"The grabbing hands grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts."
Electronifying genres, British mega-band Depeche Mode's Construction Time Again was released forty years ago in 1983. David Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, and Vince Clark molded the popping keys, wailing synthesizers, samples, and popping drum machines that accompanied the lyrical surprises and unforgettable choruses that can only be a sing-along. Depeche Mode created a musical genre and global cultural aesthetic that is also the origin story of many modes of musing musical collectives. Construction Time Again marked a shift within Depeche Mode's already-original sound.
As Mathew Horton wrote in a 2013 NME (New Music Express) blog ranking of Depeche Mode albums, "Something has to come last, and what better than the first time Depeche Mode tried Industrial? Inspired by Einstürzende Neubauten, they decided it all meant moving concrete slabs and hitting pots. Another alarming development was Martin Gore whipping out a guitar for 'Love In Itself' on Top Of The Pops. But for all the rubbish like 'PipeLine', 'Shame' and 'More Than A Party' (rock'n'roll Mode, anyone?), there's an 'Everything Counts' to soothe the pain. Call it 'transitional".
Though it would be the song "People are People" from the 1984 album Some Great Reward that would build up to launch DM to global and then galactic fame, a rise and arrival represented in the 1989 documentary Depeche Mode 101 that is now streaming on Showtime. The trailer is accessible here.
As reported in Decider, "The 1989 concert documentary Depeche Mode 101 captures the band at the moment of breakthrough. The title alludes to the 101st and final performance of the band's Music For The Masses tour, which saw them playing to over 60,000 devoted fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Again, like Metallica, they had been considered a marginal underground act up to that point in time. They would never release an album that didn't debut in the US and UK top 10 in its wake."
