THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

134-Depeche Mode-Blasphemous Rumours.

1984-Number 16 single.

Best Bit-At 1.44. Those with faith will have to accept any situation that occurs, and still believe.

Depeche Mode (see also best songs 968 and 261) were formed in Basildon, Essex, England, in 1980, they are still active with only Martin Gore, and Dave Gahan being the current members, after the death of Andy Fletcher (1961-2022.) Depeche Mode who have sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide have released 14 studio Albums between 1981-2017, and 55 singles in the same time period. Their most successful Album is 1990’s ‘Violator’ which was Number 1 in both the UK and the United States, and has sold in excess of 7.5 million copies to date. In the UK, Depeche Mode have achieved 43 top 40 singles, with ‘People Are People,’ (1984) ‘Barrell of a Gun,’ (1997) and ‘Precious,’ (2005) all peaking at Number 4. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart they have charted on six occasions, with ‘Enjoy the Silence’ (1990) peaking the highest at Number 8.

‘Blasphemous Rumours’ was the 12th UK single release from Depeche Mode, and was the third single released from their fourth studio Album ‘Some Great Reward’ from 1984. ‘Blasphemous Rumours’ was written by Martin Gore, with the vocals provided by Dave Gahan, the production is credited to Depeche Mode, along with Daniel Miller, and Gareth Jones. Miller and Jones have both worked with Depeche Mode on many of their other Albums, and it was Miller who as the owner of ‘Mute Records’ who signed Depeche Mode to the label in 1980.

Dave Gahan was born David Callcott on May 9th, 1962, in Epping, Essex, England, he first met Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, and Vince Clarke (see also best songs 700 and 451) in 1980 when they were called ‘Composition of Sound,’ it was Gahan who suggested the change of name to Depeche Mode. Away from Depeche Mode Gahan has released two solo studio Albums in 2003, and 2007, and also has worked on three Albums with the English ‘Alternative Rock/Electronica’ duo ‘Soulsavers’ on three of their studio Albums.

On the news that Depeche Mode were going to issue ‘Blasphemous Rumours’ as a single there was somewhat of an uproar, with some thinking it was over stepping the line, so in order to compromise the band agreed to also issue ‘Somebody,’ which is another track from ‘Some Great Reward,’ as their first ‘double ‘A’ side’ release. In the UK ‘Blasphemous Rumours’ was considered too anti-religious to be broadcast during the daytime by the ‘BBC,’ and other organisations as well. The song tells of a 16 year old girl who attempts suicide but fails, over the course of the next two years she turns to God, but is hit by a car, and ends up on a life support machine, and eventually dies. Of the song Dave Gahan has said,’I’m by the way not anti- religious at all. I only oppose a certain kind of religion that was forced upon me when I was young. The song only wants to say that no one should let someone force anything upon him. Whether it’s politics or something else, that doesn’t matter. You have to choose yourself what you wanna do with your life, and dare to take risks. That’s what Depeche Mode did too, and everything turned out quite good for us, didn’t it?’

‘Girl of sixteen, whole life ahead of her, slashed her wrists bored with life. Didn’t succeed, thank the Lord for small mercies.’