perhaps not the best lyrics (the chorus is kinda cringe), but certainly one of the best arrangements. there aren't really any unusual samples, but no other DM song does a better job of banging metal on metal. it's one of the first tracks with a really "big" sound and still holds up with the best of them.
9. lie to me
depeche's best material tends to be singles but there are a plethora of strong album tracks and this is one of the best. love the pulse and especially the flawless percussion when too many other songs suffer from uninspired snare drum. martin's songwriting is also really strong on this one.
the band nearly brought it back for the playing the angel tour but it unfortunately has been stuck in the vault since 1984
8. somebody
used to hate the crap outta this song before i got a feel for how martin's lyrics work. it's got all these great twists in the wording, most obviously the last verse but also little ones like "though my views may be wrong, they may even be perverted". yet it still manages to be heartfelt. as the story goes alan turned the piano around during recording so could sing it in the nude. my favorite martin track although i'm warming up more and more to "home" from ultra
7-6. black celebration + fly on the windscreen
black celebration has imo the best opener of any depeche mode album. the title track and fly on the windscreen make for a perfect one-two punch and the songwriting is a step above anything on some great reward. for the first time there are no trite rhymes and no overuse of samples. i love the buildup on the opening track—it's similar in some ways to "something to do" from the previous album but it allows the tension to build at just the right pace. fly on the windscreen was earlier relegated to b-side status on account of the first word being "death" and was rightfully promoted to album track. the structure is quite simple but it has one of the best grooves of a slow track and still holds up as a top arrangement.
5. shake the disease
somewhat strange song in that it never actually appeared on an album, but it works well as a standalone. i guess it was a bit too much like pop to warrant inclusion on black celebration to begin with. i think it does a better job of maintaining the poppy, lyrically-driven style prevalent up through some great reward but with a slower tempo than any other of their songs. and i've always tended towards the pop songs
4. stripped
alan wilder once said that stripped "just flowed" while the rest of black celebration was a bitch to record. as it happens i think this is the strongest track from the album. from music from the masses onwards, unusual samples would become a side priority, making stripped one of the last songs to be a real adventure to listen to. it's full of all sorts of awesome sounds without being overtly industrial. the drums are sick. the lyrics are sick. it's hard to put a finger on one thing that makes stripped a great song but it certainly deserves its place among the band's greatest singles.
3. world in my eyes
it opens an album that presented a starkly different sound for the band. no longer were synth tracks re-recorded after playing through speakers to lend them a "bigger" atmosphere. now the synth was pure, unaltered, sent straight to the mixing station. i see this track as alan wilder's BEST arrangement. perfect groove perfect melody perfect baseline. lyrics sound like bad pickup lines but that's overshadowed by the delivery.
2. never let me down again
well, there's nothing quite like it really
1. everything counts
surprise! my favorite depeche mode song is everything counts, from forgotten album construction time again. i just love everything about it. best intro out of any dm song. best chorus out of any dm song. lyrics can be taken to be about whatever you want. i'm a sucker for flute samples in pop songs (see living a boy's adventure tale by a-ha). it's perfect pop music without relying on simple hooks or agreeable lyrics. for me it's more fun to listen to than any other song without being cliche and that's the most important metric for me
that's all for me tl tell me your favorite songs or give me more 80s artist recs
On June 26 2015 05:48 catplanetcatplanet wrote: that's all for me tl tell me your favorite songs or give me more 80s artist recs
Burger King paid for a big psychological study to come up with ways to get people to leave their restaurant within minutes of finishing their meals. They want people leaving their place voluntarily because strong arm tactics and explicit loitering rules make for bad PR.
They studied every aspect of restaurant design and decour... style of art on the walls, windows, restroom design, etc.
Burger King discovered the best way to get people out of their restaurant as fast as possible is by playing 80's music.
I'm pretty good at following my John Berardi/Precision Nutrition diet with only 1 chink in my armour: The Whopper.
I've been rick-roll-ed in the Dixie Value Mall Burger King 3 times in the last 6 months alone. There are a couple of other popular 80s Rick Astley songs. Don't challenge me for a source on that "fact" though.
You will make me angry... and you won't like me when i'm angry.
enjoy the silence I used to really like, but I had only watched the music video (one of their best). the promo mix used for the video has a very different intro from the album version and single, which i found kinda lame and which killed the song a little bit for me
So you're more into their 80s stuff. While I agree that they have become worse with every decade, there are still some great songs on their later albums.
My personal top 10 would look like this: 10. Clean (The "sometimes" line always makes me shiver.) 9. The sinner in me (Imho their best effort in the 2000s.) 8. New life (One of the greatest synth pop songs ever!) 7. Policy of truth (Amazing production.) 6. World in my eyes (See 7.) 5. The bottom line (I've always been a sucker for Martin's songs) 4. Little 15 (I LOVE the twisted funfair mood. And the lyrics are great.) 3. It's no good (An evil song.) 2. In your room (The album version, not that shitty Zephyr mix) 1. Stripped (Perfection.)
On June 26 2015 18:20 virpi wrote: So you're more into their 80s stuff. While I agree that they have become worse with every decade, there are still some great songs on their later albums.
My personal top 10 would look like this: 10. Clean (The "sometimes" line always makes me shiver.) 9. The sinner in me (Imho their best effort in the 2000s.) 8. New life (One of the greatest synth pop songs ever!) 7. Policy of truth (Amazing production.) 6. World in my eyes (See 7.) 5. The bottom line (I've always been a sucker for Martin's songs) 4. Little 15 (I LOVE the twisted funfair mood. And the lyrics are great.) 3. It's no good (An evil song.) 2. In your room (The album version, not that shitty Zephyr mix) 1. Stripped (Perfection.)
A great band.
ooh another list!
honestly i haven't listened too closely past ultra. i listened to mostly the singles and didn't really get the appeal (especially exciter) so i stuck to exploring the albums i already knew
clean is one of my favorites from violator, the album closer is rarely a disappointment!
i listened to the sinner of me and really liked it, already enjoyed "precious" so i will give the whole album a listen when i get the chance
i haven't really touched speak and spell for a while but new life is certainly one of the better tracks, i just feel like there are a bunch of bands that were capable of putting together solid synth hooks and that's about all i see in the song. nevertheless a million times better than some of the slackers on that album
policy of truth i used to really like, but i guess i overplayed it and now the vibe just bores me unfortunately
love the bottom line, i don't like the martin tracks on violator or sofad but the ultra ones are fantastic. cute story, martin said in an interview that his kids don't really comment on his music but his daughter chose to cover this track when she played a local bar or the like.
in your room is barely off of my top list because despite being a perfect and powerful song the lyrics don't always mean much for me. the zephyr mix does suck but in my opinion there is no way the lyrics could better have been interpreted than by the album mix to begin with. nobody should ever cover in my room because there is nothing left to be added to it
Man, my brother loves Depeche Mode and would play their music at every waking hour throughout my life as a kid and teenager. I didn't like them at all because it was annoying as hell but i still know a shitton of the lyrics. :D
Now I'm at an age where I can appreciate almost any music though. They've made some great songs and I don't find them that bad anymore after all. Although I have to say I'm not all that much into some of the 80s stuff, mostly enjoy songs from Violator onwards more. Still, the sound of the 80s is really catchy (and among other things, Never let me down again is quite nice nevertheless, obviously).
I like enjoy the silence. the bassline is great, the mix is really good. love the second chorus onwards. not too fond of the intro or the guitar twangs. lyrics are good but unremarkable imo compared to some of the pure genius Martin has written. it is a very good song but not one of my favorites, simple as that
dream on I don't like sorry lol
personal jesus is ok, the lyrical theme is more interesting to me than enjoy the silence but the guitar melody gets boring to me after a while
Three of my favorites that you did not list: Blasphemous Rumours for the arrangement, Pipeline for the sound effects and Question of Lust for the melody.
EPT
