The veteran British band Depeche Mode is releasing its new album, "Spirit," with an intimate concert in Berlin. Here's a look back at the group's influence - and a variety of covers.
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10 Depeche Mode covers by famous singers or bands
As Depeche Mode releases its 14th studio album, "Spirit," here's a look back at the bands and singers who've covered the cult group from the 80s.
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Depeche Mode
In the late 80s and early 90s, the British synthpop band offered the world a number of notable hits. Their sound has inspired musicians of all styles ever since. Here are 10 direct tributes to the influential band - some more memorable than others.
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Marilyn Manson
The first single on Depeche Mode's best known album, "Violator," was "Personal Jesus." The hit acquired new fame in the 2004 version covered by shock rocker Marilyn Manson. The cover sticks to the original tempo of the song, adding grungy guitar riffs and heavy drums.
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Johnny Cash
In a completely different style, Johnny Cash recorded his own bluesy interpretation of "Personal Jesus" on the 2002 album "American IV." Depeche Mode's hit song was re-worked into an acoustic version by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante for Johnny Cash.
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Nina Hagen
Notorious for provocative performances, rebelling against the East German regime and indulging in drugs, the German "Godmother of Punk" found her own personal Jesus late in life: Nina Hagen was baptized in 2009. She spread her newfound love for God in her music, releasing her album "Personal Jesus" in 2010 - which of course included the famous Depeche Mode song.
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Tori Amos
The American pianist and singer Tori Amos also regularly included a cover of "Personal Jesus" during her "Summer of Sin" tour in 2005, adding a lot of piano notes to the original. She also recorded another of Depeche Mode's "Violator" hits, "Enjoy the Silence," on "Strange Little Girls" - each track of this concept album was a cover of a song originally performed by men.
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Susan Boyle
The Scottish singer who grabbed the world's attention as a contestant on "Britain's Got Talent" in 2009 also covered "Enjoy the Silence" on her 2011 album "Someone to Watch Over Me." Boyle's sugarcoated sentimental version of the song is stripped of all traces of the goth dance beats that made the original a hit.
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The Cure
The fourth and final single for the album "Violator" was "World in My Eyes." The Cure, another pioneering band known for its dark, tormented music, chose this song as their contribution to the Depeche Mode tribute album "For the Masses," released in 1998.
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Rammstein
Depeche Mode's single "Stripped," from the 1986 album "Black Celebration," featured innovative samples. In their own Neue Deutsche Härte style, the German provocative rockers Rammstein served up an interesting cover version. The video controversially included images from Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film "Olympia" - but the band distanced itself from the filmmaker's politics.
Image: Bryan Adams
Placebo
The Depeche Mode song "I Feel You" was a track from their 1993 album "Songs of Faith and Devotion." More rock-oriented than previous songs, it was the band's highest-charting hit worldwide. The English alternative rock band Placebo covered it, initially releasing it for members of their fan club only and, in 2003, including it on "Sleeping with Ghosts."
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Tangerine Dream
German electronic music group Tangerine Dream covered Depeche Mode's single "Precious" from the album "Playing the Angel" (2005). The krautrock collective may have developed pioneering sounds in the mid-1970s, but their cover of this song didn't add much to the original.
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The Smashing Pumpkins
The single "Never Let Me Down Again" was a particularly strong hit in West Germany in 1987 and remains a favorite among fans. The Smashing Pumpkin's melancholy rendition of the hopeful song perfectly captures the spirit of teenage turmoil. Depeche Mode's singer Dave Gahan even said he thought it was "a lot better" than the original.
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Cult British new wave band Depeche Mode dropped its 14th studio album on Friday. The group will be celebrating the new release with a concert at a small venue in Berlin, the Funkhaus concert hall. A 360-degree livestream will allow fans worldwide to join the performance.
Active for four decades, Depeche Mode's dark synthpop sound of the 80s inspired many techno musicians afterwards.
Goth teens recognized their own existential problems in their angst-ridden lyrics. The definition of alternative coolness for high-school kids towards the end of the 80s was to own the band's albums before everyone else discovered them with their first mainstream success in 1990, "Violator," which included hits such as "Personal Jesus," "Policy of Truth" and "World in My Eyes."
The British band performing in Cologne in 1985Image: picture-alliance/Jazzarchiv
Although "Q" magazine once declared Depeche Mode "the most popular electronic band the world has ever known," its 21st century output was less influential. Their albums and tours drew more on the fans' nostalgia for the soundtrack that healed their first heartbreaks.
'Spirit': a new tone
The new album could have been reduced to another trip down memory lane, but early reviews see it as a distinct highlight in the electro-pop veterans' discography: "Blow by blow, it all adds up to Depeche Mod's best album this century," wrote "Mojo" magazine.
The cover of the new album
The album is their first collaboration with producer James Ford of the band Simian Mobile Disco, who also produced acclaimed albums by Florence & The Machine and Arctic Monkeys.
Reflection of the post-Trump world
As might be expected from a band known for its emotional dissection of angst, "Spirit" reflects the word's current uncertainties. Recorded during the campaign for the Brexit referendum, it is their most political work to date.
Some tracks unwittingly offer a direct answer to US President Donald Trump. The single "Where's the Revolution" declares, for example, "You've been lied to, you've been fed truths / Who's making your decisions, you or your religion / Your government your countries, you patriotic junkies," going on to ask non-ironically, "Where's the revolution? Come on people, you're letting me down."
"I think a lot of people are very frustrated and very angry, and I think that they've just misplaced their anger. I think the system is broken and it needs to be fixed, but with the Brexit vote and by electing Trump, some of the decisions being made are not helping anyone," said bandmember and main songwriter Gore to "Yahoo! Music" in reference to the song.
The black-and-white video directed by Anton Corbijn was released in February.
Last month, during the Conservative Political Action Conference, the leader of the white nationalist movement in the US, Richard Spencer, controversially claimed that Depeche Mode was "the official band of the alt-right." Singer Dave Gahan forcefully denied any links between his band and the racist movement, calling Richard Spencer "a very educated cu--," adding, "That's the scariest kind of all."
Depeche Mode's "Global Spirit Tour" kicks off on May 5 in Stockholm, with concerts scheduled throughout Europe and North America until the end of October.
