Memories 

Violator: A Rose by Another Name

Amanda 4 Comments , , ,
Violator insert. Photo courtesy of DepMod.com
Violator insert. Photo courtesy of DepMod.com.

Twenty years ago today, 15,000 teenagers descended upon Wherehouse Music at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, eagerly awaiting an in-store appearance by the band. The event was to promote the release of Violator, what would become one of Depeche Mode’s master works. It fuelled more publicity than ever imagined as the crowd situation spiraled out of control. Fearing for their safety, the band had to leave only minutes into their appearance – they didn’t do another in-store event until 2005.

I wish I could commemorate this anniversary with sweet memories of going to my local record store to purchase Violator, or share my own harrowing tale of the infamous Wherehouse riot, but alas, I cannot. I was seven years old – an age when most music bothered me because I found it hard to hear myself think. I didn’t care for pop music for a long time, inundated by what was left of the hairbands, bubble-gum pop and every other school-girl’s crushes on New Kids on the Block. My parents didn’t listen to top 40 radio and I was too young to care about MTV. I managed to completely miss the entire movement around the album, despite the media frenzy, and despite fact my step-sister owned the album. How many weekends I must have spent only feet away from music that would change my life so many years later!

Even though I can’t share in the memories of the time it was released, I can still fondly reflect on when Violator was new to me. In the fall of 1999, there were many hours spent on school buses, travelling to and from competitions with Violator by my side (in my handy discman!). I’m sure I thought “Halo” was the best song ever made, though there was never a track I didn’t like. My friend and I even sang “Enjoy the Silence” together for good luck between warm-ups and marching onto the field at every competition. I think it says a lot about Violator that nine years after it’s release, I knew several teenagers who treasured it in the same way as those who’d come before them. There’s no doubt in my mind the album will continue to console disaffected youth, inspire artists and musicians, and move all who love it for many years to come. Cheers to Depeche Mode, who’s music continues to carry on beyond their wildest dreams.

Amanda

Amanda is an enthusiastic, globe-trotting Mode fan who discovered the band in late 1998. Although she often feels like she got a late start in the Depeche Mode's career, she's survived nearly 20 years of the fandom, five new albums and multiple meetings with her love for the band intact (and stronger than ever). Amanda is a life-long creative, a classically trained graphic designer, working professionally as a User Experience Designer for one of the world's largest technology companies. When not at work or traveling for Depeche, she enjoys character illustration, comics, movies and Japanese Culture. And cats. Lots of Cats.

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  • jaye

    I was 15…and 20 yrs later….that album STILL gives me the chills. Well done Amanda.

  • http://www.antiherotshirts.com/ mark

    I’m old enough to remember Depeche Mode in the early days of electronic music, “just can,t get enough”, etc.
    I was into Numan in those days, it was darker, but years later when I heard Violator, it was like there coming of age and they created a dark, hauntingly romantic album, a beautiful piece of work.

  • Shasta

    I am…..old enough which is both a blessing as growing up in So Cal, I had a ringside seat to some of the greatest Mode moments ever, and a curse as I am…well…OLD. HAHA At any rate, I was 19 and I remember clearly the day Violator was released. We had been waiting for so long. A friend and I were so beside ourselves that we couldn’t wait to get off of work that day. The original intent was to run to Music Plus at lunch and come back but once I popped that cassette into my car stereo I couldn’t stop listening. It grabbed hold to tightly and touched so deeply…we knew it was special from the first time we hit play.

    The Wherehouse riots….wow. They were intense. When we got there the line was already wrapped arond the corner and stretched for 5 blocks. I can’t say how many blocks the line went on behind us but it was a sea of people. A girlfriend of mine was at the very front of the line but joining was absoloutely not an option. While there was a feeling of community and shared devotion – people were there with flowers and posters and boomboxes blasting tunes and sharing stories – there was at the same time a tense, competetive vibe that grew with each passing moment and each new person joining the line. I think that we all knew that as the crowd grew, the chances that we would get to meet the boys grew smaller. People got restless. Complaints could be heard. There was a roar that I can only liken to a shockwave when the doors were opened. Then like an enormous game of telephone, the message started getting passed back through the crowd and people just lost their minds. It just sort of exploded into madness and chaos. I’ve never seen anything like it.

    That friend of mine was one of the few people who made it inside. I of course didn’t make it in, but wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

    • Amanda

      Awesome! great to read your story of being there on release day! Thanks for sharing, Shasta!