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"It's really odd," Dave reflected. "At first you think 'God! Imagine being on Top Of The Pops!' Then you think 'Imagine being in the Top Ten'. But it all changes as it begins to happen. When we got into the lower reaches of the chart we thought it was good for a while, but then we were asking what was it worth unless we got into the Top 40. We got there and thought 'Well, it's no good unless we're in the Top 20.' And so on. But there isn't any sudden glamour. We still drive around in Daniel's Renault, we still take the train, nothing's really changed. We might have a few extra pennies in our pocket - and when I say pennies I mean pennies - but we've got the same friends, the same places to go. You always think how great it would be to have a hit single, but when you do nothing really changes."
"I remember consciously thinking how careful I'd have to be when I crossed the road because I didn't want to get run over before we got the next record out," Vince says of those early successes. But he, at least, was looking far beyond the next record. As the band's name spread, so their workload increased. Top Of The Pops was followed by an appearance on 20th Century Box, a Sunday lunchtime show screened by London Weekend Television. Says Vince: "We'd had all these theories about why Spandau were successful and we'd decided it was because they'd been on 20th Century Box. Then we got asked to do it, by which time we were already successful..."
Live work became more regular - throughout the summer, Depeche were playing around Britain and Europe - and so did recording time. With Daniel Miller producing, they began work on their first LP, 'Speak And Spell'. Completion of that was followed by two major London shows, at the Victoria Venue - with all proceeds going to Amnesty International - and in October, with their third single 'Just Can't Get Enough' racing up the chart, the band embarked on their first full British tour; fourteen nights which wound up in triumph at the London Lyceum. On December 3, the group was filmed in concert for the TVS 'Off The Record' show. And on December 12, the bomb dropped. Vince Clarke was quitting.
He had told the band of his intentions only shortly before the release of 'Speak And Spell', and agreed to delay his departure until the tour was over.
"Breaking the news was terrible," he remembers. "They were expecting it in some ways. I'd been going through a gloomy phase, but I had to go round to their houses and tell them. I knew they knew, but it was still horrible. It wasn't amiable because there was a lot of bad feeling on both parts and it was about a year before it finally died down. Until then it was pretty vile, we were both trying to find our feet and there was a certain rivalry between Depeche and Yazoo (the band Vince formed, with Alison Moyet, on leaving Depeche). But in the end it wasn't important. I never expected Depeche to become as popular as they did. And when they did I no longer felt happy or fulfilled. All the things that come with success had suddenly become more popular than the music. When we started we used to get letters from fans saying 'I like your music'. Then we got letters saying 'I like your trousers.' Where do you go from there?
The news broke like a flash flood over the band's fans and admirers - and for the critics it was a cue for the band's funeral arrangements to proceed in earnest. As the songwriting heart of the band, Vince was considered vital. It was only natural that, without his pen to guide them, the rest of the group should call it a day. But wreaths and floral tributes were very premature.
"I knew Depeche wouldn't break up," Daniel Miller insisted. "Martin had already written some very good songs (two, 'Tora Tora Tora' and 'Big Muff', appeared on 'Speak And Spell'), it was only because Vince was so prolific that Martin hadn't done more. He isn't the sort of guy who pushes himself, so in a way Vince's leaving was very good for him."
Dave agrees. "It made us all the more determined to keep going. It was a new challenge. When Vince was with us we were happy to let him do all the writing, because too many songwriters in a band can be a very bad thing. But Martin used to write all the time. He had 20 or 30 songs which went back to when he was 16 or 17. 'See You', for instance, was one of the first things he ever wrote!"
Early reports of the split claimed that Vince would continue writing and recording with Depeche - an obvious lie, designed to allay fears of the band's survival. In reality he offered them but one song, 'Only You'. The group turned it down - they knew that if they were to continue, the sooner they escaped the ghost of Vince's involvement the better. They had to prove they could stand on their own six feet, and while the errant genius took 'Only You' all the way to number 2 with Yazoo, Depeche set about establishing Martin as a songwriter in his own right. And succeeded at their first try. 'See You', still one of the loveliest melodies they have recorded, shot all the way to number 6 - even today it still stands as one of their biggest hits ever.
The success proved that Depeche could still hold their own in the studio, but they were all too well aware that a fourth member would be needed if they were to fulfil their live commitments. And with an American tour already looming, they had little alternative but to advertise.
"Name band, Synthesizer, Must Be Under 21", read the ad in Melody Maker. It was spotted by Alan Wilder, 22 years old (he was born on June 1, 1959) but willing to tell a fib or two if it meant getting a new job. He was, at the time, a member of The Hitmen, but his interest was waning. Like Vince Clarke, he needed a new challenge. Depeche Mode offered him just that. He made his debut with the band at Crocs in January 1982. That was followed by an appearance on the BBC In Concert show, then at the end of the month it was off to America.
Depeche were not totally unknown in the USA. News of the New Romantic/Futurist movement had filtered through to the East and West coasts, and while few people seemed able to differentiate between bands who were and weren't part of the movement, Depeche's reputation as one of England's premier synth bands had preceded them and they were greeted by an enthusiastic, if a little bewildered, audience. Even more encouraging was the news that 'Speak And Spell', scheduled for a full American release in March, had already crept into the Top 200 purely on the strength of import sales and radio play. And while Duran Duran were playing to 300 curious New Yorkers at the Peppermint Lounge, Depeche were turning away 300 eager young fans from their shows at the Ritz.
Depeche Mode were back in Britain for another tour in February, a 15 date affair which included two nights at the Hammersmith Odeon and a third London date in the form of a secret show at the Bridgehouse. The venue was in danger of being forced to close after GLC fire inspectors discovered the pub had insufficient safety precautions. Depeche, remembering just how great an effect this dingy, unassuming pub had had on their own career decided to repay promoter Terry Murphy's faith in them and on a cold Saturday night at the end of the month they returned to their old stomping ground to play a triumphant set in front of a jam packed crowd. And at the end of the evening they handed their entire fee, over £1,000, to the pub's renovation fund.
Alan Wilder was still not recording with the band, even though he had been fully accepted into their ranks by the fans. Depeche's second album, 'A Broken Frame', was recorded again as a trio, and with the two singles taken from the set, Depeche almost gleefully showcased the two sides to their music. 'The Meaning Of Love', released in April, was deliberately mawkish; the follow up, four months later, was 'Leave In Silence', a song which confounded everybody with its absolute departure from the established Depeche Mode sound. It was totally different from anything anybody had ever heard the band record and, as Dave Gahan remarked at the time, "It kind of summed up the whole of the second album. Rather than continue to do these lightweight poppy songs, we decided to experiment. Martin can write pop songs, but we wanted to try something totally different, just to see if we could."
Of 'Leave In Silence', he said: "There were a couple of things we could have released which could have gone straight into the charts and been really successful ('Leave In Silence' made only number 18), but it just didn't seem right. You can't just carry on releasing stuff every few months and having hits with something catchy. 'Leave In Silence' was a risk because it wasn't catchy. You had to hear it four or five times before you could really start listening to it."
There again, the risk was defused somewhat simply because of Depeche's reputation. With five hits behind them, they knew that any record would be guaranteed some airplay and some sales on the strength of their reputation alone. And if the understated beauty of 'Leave In Silence' didn't exactly set the world afire, neither did it presage a slackening in the band's support. 'A Broken Frame' was awarded a silver disc almost on release, while a second North American tour and a third UK tour, all in the autumn, saw the band playing to capacity crowds. And when the band were featured on Channel 4's 'Whatever You Want', filmed live at the Brixton Arc just before Christmas, that edition of the show landed one of the highest viewing audiences of the entire series.
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