1984-12-05 Popfit, NDR1, Hanover, Germany

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Notes

NDR1 Niedersachsen reported in their show 'Popfit' on the concert in Hanover the night before, and also interviewed Martin Gore. The recording of this interview misses the beginning of the interview. A transcript has been typed out below, with a translation to English. Please note that Martin's answers are dubbed, so it's hard to hear his exact words at times, and also note that there may be some German spelling mistakes.

• Duration: 03:42 minutes

Transcript

Martin Gore: I really like the town, the city, I always find something to do there, it's very pleasant us, and apart from that, my girlfriend lives there, so it's a combination of things.

Interviewer: Eure gesamte Soundkonzept ist von Synthesizern und Computern abhängig. Das ist vor allem kalte Technik. Kommt durch die musikalische arbeiten die Stuckeschreiberns nicht zu kurz?

Interviewer [Translation]: Your joint sound collage depends on synthesizers and computers. This is mainly a cold technique. Is this way of working with music enough for the songwriter?

Martin: We're not musicians, really. Well, there's Alan, he's actually a very good piano player. He actually had piano lessons. But the rest of us have sort of had sort of "technical difficulties", if you like, when it comes to actually playing instruments. But we just got the ideas and we program computers to actually carry out those ideas for us.

Interviewer: Depeche Modes letzter großer Hit, Master & Servant, handelt von Gewalt, von Unterdruckern und Unterdruckten in der Gesellschaft. Der Text scheint aber noch einen zweiten Beteutung zu haben. Woher hat Martin Gore die Idee?

Interviewer [Translation]: Depeche Mode's latest big hit, Master & Servant, describes violence, oppressors and oppressed in a society. The lyrics, however, appear to have a second meaning. From where did Martin get the idea?

Martin: If you wanna know where I first got the idea, it's when I was reading a newspaper before about a man who was named "the Notthinghill murderer". He would take these young gays to his flat and murder them. And it sort of struck me - this game, I found it very interesting - he used to play this game, "master and servant" with them.

Interviewer: Bei Stucken wie Blasphemous Rumours verwendet Depeche Mode Soundkollagen. Die Idee is nicht gerade neu: Pink Floyd und die Beatles arbeiten schon vor 15 Jahren mit ähnlichen Effekten. Wo ligt da der Unterschied?

Interviewer [Translation]: For songs like Blasphemous Rumours, Depeche Mode uses sound collages. The idea is not exactly new: Pink Floyd and the Beatles have been working with similar effects for 15 years now. What is the difference?

Martin: The sort of things that Pink Floyd and the Beatles were doing is different. They couldn't do what we're doing now in their heydays. But now we can actually sample and put them on a keyboard and actually play the melodies with these sounds. In their day, it was probably recording these sounds and shoving them as they were on a record.

[Live audio clip of Depeche Mode performing 'See You']

Interviewer: Dank ausgebuchter Technik konnte bei gestern im konzerten den Eilenriedehalle eigentlich nicht schiefgehen: sämtliche songs von Love In Itself bis Somebody lief mit der precision eines Shuttle-Flüges ab. Die mit der Light-Show verknüpften Dia-Folgen zeigten Bilder im Stil des Sovietischen Propaganda-malerei, mit ihren revoluzionären Inhalten Depeche Mode seit Construction Time Again kokketieren. Auf mich machte das ganze ehr ein unterkülten, emotionslosen und auch perfekt-kalkulierten Eindruck. Aber die etwa 5000 Fans der Gruppe waren außer Rand und Band. Wie gefielen ihnen das Konzert?

Interviewer [Translation]: Thanks to popular techniques, yesterday's concert at the Eilenriedehalle could actually not go wrong: all songs, from Love In Itself until Somebody, went down with the precision of a Spaceshuttle. The Dia slides accompanied by a light show displayed images that has the style of Soviet propaganda paintings, with which Depeche Mode have been flirting since Construction Time Again. To me, it left a cool, emotionless but also perfectly calculated impression. But the 5000 or so fans of the band went beside themselves. How did they like the concert?

Fan #1: Super, das ist fantastisch, so stärk! Hat mir gelaunt. Translation: Great, it was fantastic, so powerful. I liked it.

Fan #2: Die machen sehr viel mit Synthesizern und Computern. Translation: They do a lot with synthesizers and computers.

Fan #3: Ja, also ich muß ja sagen das sie zu das viel mechanisch machen und zum zweiten elektronisch, ich mein, sie legen bei alles Platten ein und so, und das ist gerade nicht das Gute da daran, finde ich. Translation: Yeah, so I have to say that they work too mechanically and electronically, I mean, they put down a tape for everything and so on, and that's the bad part about it, I think.

Fan #4: Es ist überhaupt nicht künstlich, ne? Also, ich stehe auf Klassik und so Rock oder 'was, ne? Und ich finde, es kommt teilweise so etwas ähnliches 'rüber, ne? Also, von Gefühl her! Translation: It's never artistic, no? So, I like classic and rock and stuff like that, no? And I think, this is partially similar to that, no? Well, the feeling of it!

Fan #5: [???] und nicht diesen hutzi putzi Bombe von Boney M, ne? Diesen ganzen Scheiß, ne? Translation: [???] and not that hocus pocus granade by Boney M, no? That complete shit, no?

Interviewer: Hast du eine Erklärung warum so viele ohnmächtig geworden sind? Translation: Do you have an explanation as to why so many people passed out?

Fan #6: Nee, ich mochte keine Beatles, aber es ist auch ein Gruppe geworden, ne? Die mögen auch, wegen die Hits hier. Translation: No, I don't like the Beatles, but this has also become a group, no? They are allowed to, because of the hits over here.

Interviewer: Und du? Translation: And you?

Fan #7: [female, just giggles]

Fan #8: Soweit ich schon bei tollen Konzerten gewesen bin, hält sich das nicht, ne? Also, den kleine Mädchen die hier ünbedingt jetzt die den Dings sehen wollen, naja, also sie werden heiß, na? Die halten es aber nicht aus, ne? Translation: For as far as all the other great concerts that I've been to, this does not compare. So all the little girls here desperately want to see the studs, and so they become hot, no? But they can't stand it any longer, no?

Lineage

• low generation Maxell XLII 90 high position cassette, 1982 - 1984 Europe stock -> Technics RS-AZ7 cassette deck -> Yamaha RX-V1300RDS receiver -> Roland R-05 (24/48) -> WAV (16/44) -> encoded to MP3 for streaming
• Transfer: darkdevoted