Category:Depeche Mode Information Service newsletters

This article is missing one or more key documents. We are currently missing scans for several newsletters from 1981 as well as the October 1985 newsletter. If you possess a Depeche Mode Information Service newsletter that is not listed on this page and wish to contribute a scan or well-lit high quality photograph on a flat surface, please feel free to contact us. Thank you!

The Depeche Mode Information Service was an official Depeche Mode fan club newsletter publication that circulated from 1981 through 1988. The newsletter would transition to a full-fledged magazine format in 1988 as BONG magazine, which ran from 1988 until the closure of the Depeche Mode fan club in 2002.

A ZIP archive containing PDFs of the 55 issues and the 1985 introductory letter available below can be downloaded here: Download ZIP - 28.5MB

History

Initial production of the newsletter was managed by Joanne Fox (then-girlfriend and first wife of Dave Gahan), Anne Swindell (then-girlfriend of Martin Gore), and Deb Danahay (then-girlfriend of Vince Clarke) until December 1981, when Clarke's departure from Depeche Mode prompted Danahay's departure from the publication. Fox assumed primary responsibility for the production of the newsletter upon Swindell's departure in June 1983 and oversaw its publication through August 1985, when Depeche Mode tour merchandiser Bravado's took on production duties. During Fox's tenure, the newsletter was published on a monthly basis from 1981 through August 1985^[1], after which it transitioned to a bimonthly release upon the change in production duties from Fox to Bravado's.

In late 1987, the newsletter began to introduce a series of changes to herald its transition into a magazine-style publication. Among these changes were a new mailing address, a fan contest to design a new logo to be used on the front cover of future issues, and a name change to "The Depeche Mode Fan Club". The newsletter saw its first release as a magazine in January 1988, and would adopt the BONG title starting with its fourth issue.

See more: BONG magazine scans

References