Depressed Mode

To piggy back off of my last blog about my musical predilections, I lovingly ruminate over one of my favorite bands of all time: Depeche Mode…

My brother Mike has coined sarcastic terms for everything – from things like “Lord of the Onion Rings” to “Pic’n’Slave.” His crowning achievement was when he starting tormenting me and Patty for listening to “depressed mode.” Now granted, I have already admitted to listening to depressing music in my teens, but Depeche Mode compared to the Smiths are a barrel of monkeys. I think, however, that as they now honestly qualify to be called Aging Rockers, depression is setting in with them more seriously than ever before.

I realized this in part due to the release of the new Depeche Mode album entitled Playing the Angel. It’s a bit of downer. I should have realized this when I picked up the CD and on the back was written “pain and suffering in various tempos,” but, alas, the light just did not click on in my head.

Perhaps I could have been clued in by the track listing, which includes songs such as:

• a pain that I’m used to
(it’s not a commentary on impending rheumatoid arthritis for these Aging Rockers, don’t be fooled.)

• suffer well
(Can you just hear Sylvester crying out “sufferin’ succotash”? Now there was a character who suffered well!)

• damaged people
(an uplifting tune for sure. But Morrissey was first in line when he started singing about ugly monsters in wheelchairs. That’s what I call damaged.)

But it wasn’t until I LISTENED to this album that I realized it is dismal. Let’s take a look at the lyrics, shall we? Let’s see if you agree with me that they are regressing a bit from the light side of the force to the dark side of the force:

• I’m harder to console…there’s a hole in your soul…just give me a pain that I’m used to. (A Pain That I’m Used To)

• Something’s changed. It’s in your eyes – Please don’t speak; you’ll only lie...Just hang on, suffer well. (Suffer Well)

• I’m still recovering, still getting over all the suffering. (The Sinner In Me)

• Angels with silver wings shouldn’t know suffering…words left unspoken left us so brittle there was so little left to give. (Precious)

• Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I die, it’s true. Somewhere I’ll find something that’s kind in you. (I Want It All)

• And I lose control, I forget I’m old and dying. (Damaged People)

• Pain and misery always hit the spot. (Lilian)

I don’t think I’ve seen the word “suffer” used so much in so many songs on one single album. WOW. Aging sucks. I’ll be 29 in a few months and my first bodily pains have manifest themselves in the form of knee creaks and cracks. Maybe the more I listen to Depeche Mode the more I will be at peace with my pain and suffering?

The thought of all this harmony awaiting me is making me giddy. I’m going to go hear the guys play LIVE tonight at the Staples Center. They are touring, you know. According to their website, it’s “pain and suffering in various U.S. cities”. Count me in, boys!!!