
Thousands and thousands of teen-agers join in with the group on, for example, “Blasphemous Rumours,” with its grim sing-along chorus: “I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumors / But I think God’s got a sick sense of humor / And when I die / I expect to find him laughing.” The unprepared parent visiting a Depeche Mode arena show in expectation of finding kids gathered for another evening of communal pop frivolity may well leave unsettled by the sense of dread that has replaced puppy love in these young minds. Lots of English rock bands have emphasized dark themes, but few have connected so strongly to the under-18 crowd. What does set Depeche Mode somewhat apart from those antecedents is the fact that the vast majority of the band’s devoted fans are not yet old enough to vote, let alone experience a mid-life crisis.

Romanticizing life slowly slipping away while unable to shake the fear of that final moment may not be especially novel to modern popular art-certainly not to anyone who got misty-eyed at Dylan Thomas’ orders to “not go gentle into that good night” or waxed philosophic over Woody Allen’s stated willingness one day to trade all the acclaim for a few more minutes of life. “There are lambs for the slaughter / Waiting to die / And I can sense / The hours slipping by / Tonight / Come here / Kiss me / Now.” So conclusively, we can say that Martin is not only confessing but also celebrating. The resultant freedom he feels from confessing has given him a reason to celebrate, even if he doesn’t necessarily have faith that he can completely overcome his addiction. And composing such songs of “redemption”, as Dave Gahan has stated, was Martin Gore’s modus operandi during those days.“Death is everywhere,” begins the first verse of “Fly on the Windscreen,” one of the more cited compositions in the dark oeuvre of Depeche Mode, the growingly popular English synthesizer-pop quartet that headlines sold-out shows Friday and Saturday at the Forum in Inglewood and Dec. However, being that this is indeed a confessional song, it can point of the idea of the singer somehow being relieved due to finally letting the world know his secret, if you will. That’s why in the next line he proclaims that he is “singing… tears”. Moreover he actually states that he’s now found a sense of belonging, which in fact is a form of relief. ChorusĪs for the chorus itself, the singer is thanking the addressee for ‘showing him home’, thus the title of the song. Now given the overall allegorical nature of the lyrics, this thesis phrase can be interpreted in a number of ways. The singer is now apparently seeking help getting over this condition from a higher power. Yet he expresses something like a sense of disbelief, as in he knows that he will ultimately go back to his old, destructive ways. Or another way of looking at it is that fate has already written his story, which is probably the ultimate sign of addiction, as in when the individual affected no longer believes he can ever beat the urge.


However, fourth verse takes on a different tone. Moreover the third verse follows a similar tune but relies on similes so elaborate that they may very well point to some truly-private experiences in the singer’s life. The first three verses detail the depression the singer is going through – albeit through the utilization of heavy-handed metaphors. For instance, in the first verse alone, the narrator depicts himself as being lost, lonely and repressed. And in the second verse he alludes to being in “the emptiest state”, “a cage” and bearing a burden likened to “the heaviest cross ever made”.
