I have always found the synthesizer-driven band Depeche Mode fascinating. When I was much younger, I pronounced Depeche (“depesh”) like “depeechee”, and every time “People Are People” filled my ears with clanging metal, dance-inspiring synth beats, and catchy lyrics, I would lose my cool. I took nothing from the lyrics, but the angelic voice singing, “I can’t understand what makes a man hate another man,” against a backdrop of punchy electronic rhythm made me want to dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fast forward to today…I am a senior in high school listening to the same classic song. And I still can not get over the bouncy bass synths, explosion of clanging metal, and the unraveling, airy synth that strikes an impression even before the vocals begin.<\/p>\n
How did I get here? admiring a strange-sounding song from 1984 to the point that I am writing an obsession-fueled blog post?\u00a0<\/p>\n
To be honest, I ended up with a good bit of my parents’ music taste. It has always appealed to me\u2014the mix of eighties’ and nineties’ hits I would play over and over on my pink portable CD player. I would blast through earbuds “Run Away” by Real McCoy in the car or make up dances in my room to “99 Luftballons” by Nena. I would sing giddily along to “Friday I’m in Love” by the Cure or become entranced by the whining guitar in the Smiths’ song “How Soon is Now?” I soon abandoned the CD player and fell into other genres and aesthetics, but years later, I ended right back where I started. And that is the power of the eighties, hah!<\/p>\n
I was a tenth grader in two back-to-back online classes with access to Youtube. I was peeling oranges and stalking Mississippi School of the Arts’ website and feeling stuck in my present reality. My prime form of escapism? Music. I had my earbuds in the second the bell rang for first block all\u00a0<\/em>the way until lunch…almost four hours later. After twenty hours a week of listening to your same favorite genres, you grow desperate. Therefore, I thought, hey! I need to look up some songs from my childhood!\u00a0<\/em>Oh, Callie…why? Your addiction is so bad you want to be more of a music nerd than that old guy on Youtube who bought Alan Wilder’s Jupiter 8. Who is Alan Wilder? <\/em>I will get to that later!<\/p>\n But, yes, what happened? My mind exploded.<\/p>\n I first listened to a basic radio station called EIGHTIES’ HITS! <\/strong>or something generic. And oh, jeez, I was hooked. My brain looked like this:\u00a0“Oh my goodness, a band called the Cutting Crew sings the song that goes, ‘I just diiiieeeed in your arms tonighhhht,’ it all makes sense!”<\/em>. After discovering I was a fan of INXS and Simple Minds, I decided to try something out called…dun dun dun:\u00a0new wave<\/strong>. So I listened to a new wave radio station on Google Music (which later kicked me out because I would skip\u00a0way\u00a0<\/em>too much). WOW! I began connecting familiar songs to band names and album covers, and to me, “the dots” were all connected. What next? Youtube.<\/p>\n I nearly fell out of my chair discovering the British show Top of the Pops. I nearly fell out of my chair watching the music video for “Take on Me” by a-ha for the first time. I also put the magical, awe-inspiring music of Tears for Fears to names and faces. Oh, boy, was it a trip to watch the “Shout” music video for the first time! I developed a very healthy obsession after watching Roland and Curt with mullets and trench coats singing dramatically on a beach. Suddenly I found my\u00a0thing\u2014<\/em>something that interested me beyond belief, something I absolutely\u00a0had\u00a0<\/em>to research and learn everything about.\u00a0<\/p>\n Almost three years later, I own a synthesizer and like to pretend I am in a new wave band in the eighties. R.I.P.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even though this is so laughable (I have a jolly good time laughing at myself, but it is simply so fun!), music means everything to me. I never have time to play my synthesizer, but when I do my eyes will not leave it for hours. There is something so alluring about synthesizers and new wave to me. It is my favorite genre of all time, and in a way, it is everything that I am. From the “stay weird”, jittery dancing of Dave Byrd (of the Talking Heads) to Mike Score’s (of A Flock of Seagulls) strange hair-do and sci-fi persona, I see myself. And I see myself in the whirs and clicks of Gary Numan’s cold synthesizers, and I see myself in the Cure’s rich blend of impeccable sound. New wave is full of melancholy, madness, and intention created by some pretty darn intelligent artists battling pessimism or transforming it into art. Inspired by the blatant “I don’t care” attitude of punk and England’s grey skies, new wave has inspired nearly every aspect of my life. It is an addiction, I tell ya…<\/p>\n Where does Depeche Mode fit into all of this?\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2018, I typed “People Are People” into the Youtube search engine and found this:<\/p>\n