Overrated, part 3 of 10(See: parts 1 and 2)
My list of top ten overrated acts continues. Number 8....
8) Depeche Mode - In the early days, Depress Mode was a slightly offbeat, perhaps alternative, band. They fit firmly into the New Romantic Camp, part of the New Wave movement. (As an aside, I really hate how the term "alternative" has been hijacked by the music industry to define the herds of new guitar rock bands that emerged in the 1990s. The corruption of that term is a slap in the face to the true alternative music scene of the very late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. Down with corporate music! But, back to these chaps with the hurry-up lifestyle).
When I first heard Master and Servant, I was amused. It had some slightly risqué content, but the disco beat was really too much for me. You see, I had spent much of my youth fighting the disco forces, and that largely meant my brother and his love of the disco queens. In contrast, I was listening to Alice Cooper, KISS, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin. His bad taste extended to the Solid Gold too, and the only good part was the female Solid Gold Dancers. You must click on that link if you have no idea what Solid Gold is.
I enjoyed Blasphemous Rumours for a while, but quickly tired of it. God was probably laughing at that song. I'm not the first person to think that Depeche Mode's lyric "I just can't get enough" could be easily misheard as "I just can't get it up." It's a pseudo-mondegreen.
The Pet Shop Boys have said that they were influenced by DM when they were recording Behaviour, so I rest my case. Pseudo-disco breeds pseudo-disco. Why have I used pseudo so many times? I am not sure, but I am reminded of Sussudio, that insipid Phil Collins disaster of a song. I originally thought it was spelled Psue-pseudio. Boy, was I wrong. Just to digress even further, Sussudio checked in at number 24 on VH1's "40 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever." There is also a list called the 40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirrty [sic] Songs...Ever, which is very amusing. Have a look at that, since I can't find a link to the other list.
Which leads me to KMFDM. If you are a Depeche Mode or KMFDM fan, you know what follows, so I don't have to say it ;-)
And now, Instant Club Hit, by the Dead Milkmen:
See: Part 4
