Depeche Mode
Blasphemous Rumours
“Blasphemous Rumours” is the ninth track from British electronic band Depeche Mode’s 1984 album: “Some Great Reward”.
Depeche Mode’s “Blasphemous Rumours” is a tale of bad luck, irony and religion. The central character is a sixteen-year old girl who, at the beginning of the track, slits her own wrists in an attempt to commit suicide. Upon realizing that she was unsuccessful, she thanks God that she is still alive. Later in the song, we find that she is now eighteen and committed to “Jesus Christ”. During this time she is so severely injured in a car accident that she ends up on life support. This boil downs to the singer spreading “blasphemous rumours” based on his belief that the Most High is some type of a prankster who derives pleasure from people’s misfortunes.
“Blasphemous Rumours” was written by Martin Gore and tells the story of a young 16 year old who attempts suicide and fails, but however gets killed in a car accident at 18 after experiencing a religious revival. It was rumoured by fans that the track was a response to Gore’s sister’s suicide, however Gore explained the true meaning behind the song in his 1990 interview with Spin magazine: “I was going to church a lot at the time, not because I believed in it, but because there was nothing else to do on a Sunday. I found the service very hard to take seriously. The whole setup is quite handy but I’m not sure that’s what God intended. Particularly a part of the service called the prayer list, when the preacher rattles off the names of those sick and about to die. The person at the top of the list was guaranteed to die, but still everyone went right ahead thanking God for carrying out his will. It just seemed so strange to me, so ridiculous and so removed from real experiences.” The track brought a lot of controversy to band, with band member Dave Gahan explaining to Belgian Magazine “Joepie” that the song was not intended to be offensive. “I’m by the way not anti-religious at all! I only oppose a certain kind of religion that was forced upon me when I was young. My mother was in the Salvation Army. So she sent me to the church every Sunday till my 18th birthday. Together with my sister, we usually went for a ride with the bike and told mom afterwards how lovely the homily was. The song only wants to say that no one should let someone force anything upon him. Whether it’s politics or something else, that doesn’t matter. You have to choose yourself what you wanna do with your life. And dare to take risks. That’s what Depeche Mode did too and everything turned out quite good for us, didn’t it? Last year I wasn’t even at home on Christmas! And I can do that to my mother twice, whether she’s in the Salvation Army or not!”.