Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the lineup of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists of Gahan and Gore.
With Clarke as their primary songwriter, Depeche Mode released their debut album Speak & Spell in 1981 amid the British new wave scene. Clarke left the band at the end of 1981, going on to form the groups Yazoo and later Erasure. The remaining trio recorded their second album, A Broken Frame, with Martin Gore as chief songwriter. The band then recruited Alan Wilder, establishing a lineup that continued until 1995, beginning with the albums Construction Time Again and Some Great Reward. The albums Black Celebration and Music for the Masses cemented them as a dominant force within the electronic and alternative music scenes, and their June 1988 concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl drew a crowd of over 60,000 people.
In 1990, they released their seventh album, Violator, which reached number seven on the Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA.