With the North American leg of Depeche Mode’s Global Spirit Tour underway, the time is ripe to roll out the fourth installment of our new readers poll series, and ask you, dear readers, to help us rank every song released over the course of the synth legends’ 37-year career.
You’ve already ranked the oeuvres of The Cure, The Smiths and R.E.M., and now it’s DM’s turn.
By our count, Depeche Mode has issued 209 studio-recorded songs since 1981, including originals and a smattering of covers (songs by U2, The Stooges, Beethoven, the guy who wrote “Route 66”).
VOTING: Below you’ll find a ballot listing all 209 songs released by Depeche Mode. What’s not included are live tracks, any demos and the countless (and we mean countless) remixes released over the years — though you will find a few that could be considered mixes, but aren’t titled as such (like “Fpmip”).
You’re welcome to vote for as many as 25 of your favorite songs released by Depeche Mode.
A few notes on all this:
- We’re pretty confident that our list of 209 songs is complete — Depeche Mode hasn’t been a band to issue much extracurricular music — but if there are any missing, there is a write-in option at the bottom of the poll. You can also email info@slicingupeyeballs.com to alert us to any omissions, or if you’ve got any questions about song eligibility beyond the rules described above.
- As mentioned already, we are not differentiating between the various remixes of a song. It would only serve to split the vote. So even if you’re just nuts about the DJ Shadow Kill the Pain Mix — and only that particular version of the song — you still just have to vote for “Pankiller.”
- The songs on the ballot are listed in strict alphabetical order, meaning “A Question of Lust” will be found in the A’s, not Q’s, and “The Love Thieves” will be in the T’s, not L’s.
- While you can vote for up to 25 songs, they all will be weighed equally when the results are tallied. But if you’d like to share your ranked Top 25 lists with the rest of the Slicing Up Eyeballs readers, feel free to drop them in the comments below, and make your case.
DEADLINE: Voting ends 5 p.m. EST Friday, Sept. 15, and results will be posted by the end of the month.
Sound good? Then vote away.
(If you have any difficulty using the webform below, go directly to Polldaddy to vote: poll.fm/5ugqu)
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Jailed Russian opposition leader laments he’ll miss Depeche Mode concert in Moscow
- Trent Reznor on seeing Depeche Mode in 1986: ‘It was spiritual and truly magic’
- Watch: Depeche Mode covers David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ at ‘Spirit’ tour opener — full setlist
- Listen: Dave Gahan talks ’70s punk, formation of Depeche Mode on Nerdist podcast
Fun!
Yay
That was seriously difficult to choose 25 favorite DM songs!
The most difficult 30 mins of my life , changed my decision several time, I could easily have picked them all
Hell Yeah!
Very thorough list, great work!
Mode 4 life!
Heading off to Chicago soon to see them live tonight for my 12th time. This was perfect timing….but very hard to select 25.
These polls are fun, but not exactly easy…lol
Really had to think about this one. Great poll!
The best part about these polls is “listening” to the songs in one one’s head as one goes through the list.
…and now we get wonderful song viruses in our head for DAYS!!!
:)
More options please…!!!
Nice list!
Something to do
In my opinion, Mercy in You and The Things You Said are DM’s most underrated songs and are also two of their best.
The Things you said made my list.
Awesome memories!
Modie forever
Struggling.
Also found it very difficult to limit my selection to 25.
Tough one, a lot of really solid tracks left off my final 25.
Need more options…!!!
25 hard choices.
the Beatmaster Mix of Route 66 is awesome! thew Wolfman Jack and Name That Tune samples really take this up a notch.
Should have made it top 40
Many of the tracks I selected I consider the soundtrack to my life. I will see Depeche Mode in September here in Houston words can’t express how elated I am. Thanks for putting this together.
Great band… Great catalogue… tough to narrow it down.
Never Let Me Down, Again!
The vast majority of my choices are from the period from “Black Celebration” through “Songs Of Faith And Devotion”. They were firing on all cylinders then, and could do no wrong. I went with a handful of early singles too, and just a couple from the Post-Alan years. They still write some good songs, but they rarely have any memorable instrumental melodies anymore.
Truth. Of my top 25, I had 3 from “A Broken Frame”, 5 from “Black Celebration”, 7 from “Music For the Masses”, 5 from “Violator”, and 2 from “Songs Of Faith And Devotion”, with the remaining 3 being stand-alone singles from the same era (“Shake the Disease”, “Flexible”, and “Get the Balance Right”). Nothing from “Speak and Spell”, “Construction Time Again”, “Some Great Reward”, or anything post-SOF&D.
Hard to choose
Ultra by far, my favorite album
–
Difficult to chose, but did my best.
Tough to get the balance right
A hard choice..not surprisingly there aren’t too many chosen post 95
The results will be interesting.
It’s almost impossible pick just 25 songs!
The Policy of Truth used to be my favorite for many years… that is, until I saw them live when they were touring The Angel. From that day, Never Let Me Down Again is the one.
Great poll but Slow from Delta Machine (not that I would vote for it) is on the same line as Sister Of Night and cannot get a vote.
Fixed. Thanks for letting me know.
Top 10:
– Walking in my shoes
– Personal Jesus
– Enjoy the Silence
– But not tonight
– Never Let me down again
– Blasphemous Rumours
– Home
– A question of lust
– Policy of truth
– Barrel of a Gun
Preferred the early stuff but plenty on here to vote for!
The some bizarre version of “Photographic” was clearly the best.
Walking In My Shoes and Enjoy The Silence are my top two anyway. Was the “Black Celebration” album that got me into them big time. Violator & SOF&D are my two fave albums from them though.
I KNEW this day would come…lol… This was extremely hard BUT there are indeed a top 25 that are my absolute favorites! Yessssss I’m excited to see the outcome
So they didn’t allow cover songs for the Cure…but Route 66 is ok
They started with R.E.M.
Even as a huge Cure fan, I’ll submit that they’ve really never done any significantly good covers.
Incredible catalog of music to choose from.
Now this was fun! ;)
My Ultimate favees
In Your Room has to be #1
YES! I AGREE
It’s like we share a brain, Nathan!
It won’t be. Not with so many better, earlier songs to choose from.
This was the hardest choices I had to make!
I know right!
My all time favorite band. Seen them many times and will again next month. I hear each song as I scroll through the list and it’s so difficult to choose. Think I’ll go old school to ensure those gems are not forgotten. Thanks!
Wow, so many fantastic songs
somebody in the live version on Blasphemous Rumours is chilling my bones. GREAT
That was so hard! I wanted to click on so many more than 25!
So True!!
Sadly I couldn’t pick all of them…
Done
It was hard, but I managed to narrow it down to these amazing songs by Depeche Mode.
thanks!
Omg SO hard to choose …
So many good ones to choose from…one of my faves is definitely…Waiting For The Night
So many great songs to choose from. “Shake the Disease” is still my #1.
My sweet spot was Some Great Reward through to Violator. Didn’t know a thing after SOFAD.
So tough! I admit, I started working in this list a while back ;)
“Enjoy the Silence” may seem like a overly obvious #1, but I can’t put it anywhere else. I’ve been in love with it since the first time I heard it… it was exciting but familiar all at once.
I feel like the only person who didn’t really care for SOFAD. (BTW anyone else hear string echoes of “Get Right With Me” when they hear Muse’s “Dig Down”?)
Enjoy The Silence
Everything Counts
But Not Tonight
Never Let Me Down Again
See You
Get The Balance Right
Shake The Disease
Set Me Free (Remotivate Me)
A Question Of Time
Home
Just Can’t Get Enough
Stripped
Fools
Sea Of Sin
A Question Of Lust
The Landscape Is Changing
The Sun & The Rainfall
Useless
Precious
Leave In Silence
Strangelove
Policy Of Truth
Somebody
It’s Called A Heart
Angel
“Strong echoes,” not “string” :)
6 of my 25 were b-sides. And as much as I cannot stand the obligatory nature of the same songs that end up in every setlist, NLMDA was in on the first round (though neither PJ nor ETS ended up in the final for me).
Exactly… their b-sides are often as good as the singles! Sometimes better than.
So sick of Personal Jesus…. its overplayed. Probably why I like the more obscure ones.
<3
I don’t see Set Me Free Remotivate Me on the list.
Not that anyone is going to vote for it
Oh it the first option !!! Duh :)
25 is not enough
My favourite DM song: “But Not Tonight”. Is it a b-side? A single? An album track? A bonus track? I consider it an essential part of “Black Celebration”. And Martin’s stripped-back performance of it on the 2014 tour sealed the deal for me. At #2: “Blue Dress” (I just love Martin’s vocals). Bubbling in at #26: “Wrong”.
I tend to like MLG’s lead vocals best. Blue Dress is a major favorite; Home is my very favorite of all.
Blue Dress way up there for me, too!
Useless & Sister of Night!
Quite the catalog . . .
Prediction: The Alan Wilder era pummels everything that came before or after.
It’s so, so, so difficult, my goodness!!!!
ALLLLLLLLLL OF THEM!!!!!
Contrary to about everybody else’s opinion, I’m still a huge fan of the Vince Clarke era (and of not much that followed it). Hope that the S+S tracks don’t end up too far behind ..
1) Fly on the windscreen
My picks: A Question of Time, Behind the Wheel, Black Celebration, Blasphemous Rumors, Enjoy the Silence, Everything Counts, Fly on the Windscreen, Get the Balance Right, Halo, In Your Room, It’s No Good, John the Revelator, Judas, Master and Sevant, Never Let Me Down Again, One Caress, People are People, Personal Jesus, Photographic, Shake the Disaese, Stripped, The Sun and the Rainfall, Walking In My Shoes, World In My Eyes and Wrong.
25 is not enough!
This was very difficult! The results should be interesting.
Thank you Rachel, our love for 80’s music wouldn’t complete without my favorite band,DM
It’s like asking a mother to choose her favorite child! Omg!
Well said Vikki! I agree!
Home was the last song my wife and I danced to at our wedding, so you know it’s getting on this list :)
My favorite DM song.
Devoted for Life!
The entire Black Celebration and Music for the Masses lp
I get the whole “not including live tracks” on these surveys, and it caused minimal pain until now, when you’re taking out “101” which has got to be one of the best live albums in Alternative.
But are any of the live tracks on it any much better than the studio originals?
I far prefer the live versions of Stripped and Things You Said over the studio versions
Yes when talking about 101. Everything counts, Behind the wheel, nothing, Never let me down, is better live when 101 is taken into account.
This is really, really hard.
now, this is NOT fun. jesus h christ! I may as well have given up my first born….and my second born….
Omg …. This is really hard
it’s hard to choose… very hard… please 10 more :)
OMG it is not easy
It was not easy
Difficult to choice…
Top 100 or 75 would have been better. This was an impossible task at 25 songs. Voted but I had to leave a lot of my favourites out. Frustrating.
Le mie preferite
Wow! That was tough to try and just pick 25 but for what it’s worth, here were my choices listed chronologically!
Leave In Silence
Everything Counts
Two Minute Warning
Shake The Disease
Black Celebration
Stripped
Strangelove
The Things You Said
Never Let Me Down Again
Behind The Wheel
Nothing
Personal jesus
World In My Eyes
Halo
Waiting For The Night
Enjoy The Silence
Happiest Girl
Walking In My Shoes
It’s No Good
Sister Of Night
When The Body Speaks
Precious
In chains
Going Backwards
Cover Me
Sister of Night. Leave In Silence. The Sun And The Rainfall. Enjoy The Silence. Stripped.
And 20 others :)
should ‘ve been at least 40 or 50 to choose from. 25 is not enough
I can write just here so I’ll do it.
Has been very tough to me to choose only 25 masterpieces. To me you are a work of art, you change my life as human been and as singer, the wisdom and the sweetness in the Martin’s lyrics, the research and the passion in the Dave voice.
Thank you from the deep of my heart,
Anna
Which song is a Stooges cover?
“Dirt”
Thanks
Thanks for playing “Dirt” on DarkWave!
I love being able to say that Depeche Mode, Somebody was my wedding song. 21 years and going strong.
So hard. I needed another 25
https://alternativealbumsblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/23/38-depeche-mode-black-celebration
https://alternativealbumsblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/27/177-depeche-mode-playing-the-angel/
https://alternativealbumsblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/1-depeche-mode-violator/
https://alternativealbumsblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/62-depeche-mode-songs-of-faith-and-devotion/
https://alternativealbumsblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/22-depeche-mode-music-for-the-masses/
https://alternativealbumsblog.wordpress.com/?s=Some+great+reward
The above links are the the six Depeche Mode sounds that made the list on my Top 300 alternative albums of all time list. Feel free to read the reviews and check out the rest of the site too.
Albums, not sounds
yes
This is my nightmare. Only 25? D:
A voté
Heaven owlle mix is the bomb!
I can’t pick *just* 25!!!!
You bastards. There’s twice as many songs than the Beatles ever recorded and I have to pick the equivalent of a set list…
Dificil, me quedaron muchas afuera!!
its really hard
I knew it wasn’t going to be easy since DM have at least 101 songs that are so good that they shouldn’t be ranked any lower than #25.
However, whoever compiled the list should feel embarrassed for not recognizing remixes that have different titles from the original song (Excerpts From: My Secret Garden, Further Excerpts From: My Secret Garden, Fpmip, Breathing In Fumes), and in one case, the same title (Any Second Now).
Is this a dating forum by chance? Damn
How do you whittle down to 25?, and I was still not sure of my final list. Although, those that made my list were surefire yesses.
I live by the words in the song Get the Balance Right. I have since I was 15. I know it will not win but it has already won in my poll and will continue to influence me until I die.
Fell out of love after Music for the Masses, but there are some gems after that. Most of my faves are from the Some Great Reward to Black Celebration era. Others past that are Precious/It’s no Good/Waiting for the Night…
My forever favorite will be Shake the Disease. LOVE this song eternally.
I added “Ice Machine” to the list.
“Ice Machine” is on my list too. Exceptional song.
I know there will be a lot of votes for the popular songs like Personal Jesus and Just Can’t Get Enough. I enjoy them but Chose my other under represented faves. It will be interesting to see the results!
If you’re going to include the instrumental “Any Second Now” AND the vocal version on the album, why the heck was “Are People People?” (the “Master & Servant” b-side) left off the list? That one was tortured so far into unrecognizability it’s pretty hard to call it a remix of “People Are People” any more. I think it rightly stands as its own composition, doesn’t it?
At first I didn’t think it would be difficult… but it was! I ended up choosing 25 by thinking of my dream setlist for a concert… I was oddly surprised that nothing after Ultra made my list.
I forgot about Remotivate Me. Such a good song! Sweet times :)
What a great list and what fun!!!
So cool
Get The Balance Right, people! ;-)
Have to share my 25 with you all…
Also thanks Slicing Up Eyeballs for doing this sort of thing for us MUSIC GEEKS! My wife and I had a great time doing the Cure and now DM!
IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
Cover Me
Precious
It’s No Good
Barrel of a Gun
Halo
But Not Tonight
Enjoy the Silence
Strange Love
A Pain That I’m Used To
You Move
Policy Of Truth
Behind The wheel
Everything Counts
Never Let Me Down Again
World In My Eyes
A Question Of Time
Black Celebration
Dream On
I Feel You
Heaven
Should Be Higher
New Life
Stripped
Shake The Disease
Lie To Me
Difícil elección, como el vino estos chicos, cada vez mejor. Absolutamente la música que marcará toda mi vida.
My votes were pretty much all of Black Celebration and Violator, with a smattering of Songs of Faith and Devotion.
Condemnation is still such an amazing song
Did anyone save the list. Wanted to make a playlist with all the songs, but it was removed before i finishen
Could you by any chance post it again or email it to me, pleaaase
So where are the results? End of month is here!
@Kim Hansen – why you need to save that list as it was just every DM song?
Never mind, I just found the results in a different post.