Daniel Miller - Godfather of Technopop - Page 2

"A tear of petrol is in your eye
The hand brake penetrates your thigh
Quick! let's make love, Before you die."

The inorganic minimalism of the backing and Miller's dry tone drain the flesh and blood from the scene, leaving an icy erotic frisson.

After the unexpected success of the single, Miller signed Fad Gadget to Mute and entered a "real" studio, engineer Eric Radcliffe's Blackwing in London, for the first time. Miller felt self-conscious producing Gadget; he had never worked in front of anyone before. Perhaps in response, he created a phantom band, Silicon Teens, and recorded a burbling all-electronic album of classic rock 'n' roll songs including "Memphis, Tennessee," "You Really Got Me" and "Judy In Disguise," aptly called Music For Parties, essentially wrapping up his career as an artist in '80.

Keyboardists Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher had formed a new romantic band in the Basildon area of London in '76 called No Romance In China, which evolved into Composition of Sound by '79 when guitarist/keyboardist Martin Gore joined. The addition of singer David Gahan in '80 completed the lineup and the group's name was changed to Depeche Mode ("fast fashion" in French).

The group's key move was to forsake all non-electronic instruments. They attracted a large following around the clubs of London drawn to their snappy dance beats and Clarke's insistent, memorable melodies. Miller saw Depeche live and signed them to Mute.

Their first single was "Dreaming of Me," its proudly artificial opening beat, and two-note Close Encounters synth beacon signaling the creation of technopop. The song's jaunty, mid-tempo tune is conveyed by Gahan's earnest Ringo-meets-Eno vocals, a plinking keyboard line, and supported by whizzing synth washes and cheerful harmonies.

A near-giddy cheerfulness underpins the whole affair. "Dreaming" reached the middle of the U.K. charts in spring '81, followed almost immediately by a second single. "New Life" jumps out of the box much more quickly, rushing at the listener with the urgency - cleverly augmented by a circumambulatory synth line - of "Complicating, circulating, new life," generating an image of greenish plasma coursing through incipient veins. "Life" shot to No. 11 in the U.K., the first of a remarkable 24 consecutive Top 30 hits in the U.K. for the band.

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