I was inspired over a month ago to draw something nice to mark Dave’s 50th. When I realized that wasn’t feasible, I wanted to post something wonderfully written. Tonight I realized that it doesn’t really matter that I couldn’t do a fancy tribute; only that I took time to appreciate the awesomeness that Dave has brought so many of us. With the recent passing of MCA (RIP), I was once again reminded how lucky we are as fans that our boys have managed to beat the odds — Dave repeatedly so. Here’s to 50 years of Dave Gahan kicking ass and taking names in the face of adversity, and hopefully many, many more!

My answers for the last three days are as follows:

Day 28 – Your favorite Depeche Mode Song from ‘Playing the Angel’

“Nothing’s Impossible.” Since San Francisco 2006 was the first show of a new leg of Touring the Angel, there had been little beyond speculation about setlist changes and I kinda lost my brains by the surprise of them playing it. So much so, that I was screaming bloody murder, and you can hear it in the distance on the Live Here Now recording. I was in the 8th or 9th row, so not that close to the recording equipment…

Day 29 – Your least favorite music video

Hole. To. Feed. The most disgusting, pointless and embarrassing travesty to ever come out of Depeche Mode’s 32-year career. Not even worth linking. When it came out, I was going to do a formal review on this blog, but the prospect of having to sit through it again was far too daunting.

Day 30 – A Depeche Mode song that brings back special memories

“Home,” always. I have been with my boyfriend, George, for 10.5 years. Back in the first years we were together, we lived in separate cities and I didn’t have a driver’s license. I used to ride into Sacramento on Greyhound bus every-other Thursday night, and he would take me home on Sunday night. My hometown is about an hour outside Sacramento, so we used to enjoy the road trips. We also visited the Bay Area (San Francisco, San Jose) often, resulting in more road trips.

One late night we were listening to DM while on the road, and talking.. maybe trying to keep ourselves awake! But a lull in conversation led us to quietly singing along to the song together when it hit us that the lyrics really expressed how we felt about each other. We didn’t make a big deal about it, we didn’t call it out, but we knew. “Home” has been (un)officially our song ever since. In fact, I cried during “Home” at a few of the last American TOTU shows – due to the SF cancellation and strict work vacation policies at the time, George never got to share the tour with me. I called him during the song in Denver, though!

I’ve already used up “Barrel of a Gun” and “It’s No Good,” so today’s winner is “Useless.” Song for song, Ultra is the only album who’s entire set of singles land in my personal top 15 or 20 DM songs. I think the attitude and defiance is what I find most attractive about “Useless” – sarcasm toward a person who hurt and betrayed. It’s not a pretty side of humanity but it is there. The song is topped off by a pretty cool video, too. Now if only DM would revisit it live… Dave did in 2003 and it rocked!

There are actually quite a few answers to this question – it’s one of the reasons I love DM. Exciter’s “Shine” has to be one of my favorite examples. It doesn’t matter how upset I am, if I plant my arse down and listen to it, I feel better. It lifts my spirits when I’m down, and calms me when I’m angry. It’s centering, somehow, and makes it easy to relax and meditate on my problems. (Though I generally consider the whole of Exciter the best prescription for anxiety, without the bother of one’s liver and kidneys.)

One day in a casual email conversation with friend, I was offered two tickets to each of the last two shows. For free, no strings attached. These were two shows we’d previously been scheduled to attend while in Germany during the summer, but they had been rescheduled due to Dave’s cancer diagnosis. (We had sold ours thinking we couldn’t return.) Not only that, but there was a high likelihood of getting excellent seats, AND our travelling buddies offered to let us crash at their place in Dortmund. Two more DM shows. The last of the tour. For the price of a plane ticket and feeding myself. On two-weeks’ notice, I again dragged Tara out on a wild adventure (this seems to be a pattern…), this time on the promise of tickets from a stranger  – a friend I had never met before then, who to this day I consider one of the most generous people I’ve met. Though some would call me crazy, stupid, or stupid-crazy, it all worked out – we ended up front row for two amazing shows. By coincidence I got to go to the after party at the very last show, because I ran into a lost friend from back home who was looking for the after show room and was able to help her find it.

They say that love makes you do crazy things, and I would venture a guess they are right. At least when Depeche Mode fans are concerned. The stories, the travels, trials and tribulations of DM fans are part of what makes being a fan in this community so wonderful and inspiring. I captured both shows in previous blog posts, which you can read here and here.

Somehow on Twitter this evolved to “your proudest/most shameful moment,” which changes the meaning of this question. Being crazy can make you embarrassed or proud, sure. But what I really meant was that time when you did something that made you step back and go, “Man, are you nuts?!” Here’s my case in point:

I am generally a very blessed person, but I am not statistically “lucky” in the traditional sense. I don’t win raffles or lottos, I don’t find crazy deals at the record stores or video outlets (e.g. employee mistakes), and I don’t meet celebrities at random. Meeting a member of Depeche Mode is the dream of 99% of DM fans. For the fans that have met the band, this usually happens from physically being in the right place at the right time, network connections, or through winning contests or charity auctions. Every once in a while, DM or Dave will do a record signing event, but these seem to be fairly rare (you could probably count them on your fingers and toes over 30 years). 

In the mid-naughties I was convinced that if I wanted to meet anyone in the band, I would have to make it happen (short of stalking – a big no-no). DM did a record signing in NYC in 2005, and I was devastated I couldn’t go. In early 2007, I got to meet Martin at one of his DJ gigs at Old King’s Road in Santa Barbara– thanks to somebody accidentally posting the date two weeks in advance. Santa Barbara is a good 6-7 hours from me by car, so that trip takes more than a few days’ notice, as used to be standard. I’ll go more into the details of that event at a later time; it was not the craziest moment.

When Dave was promoting Hourglass with no tour dates to be heard of, my friends and I got antsy. Were we going to get to hear these awesome new songs live?! With no tour dates in sight, DaveGahan.com announced a two-day event in NYC – one day a free show at the Soho Apple Store, and the next a signing at Best Buy. I was immediately emailing my devotee-in-crime, Tara, about whether she would go with me. I thought it would be my only chance to see these songs live, and my only chance to meet Dave (like the Holy Grail, he is). With only two weeks before the event, we were arranging a stay with a friend, booking tickets and notifying our managers/professors of our leave. Mind you, I was in my final year at university, in the middle of the semester, with a ton of work.

There are far too many details and anecdotes about this trip to cover in this 30-day challenge, but let me summarize: I took a red-eye flight out of Sacramento (about a 5-hour flight not including layover), landed in NYC at 5am local time, got my wristband for the signing at 7am (luggage in-tow), and got in line for the SoHo show at 10am (sans luggage). The show was more intimate than I could imagine, and meeting Dave was beyond thrilling. (Details to come later, I promise!) I spent just a little over 48 hours in NYC on maybe 10 hours of sleep across three days. I then got stuck on the tarmack in La Guardia for two hours, which left me stranded in Chicago overnight due to a missed connection. Bank account nearly empty, I slept in the terminal so I could take a 6am flight to LA to get me back to Sacramento. It was a dream come true, though, and every bit of stress and WTFery was worth it. (I have not met Dave again since.) I plan elaborating more on this NYC Hourglass experience at a later date, since my poll seems to indicate you all want to read more about my personal experiences! I can’t believe it will have been five years this fall!

So my craziest “moment” is actually a series of three days. It’s actually tied with my flying out to Germany for the End of the Universe, with nothing but a promise from a stranger for tickets and a place to crash, which I will cover in another post shortly.

Since I already used “Walking in my Shoes” for question #1, today’s challenge will go to “In Your Room.” Haunting, entrancing and darkly beautiful, I could listen to this song on repeat and not get tired of it. Still so glad to have been able to enjoy it so many times live, regardless of what mix they chose to play. One of (if not, the) best concert videos I’ve captured is from this song, too. Ah, memories!

“Monument,” hands down. I mean, “My monument; It fell down”? Seriously? From the lyrics to the bizarre boing-like sounds and plinks… This song is a total Beavis and Butthead moment. All I can ever think of when I hear it is p3nis* humor, so there you go. Check out the gem on YouTube.

Day 23: A Depeche Mode song that makes you cry

Hrm… I can’t recall a Depeche studio recording that made me cry on first hearing it, or one that does so regularly. The only two answers I can think of are cheaters: 1) A repeat: Walking in My Shoes, when live and in the flesh, usually gets the waterworks going. 2) A solo song: I cried when I first heard Dave’s “Miracles” (it’s like it gives me permission, don’t hate!) still gets me kinda choked up due to associated memories now, too.

This is THE hardest day of the challenge for me. Not because I just can’t choose from a plethora of mixes, but rather because I must make a confession: Compared to my fan friends, I know next to nothing about DM remixes. Yes, it’s true. Take me out and flog me with a thousand turntable needles if you must. I listened to the ones that came on the CD singles I have bought from Exciter forward, but only a few did much for me. I am not a completist*, so I’m actually missing most of the LCD remix singles that came out before I got into DM, so there are probably a great deal more I’ve never heard. However, I have downloaded several megamixes that I’ve enjoyed, particularly from Home’s Peter and Glen, as well as Tom Wax. I also have a host of bootleg/unofficial mixes that I downloaded from a share many years ago.. though I can’t say I ever waded through them all. I haven’t gone back and listened to Remixes ’04 in forever, though I did enjoy several tracks on Remixes ’11.In general, I’ve glossed over remixes because 1) they are personally hit and miss 2) there are just SO. MANY. REMIXES. I know there are some excellent ones out there, and I have a few that I really do love. I’m not sure I’m qualified to discuss my favorite mixes by virtue of never having heard them all! I feel like I’m picking favorite tracks without fully understanding the field. 

That said, it doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion for what I have heard. For today I will choose “World in My Eyes (Alpha Conspiracy Mix).” This is a great mix that somehow manages to make this song more sassy than it already is. Funnily enough, I learned while researching today that Andrew Sega was behind this mix, who happens to be half of IRIS, another band I have loved for well over 10 years now. I don’t think this was an official mix, but it’s quite enjoyable.

Honorable mentions: Oh Well (Black Light Odyssey Dub), Ghost (Le Weekend Remix) Here is the House (Gabriel and Dresden Mix), The Darkest Star (Holden Mix), Freelove (Flood Mix)

Because sifting through 30 years of mixes (official and unofficial) seems overwhelming to start, I want to know: what mixes should I actively seek out? What do you love? This is the corner of DM’s discography I have left partially unturned, and I am curious where to go to the next level. My only requirements are that some vocals and some semblance of the original sound/melody are intact. I can’t stand mixes that don’t even sound related the original song after the remixer is done with it.

*I want all the singles, but I refuse to buy the crappy American boxsets and haven’t committed myself to the couple hundred bucks it will cost me to get all the EU/UK import sets.

Day 18 – Depeche Mode song you can’t help but sing along

This goes to “Everything Counts.” Not only is it an epic earworm, but I can’t help but find myself singing along to it… even the recorder parts with no vocals. It’s also infinitely quotable due to it’s political nature and the issues that continue to plague life.

Very close second: “Codemnation”

Day 19 – Your favorite song from “Violator”

Hands down, “Halo.” I remember many long bus rides to and from band and color guard competitions that were spent listening to Violator. “Halo” always struck me as such a visual, story-telling song, like it triggers a music video in my head when listening to it. I used to draw characters in my sketchbook, hunched over my lap with a pencil in one hand and my Discman in the other. It still stimulates my imagination every time I listen to it, even over 10 years later.

Honorable Mention: “World in My Eyes”

Day 20 – A song you wish Depeche Mode would play live 

This goes to “Lie to Me.” There are a lot of songs I’d love to hear live, but this one sticks in my head only because we got so damn close. Dave mentioned on the Some Great Reward remaster interviews that they considered it for the PTA tour. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to let go of the fact that they almost played it, but for some god-forsaken reason passed it up. Come on, DM. Time to light some fan pants on fire by busting out an old non-single track. You know you want to!

Honorable mentions: “Tora! Tora! Tora!”, “Told You So”, “Dangerous” (Better stop before I get carried away…)