Following the release of their second Greatest Hits retrospective, Steve Malins publishes the first in-depth biography of the Basildon boys who rose to fame as Depeche Mode. A music combo who metamorphosed from New Romantic pop band in the early 80s into the Indie kings of electronic melancholia. Combining dark minimalism with elements of dance, Depeche Mode produced Violator in 1990 to become one of the biggest bands on the planet. Malins, author of Paul Weller and Praying to the Aliens: Gary Numan, draws on new interviews and archive material to depict the hugely successful and lengthy career of this seminal group. Although the band's treadmill activities--single, album, promotion, tour--may be a touch bland, the biography still makes for an enjoyable read as Depeche Mode's individual members are most certainly not: songwriter Martin Gore's subversive nature and dalliance with S&M (sex being a frequent inspirational source for him), Andy Fletcher's nervous breakdown, Alan Wilder's controversial departure in 1995 typifying inner-band rivalries.
It's all here in graphic detail. Not to mention Dave Gahan's transformation from clean-cut pin-up to clichéd rock god incarnate, complete with tattoos, long hair and a personal life littered with excess--fights, attempted suicide, divorce, heroin addiction and the inevitable overdose, even remarriage in Las Vegas by an Elvis impersonator. Depeche Mode also features plenty of criticism from Malins' fellow music journalists, which is generally directed at Gore's lyrics. Sure he can knock out a great tune but even teenybopper magazine Smash Hits points out that A Question of Lust is really about love, and the word "lust" is substituted solely as it rhymes with "trust" and "dust". Depeche Mode is mostly entertaining and hindered only by Malins' dry style, which simulates the restrained enthusiasm of the British fan rather than the wild adoration thrust upon the group by the rest of the world. Not quite a book for the masses, but for Depeche Mode's legions of followers, it's by far the best on the market. -- Robert Brookes