Depeche Mode — Strangelove

JUL 01 1987 · 12:00

Depeche Mode — Strangelove (1987) Director: Anton Corbijn Era: Post-Punk Synth-Pop Ascendancy (1987) - Lead single era of Depeche Mode's crossover album Music for the Masses; the video marked a pivotal moment in the band's international mainstream breakthrough, particularly in North America. Tier-1 archival asset. The Strangelove video is a historically significant document in both the Depeche Mode canon and the broader history of 1980s music video directing. Its documented MTV censorship controversy, its confirmed Paris production provenance, its Super 8 monochrome technique explicitly linked to Italian neorealism, and its role in a pivotal commercial breakthrough make it indispensable for any comprehensive survey of late-1980s synth-pop visual culture and the career of Anton Corbijn. Context: Released in April 1987 as the lead single from Music for the Masses, Strangelove represented a decisive commercial and artistic turning point for Depeche Mode. The song reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart and became their first of nine number ones on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, beginning their breakthrough into the American mainstream. The video's controversy with MTV — prompting a re-edited broadcast version — exemplifies the tension between the band's provocative aesthetic (drawing on BDSM imagery and cold European surrealism) and the demands of mainstream television gatekeepers. Corbijn's Parisian black-and-white filmmaking situated the band firmly within a lineage of European art cinema rather than the glossy, high-budget American pop video canon then dominating MTV. Director notes: The Strangelove video was filmed in March 1987 in and around Paris. It was shot on Super 8 in monochrome and has been described as employing a visual language related to Italian neorealism. The video features the band at various Paris locations, in hotel rooms, and in a studio against a rolling backdrop, with live action combined with stop-frame animation sequences. The original cut was deemed too controversial for MTV broadcast, leading the band to supply a re-edited version in which certain shots were replaced with footage of the band. The video was included on the Strange (1988) compilation video, The Videos 86>98 (2002), and Video Singles Collection (2016). Production company: The State. Filmed: Paris, Île-de-France, France.