please empty your brain below
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It was fifty years yesterday when The Yes Album was released and yes, I saw a few bands at The Bridge House in the late 70s.
Running_Correspondent | 20.02.21 - 7:32 a.m. | #
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I too have enjoyed Depeche Mode for many years, and had most of their albums on cassette (remember those?). About a decade ago, I had the opportunity to see them live at the O2, and was quite disappointed :(
Memory is everything...
Tim W | 20.02.21 - 7:34 a.m. | #
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I'd love to know what the second song in your Blackwing medley was.
Simon MacL | 20.02.21 - 7:35 a.m. | #
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and if the bands were not so good off to The Ironbridge Taven
mark | 20.02.21 - 7:47 a.m. | #
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Great post - I had no idea of DM's origins, nor that Canning Town had ever been good. Meanwhile pop has gone full circle and DM sound current again, don't they?
Also interesting that their early sound is so dominated by Vince Clarke, yet the majority of their career has been without him. I wonder what spurred him to leave the group
Iain Chambers | Homepage | 20.02.21 - 7:48 a.m. | #
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Enjoyable post, Personal Jesus was one of my favourites, then of course Johnny Cash did the cover, and this version took over.
Still Anon | 20.02.21 - 8:29 a.m. | #
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Middle track of the medley - I Just Cant Get Enough?
You recently mentioned The Chords and today Secret Affair ... I do hope you had a Mod revival phase like I did cicra 1981.
The list of fabulous bands that emerged during the 'postpunk' era, I would contend. makes it one of the richest seams of British music ever.
I'm going to play Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Chameleons all day...
PJS | 20.02.21 - 8:47 a.m. | #
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DM are my favourite band too, so this connection to local history is wonderful. I can add a further recent local connection - last time I saw DM live it was just up the road at the Olympic Stadium, which was probably warehouses back when the Bridge House was still a pub
lockedintheattic | 20.02.21 - 8:57 a.m. | #
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Blasphemous Rumours was a double-A side with Somebody. Behind the Wheel was released late December 1987 but obviously didn't chart til early 88.
You know this already of course.
daveid76 | 20.02.21 - 9:05 a.m. | #
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I'd always thought that Yazoo's album title was a reference to the renowned Eric's - the 2nd most remembered basement live music venue in Mathew Street, Liverpool - where most bands of this era would have gigged when touring the North West. Wrong, again.
Frank F | 20.02.21 - 9:33 a.m. | #
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I’ve lived in Basildon for the past 22 years and have always felt the band are under appreciated here. I’d go as far as to say that there is more pride in Brexidiot Marc François being from the town than there is in Depeche Mode!
Phil | 20.02.21 - 9:37 a.m. | #
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Saw a few gigs at the Bridge House when I was in my teens - bit of a godforsaken place get to and getting home was always a bit dodgy. It used to attract a lot of skinheads.
Johnny Topaz | 20.02.21 - 10:35 a.m. | #
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Great post. I must have driven past that pub many times before it was demolished. Having regularly heard of Blackwing, I had no idea that it was located there, an area I've regularly walked around. Definitely will have to go and check it out!
Big Depeche fan too, New Life was the first song of theirs I heard. They had a great run of albums until Alan Wilder left in 1995
Mikey C | 20.02.21 - 11:02 a.m. | #
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At my age I have no interest in pop music or Depeche Mode but this sort of blog by D G is what I find fascinating about his writing. Bringing to life something of the spirit of London and it's environs and showing what a great city it still is despite all the attempts to modernise and spoilt it.
Tones | 20.02.21 - 11:23 a.m. | #
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Basildon is somewhere that needs something to be proud of. Fascinating history. I always thought Depeche Mode was a daft name made up by putting together a random pair of incompatible French words. Now I've looked it up and they're named after a magazine, which makes a bit more sense. With the combined effects of DG and Wikipedia, I pick up a rich collection of useless but somehow edifying factlets.
Malcolm of Kent | 20.02.21 - 12:33 p.m. | #
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I saw DM at the Bridgehouse back in the early eighties. It was a secret gig, a warm up, as I think that they were playing the Hammersmith Odeon the next night. It was an early gig with Vince’s replacement, Alan Wilder although I think Vince was there in the audience.
I saw the gig advertised in the NME with them billed as “The Mode”.
I assumed that it would be packed out and that I wouldn’t actually get in, that more people would have realised who “The Mode” were. But was lucky and got inside, I seem to recall it was £2 !!
My only visit to the Bridgehouse, it all went a bit ‘Oi’ after that !!
Gary | 20.02.21 - 12:33 p.m. | #
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Really enjoyed that thank you. I remember on a holiday to Tennessee in the early 90s when people found out we were from England the band they wanted to talk about most was Depeche Mode. I mean, they were quite successful in the UK but they couldn't get enough of them over there. To me they were just one of many bands played on the radio whose songs I occasionally liked but those guys went mad for them!
Salopian | 20.02.21 - 1:50 p.m. | #
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A really enjoyable post with many a byway-come-rabbit hole happily explored. (Thanks for putting this one up on a Saturday). The photos in the Bridghouse website really evoke those times, but DM have certainly not diminished with the passing of time - it's pleasing they can still put on a great show as this mojoful recent-ish rendition of Enjoy the Silence attests.
NickW | 20.02.21 - 2:28 p.m. | #
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The block of flats I lived in on what was then the final street in the suburbs of St Petersburg in 1994 has several bits of graffiti in its (vaguely menacing) lift, among them: DEPECHE MODE ARE GOOD.
(Russian DM fans tend not to be quite so understated in general, and there are lots of them. There's a rather wonderful documentary about DM fans internationally, which I saw at the ICA maybe 5 or 6 years ago, which really shows this, along with some rather romanticised images of the bucolic and medieval place some of them imagine Basildon to be).
Absolutely excellent group. Had no idea about the Canning Town connection.
Dominic H | 20.02.21 - 3:24 p.m. | #
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Still my favourite band. I picked up on them from New Life.
Two favourite songs:
A Pain That I'm Used To (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
Never Let Me Down Again (Eric Prydz Remix)
There's a Berlin concert on Sky Arts tonight, which is good timing.
Karl, Dover | 20.02.21 - 6:40 p.m. | #
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I can still remember hearing 'New Life' for the first time on the Radio 1 breakfast show, sent shivers down my young spine as I ate my corn flakes. Followed them for a bit but then I felt they committed the crime of 'making it' and I moved on to someone new. I think 'Enjoy The Silence' was the pinnacle for them personally, brilliant and haunting song. Also heard Yazoo's 'Situation' recently and was surprised just how fantastic it sounded. Interesting times for a teenager in unremarkable parts of London back then, very tribal and you needed to be careful what you wore in certain streets. I think it was maybe more violent than now, it's just the weapons that make the sad statistical difference nowadays. Love your blog, highlight of my crap day always. Thankyou.
Johnny Campbell | 20.02.21 - 7:18 p.m. | #
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Just wanted to add, there is a show on the Sky tv platform , 'Guy Garvey - From The Vaults' that has been shown recently. He presents archive music clips from the 70's and 80's, many never seen before, from music shows and kids tv programmes of the day. One episode features a very young DM, I think it's from local news and they are in Dave's house playing records, it!s a great watch. Many other important musical performances across the 6 episodes, particularily if you hung around in youth clubs circa1980 to 1983. Enjoy!
Johnny Campbell | 20.02.21 - 8:28 p.m. | #
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I suspect I am a fair chunk younger than the average readership here (although am also a DM fan and saw them live in Hyde park as a teen) - but thought it'd be worth noting that the musical heritage of the area is not completely gone.
I suspect also it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but by chance one of the UK's best techno clubs is in spitting distance of the old pub. Into the industrial estate and just up the road is Fold. Since opening a few years back its got a lot of praise for Berlin style stipped back basic / no-VIP / solid soundsystem / no nonsense techno nights which go on non-stop for 2-3 days straight. I've had a few nights out there and its one of my favourite places for events in London
Just thought it was an interesting coincidence and to give comfort that London keeps reinventing :)
Alex | 20.02.21 - 9:49 p.m. | #
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I love DM, I saw them at the O2, the atmosphere was incredible, they were amazing.
Darren | 20.02.21 - 11:19 p.m. | #
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Brilliant investigation and I bought that single! There was a 1981 feature on 6 Music the other day in which they played New Life which I guess came out the same year, Spandau Ballet's To Cut A Long Story Short (bought that one) and Duran Duran's Girls on Film (I did buy their first and best single Planet Earth).
I didn't really keep up with these bands after their early work, being more of a Gary Numan/Tubeway Army/Japan/Simple Minds/Skids fan. I still have the Some Bizarre album which had early tracks by Depeché Mode (with the accent on the e!), Soft Cell, Blancmange and The The and other wonderfully weird stuff. If it's of interest, there's details here with the tracks available to play on the page via YouTube.
Colin | Homepage | 21.02.21 - 9:21 a.m. | #
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On my Euro travels a covid-free time ago I went to stay a week in Tallin. Very cheap to fly there, very cheap to stay, and there is a Depeche Mode bar there. Which of course has non-stop DM vids and music playing. There is a lot more to do and visit of course while there (I also enjoyed visiting a Tallin heavy metal karaoke bar), I mean, you have to get the balance right...
Doug Robinson | 22.02.21 - 12:53 a.m. | #
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