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The American release of People Are People, the fourth album from Depeche Mode, brought together for the first time a string of hit singles from one of Britain's most innovative groups.
For U. S. audiences, the Depeche Mode story began in 1984 with their smash alternative radio hit "People Are People." For English fans, the story began almost four years betore.
In 1980 a group of fledgling musicians from Basildon, Essex, got together under the moniker of Depeche Mode, a French term taken from a fashion magazine, meaning "fast fashion." The group's first album, 1981's Speak & Spell, reached the Top 10 on U. K. charts and yielded two smash singles. After the departure of founding member Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode continued with its original line-up - Andy Fietcher (guitar, vocals), Martin Gore (guitar, vocals) and Dave Gahan (vocals) - and recruited Alan Wilder (keyboards, vocals) in time to cut their second album, Broken Frame, in late 1982. Tours of America and the Far East followed. The group returned to European charts in 1983 with Constiruction Time Ayain.
With the release of People Are People in 1984, American audiences discovered what their Continental counterparts had known for some time. Depeche Mode's alluring blend of state-of-the-art musical technology, danceable rhythms and emotionally resonant songwriting put them in a category all their own. "People Are People,"" the single, was the band's first stateside success, while this album served as an introduction to Depeche Mode's previous history of hits.
Aside from a handful of dazzling new originals, People Are People contained British chart toppers "Get The Balance Right" and "Leave In Silence" from the Broken Frame album and "Love In Itsel" and "Evarything Counts" from Construction Time Again.
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