I’ve spent the last half day racking my brain about what would be an appropriate starting point for this project. Obviously, the masochist in me wants to dig deep down to the dirty beginnings, when Dépêche mode was still a magazine in a shop window, before Vince Clarke demanded the shift to synth, and Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher were alternating respective bands outwith college life at St Nicholas School in Southend Basildon, Essex. Dave Gahan, well, he was still a fashion-forward lad rumoured to be frequenting the Blitz and glam. Barely on the radar.
The initial problem with trying to review the Depeche Mode catalogue in chronological order (down in the dregs and bottoms up) is deciphering the band’s actual incarnation. What actually constitutes the first ever Depeche Mode song? Is it the array of covers they began playing after their formation as Composition of Sound in early May of 1980? How about the few originals Clarke would inevitably pen for COS? ‘Reason Man’. ‘Addiction (Ghost of Modern Time)’. ‘Tomorrow’s Dance’. 'Ice Machine', or Gore's instrumental ‘Big Muff’. Or even the elusive but oddly popular ‘Television Set’? A bug of a synth riff that Martin would transform from the lyrics of an acoustic song written by his hippie bandmates during his Norman & the Worms years (1978-79).
We haven’t even considered the exact moment Dave Gahan stepped onto the scene. Composition of Sound had played two official gigs in Basildon before he’d ever pick up a mic. (June 14, 1980, if you were wondering.) And Depeche Mode wouldn’t play a show as Depeche Mode until October 29, 1980. So what IS the first ever legitimate Depeche Mode tune?
…ARGH, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE?!
After a few good cross-references and an overview of what I’ve found, I think we’ve got a candidate. We’ll stick to the earliest days of COS:
‘Ice Machine (Original Demo, Spring/Summer 1980)’.
I pick this one because it’s a pure example of very early COS/DM collaborative effort, a distinct developing style, and a homemade attempt at music production. For one, in this demo, Fletcher can still be heard playing a driving bass line. That means the band hadn’t completely made the switch to the ‘synth train’ just yet. Additionally, it’s a Clarke track… with a touch of Mart’s musicianship and only a sliver of Gahan vocals. ‘Ice Machine’ would be released as a b-side to the band’s first ever Speak & Spell album single release ‘Dreaming of Me’ on February 20, 1981. (The single itself was recorded in December of 1980.)
Ice Machine. A Mode track under the COS name, penned before Gahan, but spruced by his vocals as a treasured b-side to Speak & Spell.
The tape hisses into a single vibrating note, the click of the drum machine. Its rolling melody kicks in within moments to reveal a synonymy of vocals that, in their single-channel beauty, almost sound harmonic. It’s catchy, electric, surprising, somber at its bridge, but soaring and promising. This is the earliest Depeche Mode we’ll ever know.
Live bootlegs exist of the song from a Canning Bridgehouse gig as early as October 30, 1980. And none sooner. (In fact, the Bridgehouse gig is the earliest live DM bootleg you’ll probably be able to find online to date. Remarkably, uploaders of these early gigs have only started sharing parts of them on YouTube within these last few months to two years.)
Anywho... don't forget to check out the accompanying video still-image that marks the tape as property of a certain ‘Mr. V J Martin’...
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