101 by Mary Valle
Eyebrows were arched among the rock critics fraternity. A live album by Depeche Mode! After all, they’re synth pop, not a real rock band with guitars and macho postures! Mary Valle argues passionately against that attitude and for that 1989 album, 101, in the latest title for 33 1/3, a series of short books on significant LPs.
Valle writes with humor and occasionally, Depeche Mode is the punch line. Describing the group’s entry into the outdoor setting for 101’s concert, clad in black leather jackets and riding in an open Cadillac, she compares them to “a touring cast of ‘Grease’ in a small-town Fourth of July parade.” But make no mistake, Valle is a fan of the boys from Basildon, a postwar urban development outside London (“a great place to be a kid”). “101 insists that Depeche Mode can and will rock you, no guitars required,” she writes.
Her perspective comes from the idea that guitar rock had pretty much dead-ended even before the Sex Pistols. Especially in the U.K., young musicians in the ‘70s began finding melodies and dance beats on synthesizers, opening new vistas for pop music. Depeche Mode were among the early adaptors. Valle gives a succinct, cogent career overview in addition to a close listen to 101.
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