Depeche Mode's 101 is, at first glance, a curious thing: a live double-album by a synth band. A recording of its “Concert for the Masses,” 101 marks the moment when doomy, cultish, electronic Depeche Mode, despite low American album sales and a lack of critical acclaim, declared they had arrived and ascended to the rare air of stadium rock. On June 18, 1988, 65,000 screaming, singing Southern Californians flocked to Pasadena's Rose Bowl to celebrate DM's coronation. The concert also revealed the power of Southern California radio station and event host KROQ, which had turned Los Angeles into DM's American stronghold through years of fervent airplay. KROQ's innovative format, which brought “new music” to its avid listeners, soon spread across the country, leading to the explosion of alternative rock in the 1990s. Eight years after its founding in Basildon, Essex, Depeche Mode, rooted in 1970s Krautrock, combined old-fashioned touring, well-crafted songs, and the steadfast support of KROQ to dominate Southern California, the United States, and then the world, kicking open the doors for the likes of Nirvana in the process. 101 is the hidden-in-plain-sight hinge of modern music history.
Depeche Mode are an 80s band still going strong into the 1990s. Based on detailed interviews and extensive research, this book probes into the motives and detours of their journey. Previous ed.: 1999.
"Captivating images of band members on stage, with fans, and in official photos, and detailed images of album covers, disc labels, cassette boxes, and all sorts of memorabilia frame approachable descriptions of specific events and the surrounding history. A complete tour schedule including all of the earliest dates and the dates of 18 official tours is included, as is a bibliography of over 60 album reviews in a wide variety of magazines. All-in-all, this is a visually stunning and worthwhile read. It is both entrancing and heartfelt while at the same time informational, genuine and candid, and the reverence felt for the band by the author is contagious." --Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal "Depeche Mode fans know that Monument is a song on its seminal 1982 album A Broken Frame. It's a fitting title for this encyclopedic yet intimate photo book that covers the band's career, with a special section devoted to fan culture." --Los Angeles Times, Holiday Gift Guide "Featuring more than one thousand objects from Burmeister's archive, Monument is a detailed chronology of the band who--after 100 million album sales--still show no sign of stopping." --Dazed "A bonanza for the serious Depeche Mode lover." --The Current (Minnesota Public Radio) "The massive coffee table book is graphically appealing and well designed, as befits a tribute to a group who were almost as visual at their inception as they were musical." --Shepherd Express "Even if you think you know everything there is to know about Depeche Mode...there is surely something new to learn here." --Philadelphia Gay News "Essential...Monument is everything it aspires to be, an impressive achievement and a fine gift for the Depeche Mode fan in your life." --PopMatters "This book-long love letter from some of the Depeche Mode's diehard fans...This is a meticulous, obsessive compilation of the band's oeuvre and is a must for any DM fan." --Style Zeitgeist, 2017 Gift Guide Depeche Mode: Monument illustrates the amazing synth-pop success story that began in 1981 and is still going strong after 100 million album sales. This book contains information on all of the band's releases from 1981 to 2017, over a thousand images, including never-before-seen photos, concert posters, and album artwork, a special look at fan culture, interviews with stage managers, friends, producers, tour companions, radio hosts, and fans and much more. Along with an unprecedented collection of artifacts presented together for the first time, this coffee table book offers extensive information, background facts, and anecdotes that will cater to both newcomers and die-hard Depeche Mode fans alike." --Delaware County Daily Times, Holiday Gift Guide Depeche Mode: Monument illustrates the amazing success story that began in 1981 and is still going strong after 100 million album sales. This book contains: information on all of the band's releases from 1981 to 2017; over a thousand images, including never-before-seen photos, concert posters, and album artwork; a special look at fan culture; interviews with stage managers, friends, producers, tour companions, radio hosts, and fans; and so much more. The affection that Depeche Mode command year after year from their ever-growing fan base is incredible. No other band possesses such a vital, self-organized fan culture. Along with an unprecedented collection of artifacts presented together for the first time, this volume offers extensive information, background facts, and anecdotes that will cater to both newcomers and die-hard Depeche Mode fans alike.
The preeminent synth-pop outfit for four decades, Depeche Mode have endured an ever-shifting musical landscape, rising above fads and battles with personal demons, somehow managing to retain a hold on the charts and the audience, the latter which continues to grow as new generations discover them and become “devotees.” Depeche Mode FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the World's Finest Synth-Pop Band shows how a group of schoolmates influenced by the likes of Kraftwerk, Joy Division, and mid-period David Bowie carved out their own musical niche until they became one of the most influential bands to come out of England. Depeche Mode were Europe’s best-kept secret in the early '80s with the albums Construction Time Again and the—perhaps—tongue-in-cheek-titled Music for the Masses. They became a worldwide phenomenon as the '90s dawned, with the landmark LP Violator, containing the smash hits "Personal Jesus," "Enjoy the Silence," and "Policy of Truth." But success came at a price as depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, and personnel departures threatened to derail the band. It wasn’t a question of whether the music of Depeche Mode would be able to withstand fickle industry changes, but rather if the members of the group themselves could make it out alive. Depeche Mode FAQ shows how they did, becoming legends in the process.
In the world of music, there are one-hit-wonders and then there are legends--legends that have diehard fans who have loved them for decades. Now these fans can share their love of bands like DEPECHE MODE with their children, nieces and nephews, or even grandchildren! Enter the world of Band Bio Records, a picture book series that gives children a look into the history of some of the biggest bands around: Metallica, Depeche Mode, the Ramones, and Queen. In a large picture book format meant to replicate the size of a vinyl record, children will learn the story behind the bands that will one day be their favorites too.
In 1980, four English youths formed a completely electronic pop band. Now, 15 years later, they are #1 on the charts. Here is the first full-lengh biography of the group that can fully claim to be the most popular electronic act in the world. Photographs. Original trade paperback.
A guide to being grouchy, written and illustrated by the world's greatest grouch--Sesame Street's Oscar! So you want to be a grouch? Oscar, Sesame Street's resident grouch, is here to tell you how, in this hysterical hardcover book written and illustrated by Caroll Spinney--the puppeteer who brought Oscar to grouchy life for almost 50 years. This one-of-a-kind book offers laugh-out-loud, hilariously illustrated advice on how to live grouchily all day, every day, from morning (set your alarm clock to go off too early, and make sure it's LOUD!) till night (relax by playing broken records!). It's the perfect gift for grouches and Sesame Street fans of ALL AGES! Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, aims to help kids grow smarter, stronger, and kinder through its many unique domestic and international initiatives. These projects cover a wide array of topics, which address specific needs, such as girls' education, financial empowerment, and autism. Sesame Street is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019--a yearlong celebration that highlights 50 years of distributing quality educational content to families around the world. Sesame Street is the most trusted name in early learning.
An electrifying new biography about the four Essex lads who became award-winning stadium superstars and champions of synth pop! Jonathan Miller's groundbreaking book features in-depth interviews with founder member Vince Clarke and producers Gareth Jones and Mark Bell, and contains never-before seen interviews with the band members themselves. With additional input from Gary Human, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby this is a unique portrait of a band that almost lost control when their lives went off the rails and lead singer Dave Gahan's heroin addiction nearly killed him. In the end Depeche Mode not only survived, they triumphed, racking up a staggering 40 million-plus album sales on the way. This is their amazing story, told in full for the first time. Born out of the post-punk backlash in the early 80's, Depeche Mode took their name from a phrase in a French style magazine and became the definitive international synth-pop group. Vince Clarke, Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore had started out as an Essex guitar band but it was their bright and upbeat synthesizer-driven brand of pop fronted by Dave Gahan that was to find global acceptance and enjoy unlikely success in the US. Despite a handful of early plaudits in the music press, the group won only intermittent critical acceptance over the years, its often light musical approach contrasting with lyrics that sometimes plunge into darker topics like S&M, religious fetishism and the scourge of capitalism. But whatever the music press said, the fans finally bought into Depeche Mode in a big way. Their Violator tour at the start of the 90s sold millions of records and turned them into major US concert stars. In true rock style, Depeche Mode's members have suffered their share of internal strife over a long career. Dave Gahan reinvented himself as a lead singer with both a harder musical edge and a near-fatal drug habit, while internal acrimony often marred the later stages of their career. Jonathan Miller has made an exemplary job of telling the Depeche Mode saga in its entirety and goes a long way towards explaining how the group have managed to thrive when almost all their post-punk contemporaries fell by the wayside long ago.
