Before I can even start this review, you need to check out the genres this album covers. Yes, that would be hip-hop there, your eyes are not deceiving you; just think of it as 80s hip-hop rather than the mess that calls that genre home today. Continue reading →
Posts Tagged: violator
6
Feb 09
Violator (1990) by Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Violator
1990, Mute Records
synthpop, new wave
½
While writing the review for this album, I was shocked to find out it was released in 1990. Considering how much influence Depeche Mode has had on recent artists/band in this century, isn’t it amazing that this came out right when most of these artists/band members were barely old enough to comprehend it? Violator is the seventh studio album for Depeche Mode, but it is The One that spawned the oft-covered single “Enjoy the Silence” and one of their most famous (due to a Marilyn Manson cover) “Personal Jesus.”
What makes this album so memorable and so ‘cover-able’? Interestingly, it is the utter simplicity of every song. ‘Simplicity’ isn’t normally an adjective that you’d see with a synthpop album, but Depeche Mode does it so masterfully that you can’t question it. The lyrics are above average, but the almost-stark production quality elevates them to near dogma. By going ‘back to basics,’ Depeche Mode has succinctly proved the cliche ‘less is more’. Considering how much influence this band and this album has had since its release, that’s a lesson particularly apt for artists/bands looking to make it big today.
As a side note, if you’ve heard all the covers and love them, you must listen to this album. It will give you a whole new perspective on the lyrics.
“Policy of Truth,” “Personal Jesus,” “Clean.”
myspace, last.fm
The Receiving End of Sirens’s The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi, Radiohead’s In Rainbows
