00:11:28.480 So yeah, great stuff.

00:11:29.700 And cool.

00:11:30.380 I mean, a bit generic, I guess, in terms of dance music, but very, very good.

00:11:35.120 And, um, he, he, he jumped on that wave and there is, I, I do think all of those things

00:11:45.820 played a factor.

00:11:47.600 So you would, you know, I was old for the alt-right.

00:11:50.420 I was looking back to the eighties as my childhood.

00:11:53.440 Uh, so much of politics in general is nostalgia.

00:11:57.220 I think there is a, uh, a bit of nostalgia to fascism, whether it's a nostalgia for, you

00:12:03.360 know, a lost past or the time before the war or ancient Rome or something.

00:12:07.660 There's clearly a nostalgic quality to it.

00:12:11.240 Um, I, I think with zoomers, I do think the eighties was this childhood they never had

00:12:16.920 in a very different way than say my generation looked at the sixties because the sixties,

00:12:23.140 you know, I guess it was cool, revolutionary, famous rock bands and music and crazy politics

00:12:31.380 and assassinations of political candidates, et cetera.

00:12:34.740 But it was old.

00:12:37.460 I mean, I, I don't think we looked back on it and kind of wished we could have been there.

00:12:41.540 Maybe some did not myself.

00:12:43.820 We definitely weren't listening to the Beatles.

00:12:47.020 You know, you could like the Beatles.

00:12:49.200 That's cool.

00:12:50.540 Um, those stones, if you like the stones, that's cool, but it's, that wasn't a band that was

00:12:56.620 important to you.

00:12:58.060 But I think we're, again, as I'm sure we talked about, I mean, things have just been so fragmented

00:13:03.960 with the, uh, with the current music industry with, uh, you know, playlists on Spotify being

00:13:13.700 your music.

00:13:14.420 So you're, you're listening to nineties music or, or what have you, you're, you're not

00:13:19.360 listening to something that's just been released.

00:13:21.340 That's kind of speaking to you right now.

00:13:23.040 You're kind of curating your own world.

00:13:26.460 And, um, I, so we're in a different space than I was back, you know, in the say the

00:13:32.700 eighties or nineties.

00:13:33.780 And I, I think there was a lot of zoomers that probably looked at the eighties as this

00:13:38.160 childhood.

00:13:38.840 They never had.

00:13:39.500 It's like everyone was successful and you, you were, everyone was, every woman was hot 0.99

00:13:45.540 and every man dressed like they were a cast member of Miami vice and doing Coke and Trump

00:13:52.680 was building towers.

00:13:54.180 You know, I mean, it's just that type of fantasy really got, it really got at the alt right

00:14:02.260 of that period.

00:14:03.140 I mean, even, um, uh, muse, which is an interesting band, clearly influenced by Depeche Mode, uh,

00:14:12.440 not as great or as original or as unique as Depeche Mode, but I, I like muse quite a bit.

00:14:18.140 Um, even muse was trying to evoke that in a lot of their albums.

00:14:24.160 They're, they're trying to, you know, evoke the alt right, you know, in general, I think

00:14:29.160 there was a line from, you know, thought contagion about, uh, uh, no time for, uh, no, no time

00:14:37.480 for a revolution, brace yourself for the final solution.

00:14:40.380 It seemed to be an alt right tweet of some kind.

00:14:44.360 I don't know.

00:14:47.080 It's a good album.

00:15:03.980 Um, I like muse, uh, not, not as I don't, I, again, it, it uses kind of a derivative

00:15:09.640 band, a derivative of Radiohead and DM and a lot of other things, but, but whatever,

00:15:16.060 uh, I, they're good, but, uh, so I think there was that quality that back to the eighties

00:15:24.000 quality to the 2016 Trump movement.

00:15:26.860 Now I would say that that is now totally gone.

00:15:31.240 I don't think that that characterizes the current alt right or the dissident right or

00:15:35.920 whatever.

00:15:36.820 I don't think that characterizes Trump.

00:15:38.420 I think all, a lot of other things, including religious fundamentalism now predominate, but,

00:15:44.700 um, whatever.

00:15:45.980 It was a particular moment in time.

00:15:49.700 Uh, I think there, they've also been some quotes of mine of, of like, there's a, there's

00:15:54.700 a fascist quality to it.

00:15:56.400 And I got it.

00:15:57.340 This third DM is interesting.

00:15:59.360 So this is me writing in early 2017.

00:16:01.440 DM is interesting in the sense that they aren't a typical rock band in terms of lyric and much

00:16:05.800 else.

00:16:06.100 DM is a band of existential angst, pain, sadism, horror, darkness, and much more.

00:16:11.220 Um, it's not bubblegum pop with front men who sing about love and sugarplum fairies. 0.89

00:16:16.120 There was a certain communist, communist aesthetic to their early album, a broken frame, as well

00:16:22.220 as titles like music for the masses.

00:16:24.260 And again, they were popular in the Eastern block.

00:16:26.820 Uh, but then there's a bit of a fascist element too.

00:16:29.780 It's obviously ambiguous.

00:16:31.680 And as with all art, everything is multi-layered, contradictory, and ambivalent.

00:16:36.720 Their latest singles representative of this, it can be read in multiple different ways.

00:16:40.340 Now I was referring to where's the revolution, which we could jump into, but I do think that

00:16:45.860 that's true.

00:16:46.620 I mean, a broken frame, which I will, we'll cover in our next, uh, episode, one of the

00:16:54.920 greatest album artworks ever created and clearly evoking communism, uh, with a woman, with a 0.63

00:17:05.160 sickle, you know, in, I mean, it's beautiful in itself, but it's, uh, you know, what, what

00:17:11.640 was it 1982 or whatever?

00:17:13.680 I mean, it, yeah, it's, it is definitely evoking the cold war and, and so they could do that.

00:17:22.340 Um, I think there's a kind of fascist aesthetic to music for the masses, the, uh, you know,

00:17:31.140 big red speaker.

00:17:32.820 Um, I've, I've even heard there was, um, with like pimp and a couple of other, um, albums,

00:17:40.300 there, there was some kind of evocation of the Hitler youth, although I would say aesthetically

00:17:47.380 and not ideologically.

00:17:48.860 And I, I'm not just saying that to make excuses.

00:17:50.780 I think that's true.

00:17:52.480 There was just a, you know, punk rock evoked Nazism. 0.98

00:17:55.500 There, there was a, for various reasons, um, probably to shove it up the ass of the upper 0.99

00:18:01.700 class or whatever, mostly, but there's, there's some kind of evoke evocation of, of danger 0.87

00:18:07.520 and hardness and toughness, and also a, you know, assertion of the, the mass production,

00:18:14.880 uh, uh, quality of it all.

00:18:17.760 I mean, Depeche Mode is a technological band.

00:18:20.360 They're, they're sampling, they're using only sense synthesizers, et cetera.

00:18:25.020 So it, you know, it's, it's vague and ambiguous.

00:18:29.040 And I think that was, that was quoted from Sarah Posner of like, there's an ambiguity to,

00:18:33.360 but there's a fascist element.

00:18:34.460 Um, and I'm sure some people would laugh at that or, uh, say that I'm, I'm projecting

00:18:41.220 or, you know, Depeche Mode, they hate Trump.

00:18:44.280 What are you saying?

00:18:45.020 What?

00:18:45.160 And it's like, yeah, but I'm right.

00:18:47.700 And I don't care.

00:18:49.740 Like I denounce Trump too.

00:18:51.720 So what's your point?

00:18:53.880 You know, like in terms of day-to-day politics, what's your point?

00:18:58.420 Uh, there's some things that are bigger than just some candidate.

00:19:02.020 Uh, so anyway, that, that was the time.

00:19:05.840 And I remember later on they were interviewed in, I think by some like Scandinavian network 0.90

00:19:11.140 and Dave Gahan called me a cunt of all things. 0.86

00:19:14.540 But now that, that word has a different connotation in Britain. 0.96

00:19:19.080 Yeah.

00:19:19.520 Although he's an American at pretty much at this point.

00:19:22.060 So I'm maybe anyway, he was digging deep for that insult.

00:19:26.100 Uh, but then he was like, but you know, you have to understand he's a very intelligent and 1.00

00:19:30.320 educated and dangerous cunt, you know? 0.99

00:19:33.980 So going a little more political is, is also a risk. 0.99

00:19:40.860 I mean, the, the thing is that you, you, you've had recently, you've, you've had a

00:19:46.740 fan that, that you didn't appreciate, uh, the, the leader of the alt-right, uh, American

00:19:51.720 alt-right and he's, he, he, he claimed that you were his, his number one, their number

00:19:57.460 one band in a way.

00:19:59.540 What was your immediate reaction to that news?

00:20:03.980 Oh, I can't say it on TV, can I?

00:20:08.920 It started with C and ended with T.

00:20:13.940 And it's an English very short word.

00:20:15.940 Yeah.

00:20:19.680 Okay.

00:20:20.260 So I, I take it you didn't appreciate it.

00:20:24.500 Look, this is, this is a dangerous guy.

00:20:26.560 He's like, you know, he's highly educated, you know, he's.

00:20:30.580 Richard Spencer.

00:20:31.140 Yeah.

00:20:31.460 Yeah.

00:20:31.720 Yeah.

00:20:31.980 I didn't say his name really, but he's not here to defend himself. 1.00

00:20:34.700 You know, um, they're the most dangerous kind of like idiots, aren't they? 1.00

00:20:41.140 People actually listen to them. 1.00

00:20:43.560 Anyway.

00:20:46.440 I've been asked about this later on and they're like, Oh, are you so devastated?

00:20:50.520 Or it's like, look, I'm not, um, first off they could call me, you know, Satan himself and

00:20:58.820 I would still like their music and appreciate them.

00:21:02.080 You know, like they can hate the, you know, they just doesn't change anything.

00:21:06.680 Um, secondly, the insult was actually a little multi-layered and, and so on.

00:21:13.740 Um, but thirdly, I don't know, the whole thing is just kind of fun, uh, fun story from that

00:21:20.300 time, but to go back to it.

00:21:22.780 So I was referring to, uh, where's the revolution when I said their latest single could be

00:21:30.140 read in a number of different ways.

00:21:33.240 And well, first off, before I jump into this, do you have any thoughts on that?

00:21:37.440 Were you aware of this or did you have any thoughts on this or?

00:21:41.300 Yeah.

00:21:41.740 Uh, let me, uh, back up just a hair.

00:21:44.340 Okay.

00:21:44.600 So I think the, uh, you had asked earlier why you think the, um, uh, alt-right was synonymous

00:21:52.780 with a synth wave.

00:21:53.740 I just think because synth wave, synth pop, uh, it's just weird.

00:21:59.040 It's weird music.

00:21:59.780 And the alt-right was weird.

00:22:01.260 Uh, 4chan is weird. 0.99

00:22:03.500 Frogs and shit like that on Twitter are, are weird. 0.98

00:22:06.420 There's no getting, uh, around that. 0.99

00:22:08.260 And also synth pop itself is a pretty white genre of music.

00:22:13.040 I mean, you have, uh, rock and roll, which, you know, you, that's pretty obvious that that

00:22:20.260 kind of comes from the South.

00:22:21.640 It definitely has, at the very least, African-American influences, blues influences, unquestionably.

00:22:28.220 Um, but, you know, and just to, I don't mean to get like too esoteric here or, or, or kind

00:22:36.980 of, um, engage in I see Jesus and sort of exit Jesus.

00:22:40.720 But I think a lot of Martin's chords, especially the fact that he goes from the one minor to

00:22:46.040 the three minor, like in, um, enjoy the silence, for example, going to C minor to E flat minor,

00:22:52.340 that kind of, that is not, that is like the opposite of blues in a, in a strange way.

00:22:58.240 Uh, I mean, what do you mean by that?

00:23:00.660 Go into that a little bit.

00:23:02.340 Sure.

00:23:02.840 Okay.

00:23:03.060 So if I think of blues, I think of either minor or major blues, it's the flatted third,

00:23:08.720 fifth or seventh.

00:23:09.860 And you can, uh, I mean, you can hear that, um, I'm trying to think of a good blues song.

00:23:16.500 I mean, um, I don't really listen to that much blues, but, uh, anything by like, you

00:23:22.060 know, Chuck Berry, uh, any of these Led Zeppelin, you can hear a lot of those.

00:23:27.380 It's kind of like swampy.

00:23:28.740 It's usually accompanied by like a triplet rhythm, you know?

00:23:31.000 And I think Martin's chord progressions, a lot of them, especially when they use that

00:23:36.940 one minor to the third minor, whether it's a major or minor third, so for example, going

00:23:44.500 from, uh, a to a minor to C minor or a minor to C sharp minor, um, because he'll do stuff

00:23:52.240 like that a lot.

00:23:53.080 I think that is very, it's very dissonant.

00:23:55.460 The all right was certainly playing in a different key, um, politically.

00:24:01.000 Um, and I mean, it's, I'm not saying, oh, Depeche Mode only employs white chords because

00:24:09.880 they do have a lot of blues influences, but even their blues influences don't until relatively

00:24:16.140 recently, I think until about 10 years ago with Delta Machine.

00:24:19.080 If you take a song, for example, like a day trip or by the Beatles that uses ban, that is

00:24:28.520 a, that's a completely blues melody because it takes, it goes E to G to G sharp that playing

00:24:34.340 with that flatted third, for example, the flatted and the, um, major third, that's a common

00:24:39.960 blues technique.

00:24:40.840 You see that, um, a lot, obviously there's a dominant seventh, that flatted seventh, but

00:24:47.520 I think that Depeche Mode generally stays away from that.

00:24:50.560 And it's very minor and minor chords evoke like a seriousness and especially a lot of Martin songs

00:24:59.920 invoking inwardness.

00:25:01.680 Like in other words, the lyrics sound like the music.

00:25:04.640 Yeah.

00:25:05.440 Um, uh, is that, is that clear?

00:25:08.400 Yeah.

00:25:08.800 Yeah.

00:25:09.040 I keep going.

00:25:09.600 I like what you're saying, you know, you, you'd mentioned, uh, gen Xers and zoomers kind 0.99

00:25:14.880 of looking at, uh, gen X or, um, uh, childhoods or whatever growing up in the eight or yeah,

00:25:22.640 growing up in the eighties and, and, and such.

00:25:24.880 And I think there's a bit of truth to that.

00:25:28.400 Cause speaking as a millennial, I was, my music was kind of right out of high school.

00:25:32.960 It was kind of informed by the boomers.

00:25:35.880 And I think the millennials in a lot of ways are like, uh, they have a lot of, um, boomer

00:25:42.000 qualities.

00:25:43.000 I mean, we are a generation of spoiled brats and I think where the zoomer and Xer kind 1.00

00:25:47.200 of connection is, uh, just to be very general about it, there's kind of an apathy to both.

00:25:54.000 I mean, I think a lot of zoomers are apathetic and maybe the, the generation I thought, you 1.00

00:26:01.360 know, well, I think also kind of cynical and negative and almost nihilistic.

00:26:06.400 I, I, I would say that millennials and, and, and boomers do, do have a weird connection

00:26:16.080 to themselves, to each other, rather father and son.

00:26:21.480 Yeah.

00:26:22.040 Father and son.

00:26:23.080 Definitely.

00:26:23.660 I mean, my, my parents are boomers and I'm, I'm, but I'm, I'm a, uh, young gen Xer born in

00:26:30.740 1978, uh, but almost a millennial, but, um, I identify as gen X, uh, but yeah, more cynical.

00:26:41.340 I, there, there is something, uh, you know, if we look at zoomers right now is just kind

00:26:47.360 of desperate and depressed and sexless and on the internet and nihilistic and like communist 0.73

00:26:54.220 or Nazis or whatever, uh, that that's probably not how I would describe millennials.

00:27:00.320 They, they seem to be kind of naive and happy and, uh, you know, like their greatest political

00:27:08.360 thinker is someone like Matthew Iglesias or something.

00:27:12.160 And the films that they responded to and that are there, that are very meaningful to them

00:27:18.660 and that they love are like the Marvel cinematic universe or something, you know, there, there's

00:27:23.840 just something I have to say really contemptible about them.

00:27:29.620 Yeah, uh, I agree.

00:27:31.900 I'm a self, I'm a self-hating millennial.

00:27:34.360 That's okay.

00:27:35.800 Not, not you personally.

00:27:37.940 And, and you can make fun of gen Xers all you want. 0.96

00:27:41.500 Uh, but we did actually have some cool music.

00:27:45.460 Uh, Kurt Cobain committed suicide.

00:27:48.220 He's our Jesus, I guess.

00:27:50.420 Uh, although there's no redemption with this Messiah.

00:27:53.480 Uh, and, um, Michael Hutchins too.

00:27:56.040 Yeah.

00:27:57.720 Yeah.

00:27:58.660 Multiple.

00:27:59.320 I mean, it's, but the, you know, when you're negative, you're at, you're able to be insightful

00:28:05.300 and critical and you're unhappy and dissatisfied.

00:28:08.720 I think there's some positive things to gen X zoomers. 1.00

00:28:12.360 I mean, I hope there can be some positive things, but I, I do think zoomers are, um, just 1.00

00:28:17.760 do the nature of the world, uh, beyond their control.

00:28:21.080 It's not their fault.

00:28:21.760 They're pretty, uh, whacked out, but yeah, but yeah, I don't know.

00:28:28.020 I don't know if the point was, was the kind of like eighties as musical utopia that we went

00:28:36.800 for at that moment.

00:28:38.220 Um, yeah, I mean, just personally, if you go like 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, et cetera, I think

00:28:46.520 it, it was in a lot of ways due to the, uh, diversity you could have, you know, so, so

00:28:53.680 many different, uh, sounds and groups like metalheads, punks with new waivers, what, you

00:29:00.500 know, whatever.

00:29:02.840 Um, but, uh, the thing I was going to say about, uh, Depeche Mode's, uh, aesthetics is,

00:29:09.400 I mean, their creative director, Martin Adkins said, I don't want to sound like a neo-Nazi,

00:29:15.640 but we used to admire the way that it's just a great way to, it's always, always a good

00:29:21.900 way to begin a sentence, yeah.

00:29:24.140 Mm-hmm.

00:29:25.020 Well, I'm not racist, but, but so he said, he said, um, that they admired the, the way

00:29:33.540 that the Nazi flags would hang as big banners over the buildings and, um, in Germany.

00:29:41.200 And that is pretty obviously, I mean, look at Black Celebration as a cover.

00:29:47.060 There's a big banner over a big building.

00:29:49.060 Yes, the building looks futuristic.

00:29:50.380 No, there's no Nazi symbol.

00:29:53.120 Right.

00:29:53.240 There are these kind of like strange symbols, but I mean, he basically kind of gave that

00:29:58.720 away.

00:29:59.380 They, and he had also admitted, yeah, we're inspired by futurists, fascists, and communists,

00:30:05.740 basically, uh, as far as their artwork is concerned.

00:30:09.200 Mm-hmm.

00:30:09.460 Um, yeah, obviously we, we can't say that, oh, they're ergo Depeche Mode.

00:30:14.100 It's, you know, a, you know, a Hitlerian or something. 0.98

00:30:17.560 Presumably they, they kind of listened to what Martin was trying to write about at the

00:30:22.520 time and, uh, applied their own ideas to that, which is why you get this kind of socialist

00:30:27.320 look to, to that early artwork that goes around construction time again in the singles.

00:30:32.580 The kind of political look of the things was more fashion than specific statement.

00:30:37.960 If you look back, you'll see a lot of those kind of elements creeping in, you know, of, um,

00:30:43.120 both fascist and communistic kind of iconography.

00:30:47.040 You know, it was exciting looking stuff.

00:30:49.940 And I think that nobody had really plundered it to market an everyday product like a record.

00:30:57.700 Depeche Mode are officially boomers.

00:31:00.160 I mean, the, the, the baby boom itself was a long generation, but they, they spoke to

00:31:07.860 Gen Xers in terms of, um, at least eventually in terms of their fans, people were buying their 1.00

00:31:14.720 albums and, you know, I think this album itself is a kind of dark boomer.

00:31:23.080 Like if there's a politics, it's, it's dark boomerism and it's very 2016.

00:31:32.720 This is why I kind of like this album.

00:31:34.840 Um, I'll just throw something like poor man.

00:31:40.060 I mean, granted, it's a pretty two dimensional song, but it's much better than Richmond, uh,

00:31:46.360 North of Richmond.

00:31:47.160 Hey, there's no news.

00:31:55.260 Poor man's still got the blues.

00:31:59.040 He's walking around in worn out shoes with nothing to lose.

00:32:12.320 Fail is just so like nihilistic and dark and almost like teenage angsty that I like it.

00:32:22.280 Um, poison heart, et cetera.

00:32:25.120 I, I think there's some, actually some really good, some good, if not great tracks.

00:32:31.620 And I think the first, it's actually the, the a side of, of the album, the first four songs,

00:32:38.480 I think are all interconnected.

00:32:41.220 And I, and, and I think purposefully so, and they are political and what exactly the politics

00:32:50.740 is, I, I think is an interesting question.

00:32:54.080 So let's go to going backwards.

00:32:57.580 I, I, I think probably kind of obvious.

00:32:59.940 I mean, it's in there at even one point, uh, they say, go, we're going backwards to a caveman

00:33:06.560 mentality.

00:33:08.040 Um, that that's almost a little too on the nose, but you, you get what they're saying to say

00:33:14.460 caveman mentality.

00:33:15.360 They, they, they almost sound like a, uh, you know, I don't know the Huffington post

00:33:19.360 circa 2014 or something, but, um, I understand what you're saying that we're armed with new

00:33:26.460 technology, but we're going backwards in terms of our mentality.

00:33:31.180 And, uh, we can track it all with satellites, see it all in plain sight, watch men die in

00:33:37.180 real time, but we have nothing inside.

00:33:39.820 We feel nothing inside.

00:33:41.640 We can track it all with satellites, see it all in plain sight, watch men die in real

00:33:56.480 time, but we have nothing inside, we feel nothing inside.

00:34:05.640 Oh, my sense with this is that it, you know, these, these were produced, recorded, let's

00:34:20.340 say 2016.

00:34:22.080 Um, they came out, I think in the fall of 2016 and then they, they toured in 2017.

00:34:27.520 I think this is something they've been thinking about for longer than that.

00:34:31.040 Um, it takes a little bit of time to write a song or at least a good one.

00:34:35.840 That's worthy of an album.

00:34:36.900 And, uh, I, I get a very strong terror war vibe actually from those songs of we have satellites

00:34:48.820 everywhere and we're drone striking someone, or maybe even those images that were leaked

00:34:55.680 by Julian Assange showing these, uh, you know, machine gunning of various, you know, potential

00:35:04.360 terrorist Arabs, um, with no remorse and so on there, there was something cold and brutal, 0.54

00:35:13.680 but, but also apathetic and clinical about it. 0.95

00:35:18.740 And I, I, I, I think they, they might be kind of feeling the wave of Trump and seeing Trump 1.00

00:35:27.620 as stupid or something. 0.99

00:35:28.640 And in that sense, I think they had foresight, but I, I think there's also something, it's 0.99

00:35:35.400 a deeper commentary of, uh, the Bush era that really flowed into the Obama era.

00:35:42.680 Obama, Obama increased drone strikes.

00:35:45.740 So Obama did, you know, blew his wad and, uh, Libya and other things.

00:35:52.340 I mean, there was a, it was certainly not as dramatic as the Bush era, but, you know, Obama

00:35:58.640 was awarded the peace prize before he came into office as a, as an end to that era.

00:36:04.800 And he really didn't end it.

00:36:06.560 And I, I, I think that they're, they're getting at that aspect.

00:36:12.820 They're getting at the fact that we're becoming more technological, more interconnected, more

00:36:17.320 global, et cetera.

00:36:18.660 But, you know, along with that, there's almost the, the kind of loss of those, I guess you

00:36:25.320 could say, you know, boomer ideals of, uh, of democracy and humanism, et cetera.

00:36:31.160 And we're, we are becoming more caveman like as, as cringe as that sentiment is.

00:36:37.540 It's, it's rather true.

00:36:40.960 Yeah.

00:36:41.480 I think that, um, actually that song is, uh, I mean, from the lyrics, I was kind of getting

00:36:48.720 like David Skirbina, Ed Dutton combo.

00:36:52.700 Like they, like they wrote the song together kind of vibes.

00:36:55.220 And I mean, David Skirbina in the sense that they're talking about like, what are we doing

00:36:59.140 with this technology?

00:37:00.020 Like we're, we're not kind of meant for this.

00:37:03.460 Uh, and, and I won't go so far as to say Luddite, but I definitely, it's a tech skeptic

00:37:10.460 song.

00:37:11.480 Um, you know, technology has made communication much easier and much worse.

00:37:16.840 I think most would agree with that.

00:37:19.720 Um, I, I think the, um, the watchmen die in real time, but we have nothing inside.

00:37:25.280 We feel nothing inside.

00:37:26.340 I mean, what that gets at, you know, porn and violence that we see today with, you

00:37:33.880 know, Hamas, Hamas and Israel.

00:37:36.220 Um, and it's kind of like Gore is asking like, what is this good for?

00:37:41.720 Um, and there is an irony to that because, you know, this technology, uh, or not this particular

00:37:48.940 technology, but technology in general is how they became, you know, who they are.

00:37:53.480 So it's kind of like coming full circle, um, on, on them.

00:37:58.960 Um, but yeah, it's, I, I think that it's a reactionary.

00:38:05.460 I, I feel like you had said that about, um, the last, uh, memento Mori, but you know, maybe

00:38:14.340 it's just like burned into my head now, but I feel like a lot of these lyrics, they relate

00:38:19.160 more with the disgruntled 2015, 16, uh, Trump voter.

00:38:25.300 Yeah.

00:38:26.240 Then, then they do to your bi-coastal, um, uh, shitlib. 0.83

00:38:32.340 I mean, I, I really don't think, you know, uh, even talking about poor man, okay, you 0.61

00:38:39.480 could kind of, maybe you want to say that it's a communistic song or something, but

00:38:45.520 corporations get the brakes or something.

00:38:47.320 Yeah.

00:38:47.440 That's a pretty off the shelf liberal opinion.

00:38:51.960 Yeah.

00:38:52.600 There's yeah, but there's nothing that Trump voter wouldn't disagree with you.

00:38:57.060 I mean, um, so I can't help, but see, I almost feel like liberals were kind of hoodwinked

00:39:06.740 by this album because it got many good reviews from liberals.

00:39:09.760 Like, oh, this is such a great album.

00:39:13.100 Um, you know, I think mostly.

00:39:15.940 Yeah.

00:39:16.100 Rolling Stone liked it.

00:39:17.920 Yeah.

00:39:19.440 But I think whether Martin knows it or not, I mean, he's there, there are kind of

00:39:27.040 the small reactionary that, that lives inside him is kind of coming out.

00:39:31.840 I mean, you got to think about too, that he's, well, at this time he would have been

00:39:35.420 in his, uh, what mid fifties, something like that.

00:39:38.360 And he's like 63, you know, so, or two anyway, the point being that he's older, he's, uh, kind

00:39:47.440 of like can't keep up with the whippersnappers and their iPhones kind of thing.

00:39:52.820 And I'm not saying that, um, disparagingly, like, I think that's a serious, uh, thing

00:39:59.680 to address.

00:40:01.040 There, there is this kind of sense of beating down.

00:40:03.400 I mean, I, I think there are multiple layers to it and that's why it's good.

00:40:06.840 And it can kind of speak to you.

00:40:08.360 I remember attending this concert in 2017 and they played, where's the revolution?

00:40:13.340 And the guy who, one of the, I went with two friends and one of them said, he's like, wow,

00:40:18.980 this is like an Antifa song or something.

00:40:21.540 It's where's the revolution?

00:40:23.960 Come on, people.

00:40:25.220 You're letting me down.

00:40:26.760 But it's, it's talking about the last one.

00:40:56.740 Back of revolution and you're getting pissed on, you're getting stomped on and nothing's

00:41:02.380 happening.

00:41:03.060 And granted, there is something self-righteous about, you know, you're letting me down or

00:41:08.600 something.

00:41:09.660 Um, but, and I, and I almost don't like that sentiment and that's almost as a kind of

00:41:15.140 Huffington post from that era sentiment.

00:41:17.760 But, um, I, I think it's, it's also kind of like everything, all of it can be read in

00:41:24.980 a different, a number of different ways.

00:41:26.420 I mean, you could imagine this as almost like the Trump voter, like the train is coming.

00:41:31.620 The train is coming.

00:41:32.780 I was going to say that.

00:41:34.720 Yeah, the engine's humming.

00:41:37.440 The train is coming.

00:41:40.860 The train is coming.

00:41:42.540 The train is coming.

00:41:44.280 The train is coming.

00:41:46.060 So get on board.

00:41:47.740 Get on board.

00:41:49.460 Get on board.

00:41:51.200 Get on board.

00:41:52.520 It was called the Trump train for, for kind of inexplicable, inexplicable reasons.

00:42:18.640 I mean, it's just, you know, jump on the Trump train.

00:42:20.780 It's like this moving thing beyond you that you're getting on.

00:42:25.740 You're, you're kind of losing your own personality in a way or, or, or agency, at least you're,

00:42:30.940 you're jumping on this train that's moving, whether you like it or not.

00:42:34.480 And I, I think that resonated maybe unintentionally, perhaps maybe intentionally, but it resonated

00:42:41.580 with the Trump.

00:42:42.760 Um, but you've been pushed around, you've been lied to, you've been fed truths.

00:42:47.940 Who's making your decision?

00:42:49.440 You or your religion?

00:42:50.820 Your government, your countries, your patriotic, you patriotic junkies.

00:42:54.900 All of that could kind of those, all of those things kind of bite each way.

00:43:00.300 And they're kind of contradictory, you know, like, are you trapped by your religion?

00:43:05.440 Is it making your thought?

00:43:07.140 Is it thinking your thoughts for you?

00:43:08.680 Or is your government?

00:43:09.820 It's, uh, but you could kind of read it in different ways.

00:43:12.940 But I think what he's getting at is like a general sentiment that there is no revolution.

00:43:19.920 There's no real hope.

00:43:21.520 But then there's this, like, the train is coming.

00:43:24.320 Even the train evokes, I don't know, maybe even like Bolshevik revolution or something,

00:43:29.700 um, just something older, something from the 20th century.

00:43:32.780 But it's coming.

00:43:34.000 So there is a kind of, like, hope there.

00:43:37.360 But it's ultimately expressing this just lack of movement.

00:43:42.120 I mean, this is what defined the Trump era.

00:43:44.440 I mean, you know, Trump's rise in popularity coincided with the end of the terror war, uh, living standards flatlining, life expectancy declining, and, uh, fatalities due to drug use increasing.

00:44:06.120 And that was drug use of the, the opioids, the, not, not, you know, cool 80s cocaine or even smoking weed, but stuff that is just allowing you to escape the pain and it's going to eventually kill you.

00:44:19.020 Mm-hmm.

00:44:19.860 Um, yeah.

00:44:21.960 I mean, it was the Trump album.

00:44:24.860 Yeah, I agree.

00:44:26.400 The get on board, get on board gives me, uh, it reminds me of my cosmos is mine when it goes to bed.

00:44:32.560 No more, no more.

00:44:34.260 Not here.

00:44:34.740 There's kind of a similarity there.

00:44:36.860 Yeah.

00:44:37.080 Um, but what's funny is that, you know, I, I, I've said this before for Martin's songwriting, there's, he's really good at ambiguity.

00:44:47.720 You kind of know what it's about, but you don't.

00:44:50.420 And he, you know, he's, he's not telling.

00:44:53.280 Um, but this on my first interpretation of it was like, okay, this is just basically a political, uh, social conscious album.

00:45:03.900 Um, but there is still ambiguity because, you know, as we've said, who is he talking about?

00:45:10.040 Is he speaking for, you know, he could be speaking for somebody, uh, in, in London or somebody in the north of England in a deindustrialized, uh, you know, suburb or something like that.

00:45:23.980 Or for an American in the Midwest or, or the South, the, the music video for this, which I, you know, we can't put too much stock into it.

00:45:33.100 Sure.

00:45:33.640 But, um, I just think that aesthetically with the, uh, Karl Marx's kind of thing was, it was, it was boomery, you know, to be honest, I don't think it was a very creative, uh, choice by Anton.

00:45:49.100 Um, but, you know, there still is a lot of inwardness, uh, kind of self-flagellation, uh, that you get in a lot of, well, that you could interpret in a lot of Martin songs.

00:46:02.060 Um, I think if you, the, the song, the worst crime, I mean, I can kind of take it in a number of different ways.

00:46:09.400 I don't know what you think about it, but I, it sounds to me like it's about like killing democracy or something.

00:46:17.500 And I'm thinking Brexit because they were pretty openly anti-Brexit and, you know, obviously exoterically anti-Trump.

00:46:27.000 Um, but you know, there is a little bit of.

00:46:30.380 That might've inspired it, but I think it, it kind of, it's deeper.

00:46:33.780 There's a lynching in the square.

00:46:35.460 It's, it's about, I mean, I, I think it goes also to going backwards of the caveman mentality, which is a bit of a clanging lyric, but I, it is getting at what they're talking about.

00:46:50.580 And it's this, you know, it's this kind of collective discussion of committing these crimes.

00:46:57.100 I mean, if we, if we take it to where we are right now, um, you know, and let's not even talk about like the, the, the, the salacious, unbelievably violent and horrific crimes that, you know, the Hamas dead. 0.79

00:47:18.560 I mean, they're in a different situation than the Israelis are. 0.97

00:47:24.780 And I think in a way like less should be expected of them morally and politically, but, um, you know, Israel has had a lot of time to deal with this issue.

00:47:38.460 They, they, that is the, you know, the, the, the apartheid state, the conflict, et cetera, et cetera.

00:47:46.040 They've had a long time to deal with it and they've, they've been a very rich place as well.

00:47:53.900 And they're shutting off the water and blocking people in Gaza, they're bombing apartment buildings.

00:48:04.240 I mean, they are about to do the kind of lynching, you know, of, you know, in a small town version of, of, you know, this guy guilty or not, let's, uh, let's be judge and jury and destroy him.

00:48:19.500 I mean, they're, they're doing that right now.

00:48:21.720 And it's like, he's, it's about contemplating that collective act of fury, you could say, or scapegoating or, or something like that.

00:48:49.500 And it's going to be there.

00:48:52.960 We're setting up the truss.

00:48:58.380 Once there were solutions.

00:49:03.360 Now we have no excuses.

00:49:09.120 They got lost in confusion.

00:49:13.780 So we're preparing the nooses.

00:49:17.640 And, oh, we had so much time.

00:49:29.620 How could we commit the worst crime?

00:49:36.080 I think it fits well with the first four songs, which make up a little kind of, I don't know, opera or something.

00:49:50.860 They, they make up four different perspectives on this issue of where they are right now, or where we are right now.

00:49:57.900 So, yeah, I mean, the, the song kind of gave me, there's a line, it talks about, um, apathetic hesitation.

00:50:08.940 Like, we're all charged with treason and definitely gets to a, like a collective guilt kind of, um, thing.

00:50:15.780 Well, listen to this as well.

00:50:17.140 Like blame misinformation, misguided leaders, apathetic hesitation, uneducated readers.

00:50:22.500 That's actually, I like that funny line.

00:50:25.100 For whatever reason, we now find ourselves in this, we are all charged with treason.

00:50:31.660 There is no one left to hiss.

00:50:33.980 So it's, it kind of, you can say this, like to go back to where we are right now.

00:50:41.080 Yeah, of course, there's tons of misinformation and lies and fog of war stuff.

00:50:46.360 But, you know, you're ultimately going to be guilty of doing this act.

00:50:53.000 That is Israelis. 0.97

00:50:55.380 You're, you're ultimately going to be guilty of destroying Gaza. 0.98

00:51:00.040 Like you're going to, you're going to commit the worst crime.

00:51:03.680 And, um, yeah, that's what I think it's, I think that mentality is what I, I think it's about.

00:51:08.800 And I think what we're seeing now resonates with it, but go on.

00:51:11.400 I think I cut you off where you were about to say something.

00:51:13.380 I was just going to say when, when I heard we're all charged with treason and kind of

00:51:17.760 this apathetic hesitation, I just, it triggered a memory from the, uh, scene in Mississippi

00:51:24.520 burning when like Gene Hackman and, uh, goes Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe are these two FBI

00:51:32.560 agents.

00:51:32.960 And they go to this, uh, town in the South and it's, they were covering up the, the murder

00:51:39.020 of, uh, three civil rights, uh, workers and the mayor of the town, uh, hangs himself.

00:51:46.720 And Gene Hackman says, well, why did he, he wasn't even guilty.

00:51:50.580 Why did he hang himself?

00:51:52.280 And I remember Willem Dafoe says anyone who sits idly by during all this is guilty.

00:51:57.540 And that kind of like, we don't sleep until all the evil in the world is gone.

00:52:02.140 I just think, I got like a Puritan kind of vibe from that, you know, just from the, we're

00:52:08.380 all charged with treason, apathetic hesitation.

00:52:10.800 I, you know, I, I, I would agree that there's- 0.99

00:52:13.140 And then scum is about committing the worst crime. 0.95

00:52:16.060 Cause it's about, it's about dehumanizing the enemy. 1.00

00:52:19.140 Hey scum, hey scum, what have you ever done for anyone? 1.00

00:52:21.920 Hey scum, hey scum, what have you ever done for anyone? 1.00

00:52:30.420 Hey scum, hey scum, what are you gonna do when you're gonna curse? 1.00

00:52:36.480 I'm calling, and you're falling, and there's nowhere left to run. 1.00

00:52:41.280 And you're weeping, and I'm sleeping, and you're begging for your gun.

00:52:45.960 I'm pulling my trigger.

00:52:58.520 It's basically, like it, I, it's not a really pleasant song.

00:53:03.500 Like it's not one that I would just go like listen to for fun or something, but because

00:53:07.560 it's not getting at pleasant stuff.

00:53:09.380 It's, it's trying to get at that mentality of scapegoating someone, destroying someone. 1.00

00:53:17.100 And you have to turn him into scum, and just pull the trigger. 0.94

00:53:21.620 Yeah, I will say that is probably my least favorite track, Scum, on the, on the album. 0.97

00:53:29.020 Just because I, it's, it was just, I'm trying not to dwell too much on the production

00:53:35.820 and the sound, but I just don't think the, the production served the songs.

00:53:42.180 But anyway, yeah, we can, we can move on to, uh, I enjoyed, um, I, you know, I, maybe

00:53:51.820 I'm skipping ahead here, but I think, you know, my favorite song is, uh, Cover Me, which

00:53:57.460 Dave Don wrote.

00:53:58.960 Yeah.

00:53:59.380 Um, there is, I think that is, and that was one of the singles.

00:54:03.260 I love the, like, ambient kind of percussion with the, the snares that sound like kind

00:54:08.900 of spacey, um, I'm not sure exactly what it's about.

00:54:12.480 I was kind of getting Pink Floyd vibes from, like, the atmosphere with, you kind of get

00:54:17.280 this kind of lap guitar, you know, and, and very, very, uh, echoey and a lot of delay

00:54:27.160 and reverb on it, which, uh, I appreciate it just from a production aspect.

00:54:33.260 Will you cover me?

00:54:41.060 Way up here with the northern lights

00:54:46.420 Beyond you and me

00:54:54.540 I dreamt of us in another life

00:55:05.700 It was less, it was more listenable, I think, than the other songs. Uh, it wasn't anything

00:55:23.640 too astounding lyrically, but, uh, I think that maybe that's why this album in general

00:55:28.660 had to capture me musically first and I don't think it really did. I don't know if you have

00:55:34.840 any thoughts on that.

00:55:36.460 Yeah. I liked that, that one as well. Uh, a lot of the songs kind of roll into one another. I mean, I,

00:55:43.300 I kind of get the hate for this album and I like moment, momento Mori more. It's overall just a better

00:55:50.900 album. It's, um, more interesting. It's like, I would want to return to it, but I guess I would defend this album.

00:55:58.980 Maybe in some ways due to my little personal history with it, but I like it. I, I think it's cool. I think it's getting at interesting sentiments and,

00:56:09.620 you know, where's the revolution, not one of their greatest, like anthem singles, but it's up there.

00:56:17.840 You know, it's, it's in, I think it's still performed. I think they're performing it live this year, aren't they?

00:56:25.520 Uh, I was actually going to mention that they're not, um, well, I, I, at least on the set list.

00:56:32.840 What was the set list that you said? Cause I didn't see their first leg of their tour.

00:56:37.000 It was, I mean, if you want, I can run through them all real quick, but, um, uh, my cosmos is mine

00:56:45.220 wagging tongue, walking in my shoes. It's no good. Sister of night. I was kind of surprised by that

00:56:51.320 one in your room. Everything counts. Precious speak to me. A question of lust soul with me ghosts.

00:57:01.020 Again, I feel you, a pain that I'm used to world in my eyes wrong, which was probably my least

00:57:08.860 favorite. Um, that was played stripped John, the revelator enjoy the silence. And the, and the

00:57:17.280 encore was waiting for the night, which was beautiful. Just can't get enough. Never let me

00:57:24.040 down. And they ended it with personal Jesus, but not a single spirit song. And I think that's kind

00:57:31.960 of telling also, I want to say about have they ever performed an exciter song outside of the exciter

00:57:39.020 tour? Oh, that, so that sounds like your least favorite album. It was, I'm kind of ready to

00:57:47.360 revisit it though, but it was the one where I was like, Oh, well, everyone has a bad album.

00:57:54.340 Um, yeah, uh, there, no, there is no, uh, no, there is no exciter song on, on their most recent

00:58:02.740 tour. Um, but another thing, just speaking of them playing live, I don't know how you feel about

00:58:09.040 this guy, but, uh, Christian Eigner, the, uh, drummer that plays with them live. And he's helped

00:58:15.340 Dave write a few songs, um, including, uh, including the one on here, Poison Heart. But, um,

00:58:22.780 I thought, you know, he was totally overplaying, uh, on their, I mean, really since he took over

00:58:33.240 in 1998, uh, for the live performances, I thought all these, this is an electronic band. Yes.

00:58:40.600 Drums are suited for some of the songs, especially the kind of later ones. Yeah.

00:58:45.060 Call me an Alan fan boy, but, uh, Alan's drumming though. He's not a trained drummer in the same

00:58:50.080 way that Eigner is. It was just better. Uh, it's, it suited the mood better. Uh, and it wasn't

00:58:55.300 overplayed, but, um, I don't know how, how you feel about them live. I think they're great. I think

00:59:01.240 they're one of the best bands I've ever seen live, if not the best. Um, but I just thought,

00:59:07.960 and he did not, I want to mention that Eigner did not overplay. Um, so they've been listening

00:59:14.380 to my, uh, my prayers or reading my mind or something because Eigner did not really over

00:59:19.900 overplay. Um, and this last concert that I saw.

00:59:25.040 Yeah. Um, that's interesting. He might've gotten some notes. You weren't the only one who thought

00:59:30.800 that. Uh, there's another guy I remember cause I've, I've been to a number of their tours

00:59:36.600 since, um, uh, I guess, uh, sound of the universe as well. I mean, there's a guy who looks like

00:59:45.220 he has, I don't know, Arabian or, or, uh, Persian background. She's playing synth.

00:59:51.700 That might be him. Yeah. I guess he's the Italian. Yeah. I I'm assuming. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty dark guy, 1.00

00:59:59.560 but yeah. Um, he actually, he can sing very well himself and play very well. And so I heard him do

01:00:06.800 a cover of 10 CCs. I'm not in love. And it was actually really good. Um, but yeah, as far as I

01:00:13.740 understand, he'll, he, he's just mostly a live musician, uh, for them. I have not seen him,

01:00:22.380 uh, or, I mean, he's, he's listed on some songs with Dave, uh, like helping him out and I'm sure.

01:00:30.460 But, um, which actually in the one that he did help him out and poison heart, I gotta imagine that's

01:00:36.800 his influence. Cause these chords are so big, like, um, in poison heart with it.

01:00:43.740 It's got the guitar and the two and the four. Um, and, uh, it's got this G sharp minor to E minor major

01:00:52.320 nine to D sharp augmented.

01:00:55.320 These are not kind of typical Depeche mode chords. I mean, Depeche mode chords are, uh,

01:01:24.680 simple, but bold, you know, I'm not, I'm not saying I'm not putting them down, but, um,

01:01:30.200 I was just intrigued by those chords. There's not a lot of seventh and ninth and, you know,

01:01:36.260 extended chords basically.

01:01:38.120 Well, let's, let's go back to the, to, to bring it to a close. Um,

01:01:45.220 because we'll, we'll do a kind of ongoing ranking of the albums. Where, where is this for you?

01:01:52.180 Uh, dead last. And, um, wow. Yeah. Sorry.

01:02:00.040 Don't mean to disappoint you, Richard, but yeah, it's, it's my least favorite.

01:02:06.880 Interesting. It's not my least favorite.

01:02:10.900 When we get to sounds of the universe, I'll know maybe those, I think those two are neck

01:02:18.000 and neck. I would probably say like on a good day, it's like a five out of 10 for me.

01:02:23.820 I'm, I'm yeah, I, they're, you know, probably my second favorite band of all time, but I'm

01:02:31.140 not, uh, thrilled.

01:02:33.540 Fair. I, I would say it's lower.

01:02:36.580 Um, it's not, it's not quite at the bottom for me.

01:02:43.560 I think you might be also giving like a broken frame and so on more credit for the reasons

01:02:50.340 that I mentioned earlier, that it's just a, an essential album and you kind of can't do

01:02:53.940 without it.

01:02:55.560 Yeah. And I do realize like they set the bar so damn high with, you know, these other

01:03:01.980 classic albums, but you know, that, that's fine. It is what it is.

01:03:07.500 Mm-hmm.

01:03:08.160 You've been lying to you.

01:03:16.560 You've been fair to you.

01:03:23.740 Who's making your decisions?

01:03:26.180 You are your religion, your government, your countries, you patriotic junkies.

01:03:49.380 Where's the revolution?

01:03:55.840 Come on, people, you let me down.

01:04:04.040 Where's the revolution?

01:04:09.580 Come on, people, you let me down.

01:04:13.140 Come on, people, you let me down.

01:04:33.600 Come on, people, you let me down.

01:04:35.600 Come on, people, you let me down.

RadixJournal - November 29, 2023

Depeche Mode： Spirit

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