Some Great Reward

Some Great Reward
Depeche Mode studio album
Publication (s)	September 24, 1984
admission	January – August 1984
Label (s)	Mute Records
Genre (s)	Synthie Pop , Electro Wave , Post-Industrial , New Wave , Dark Wave ,
Title (number)	9
running time	40:15
occupation	Dave Gahan Martin Gore Alan Wilder Andrew Fletcher
production	Depeche Mode, Daniel Miller , Gareth Jones
Studio (s)	Music Works, London and Hansa Mischraum , Berlin
Location (s)	London, Berlin
chronology Construction Time Again (1983) Some Great Reward Black Celebration (1986)
Single releases March 12, 1984 People Are People 20th August 1984 Master and Servant October 29, 1984 Blasphemous Rumors / Somebody

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Some Great Reward   DE 3 10/08/1984 (24 weeks)   AT 19th 11/01/1984 (4 weeks)   CH 5 07/10/1984 (17 weeks)   UK 5 10/06/1984 (12 weeks)   US 51 January 19, 1985 (42 weeks)

Singles

People Are People   DE 1 04/09/1984 (19 weeks)   AT 6th 06/01/1984 (8 weeks)   CH 4th 04/15/1984 (13 weeks)   UK 4th March 24, 1984 (11 weeks)   US 13 May 25, 1985 (18 weeks) Master and Servant   DE 2 09/17/1984 (18 weeks)   CH 8th 09/23/1984 (9 weeks)   UK 9 09/01/1984 (9 weeks)   US 87 07.09.1985 (3 weeks) Blasphemous Rumors / Somebody   DE 22nd 12/17/1984 (12 weeks)   CH 19th December 23, 1984 (7 weeks)   UK 16 11/10/1984 (6 weeks)

Some Great Reward is the fourth studio album by British synthpop band Depeche Mode . It was produced at Hansa Records in Berlin , among others . Some Great Reward was very successful in Germany. It reached number three on the charts, the singles People are People and Master and Servant number one and two respectively. The title is taken from the song Lie to Me found on the album .

Track list

1. Something to Do - 3:46
2. Lie to Me - 5:03
3. People Are People - 3:51
4. It Doesn't Matter - 4:43
5. Stories of Old - 3:12
6. Somebody - 4:27
7. Master and Servant - 4:12
8. If You Want - 4:40
9. Blasphemous Rumors - 6:21

All of the songs were written by Martin Gore, except for If You Want , which was written by Alan Wilder. Gore sings two songs on this album with It Doesn't Matter and Somebody , Dave Gahan sings the rest.

Single releases

• People Are People - March 12, 1984
• Master and Servant - August 20, 1984
• Blasphemous Rumors / Somebody - October 29, 1984

People Are People gave Depeche Mode its international breakthrough. The single was the first of the band to make it onto the US Billboard Hot 100 , where it climbed to number 13.

Blasphemous Rumors / Somebody is Depeche Mode's first double single and Somebody is the first single track sung by Martin Gore.

Setlist of the Some Great Reward tour 1984/1985

1. Master and Servant (instrumental intro)
2. Something to Do
3. Two minute warning
4. Puppets
5. If you want
6. People Are People
7. Leave in silence
8. New Life
9. Shame
10. • Somebody
    • It doesn't matter
11. • Ice Machine
    • Shake the disease
12. Lie to Me
13. Blasphemous rumors
14. Told You So
15. Master and Servant
16. Photographic
17. Everything Counts
18. See you
19. Shout
20. Just Can't Get Enough

Controversy

The singles Master and Servant and Blasphemous Rumors were controversial because of their lyrics and - especially in the USA - ignored by many radio stations.

Master and Servant thematizes, for the time very openly, sexual practices: "It's a lot like life / This play between the sheets / With you on top and me underneath / Forget all about equality / Let's play master and servant".

As the title suggests (see blasphemy ), Blasphemous Rumors is very critical of religion. The song is about a 16-year-old girl who initially survived a suicide attempt, but at the age of 18, who gained a new zest for life through faith in Jesus Christ , is seriously injured in a car accident and later dies. The story is based on a true incident. The chorus in particular provoked the church: "I don't want to start / Any blasphemous rumors / But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor / And when I die I expect to find him laughing".

Re-release

On October 2nd, 2006 a re-release of Some Great Reward was released on SACD and DVD. In addition to the album songs in multi-channel sound and the documentation Depeche Mode 1984: "You can get away with anything if you give it a good tune", it also contains the following bonus tracks :

• If You Want (Live in Basel and Liverpool, Autumn 1984)
• People Are People (Live in Basel and Liverpool, Autumn 1984)
• Somebody (Live in Basel and Liverpool, Autumn 1984)
• Blasphemous Rumors (Live in Basel and Liverpool, Autumn 1984)
• Master and Servant (Live in Basel and Liverpool, Autumn 1984)
• In your memory
• (Set Me Free) Remotivate Me
• Somebody (Remix)

literature

• Uwe Böhm, Gerd Buschmann: Theodicy in pop music. In: diess .: Pop music - religion - teaching. Models and materials for didactics of popular culture. (= Symbol - Myth - Media Volume 5). Münster 2002. pp. 225-232.

Web links

• Some Great Reward , People Are People , Master and Servant and Blasphemous Rumors / Somebody on the official band homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ musicline.de: Depeche Mode in the German single charts ( Memento of the original from April 26th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Austriancharts.at: Depeche Mode in the Austrian charts
3. ↑ hitparade.ch: Depeche Mode in the Swiss charts
4. ↑ Depeche Mode in the Official UK Charts (English)
5. ↑ billboard.com: Depeche Mode on the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart
6. ↑ billboard.com: Depeche Mode on the US Billboard 200 album charts