Listeners of Rock music will often pit two bands together to determine

which between them is better. Whether it’s The Ramones vs. The Sex Pistols,
Metallica vs. Megadeth, Pearl Jam vs. Nirvana, there’s a band rivalry in just
about every genre. While these debates certainly provide for some colorful
commentary, the musical aspects of the two competing bands are strikingly
similar. This only adds to the strangeness of my love for both The Beatles
and Depeche Mode.

Exotic as it might seem however, there actually are major similarities

between the two. The one that sticks out most is both bands’ usage of the
synthesizer. Granted, The Beatles used the instrument to add to their sound,
while Depeche Mode’s sound is entirely built off of the instrument, but the
popularization of the synthesizer wouldn’t have been possible without The
Beatles. Any enjoyer of Rock music has probably heard the track, “Maxwell’s
Silver Hammer”. What people tend to forget about the track is its extensive
use of a Moog synthesizer. They were expensive, they were clunky, and were
not considered a “real” instrument to be used in Rock music. Despite this
notion however, The Beatles decided to become one of the first groups to
make the synthesizer “cool” to use in Rock music.

The breaking of this barrier allowed for the eventual upbringing of a

type of music known as “Synthpop”. For anyone under 40, Synthpop is
basically Rock music with the synthesizer as the core instrument. Passion Pit,
MGMT, and LCD Soundsystem are modern examples of this genre. These
modern examples however, are but a second wave of a style of music that
was extremely popular in the 1980s. One of the most successful Synthpop
bands is in fact, Depeche Mode. While part of this is a result of the
improvement of synthesizer technology, to the point that it could be used by
mainstream pop and rock acts, a lot of it is in part to its early usage by The
Beatles.

Of course, anyone who has any knowledge of music groups knows that
the music they produce is truly only half of the equation. The other half
comes from the relationships between the artists, something that The
Beatles and Depeche Mode have common ground on. Much like the band
structure of The Beatles, which feature Paul McCartney and John Lennon as
the lead men, with George Harrison and Ringo Starr filling in the back,
Depeche Mode features a similar design. Martin Gore (the guitarist, back up
singer, and lyric writer of the group) is accompanied by David Gahan as the
lead men of the group, with Andrew Fletcher filling in any major stuff in the
back. There is a difference here, in that Depeche Mode is a trio, however this
is because of Alan Wilder’s (the former keyboardist for the group) departure
from the band in the mid 90’s.

Here we see another similarity arise: the tightness of the bands. In The
Beatles’ ten year run from 1960-1970, they had only two changes in their
line-up, both of which occurred in the very early years of the band (Pete
Best, who was replaced by Starr in 1962, and Stuart Sutcliffe, the original
bassist of The Beatles, who passed away in 1962). Since Depeche Mode’s
formation in 1980, they have had only two changes in their line-up as well,
with Vince Clarke’s (former lead singer of the group) departure in 1981, and
Alan Wilder leaving in 1995.

Though all of these stated reasons show more of an indirect influence

from The Beatles on Depeche Mode, there is one that’s much more direct.
Though none of the members of Depeche Mode have explicitly stated that
The Beatles have been an influence on their sound, Martin Gore heavily
implied it in his 2003 solo effort,Counterfeit². According to Gore, the 11 song
cover album features songs that he considers to be very influential in the
music that he has created, and is creating, for Depeche Mode. Although the
majority of the songs are by artists most consider to directly influence
Synthpop, there’s one that seems to sort of stick out: “Oh My Love”, a song
that was written by none other, than John Lennon. Even more bizarre than
that however, is the fact that George Harrison contributed the guitar track to
“Oh My Love” when Lennon officially released it on his legendary
album, Imagine. The strangest of it all however, is that Lennon originally
wrote and demoed the song in 1968, when The Beatles were still churning
out new music constantly. With this fact in mind, it’s not too much of a
stretch to say that Martin Gore, the main composer of Depeche Mode’s
music, is influenced by The Beatles.

This much is clear: despite the stark differences in their overall sound,
Depeche Mode’s upbringing is intertwined, and can be partially attributed to,
The Beatles. This is both directly (Gore being influenced by them), and
indirectly (incorporating the synthesizer in their final album, Abbey Road,
and therefore paving the way for extensive use of the synthesizer in popular
music to become a reality). It’s pretty remarkable, that the final efforts of a
popular band would eventually become the first efforts of another.