Depeche Mode is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

Depeche Mode has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! Yay!

Also: It's about time!

My Own. Personal. Polynomial.

My own. Personal. Polynomial.

Something to interpolate.
Before it’s too late.

Anyway, here is my personal polynomial.

(Tip of the cap to Dave Richeson.)

Lyrical Repetition in Pop Music

Here is a cool article about lyrical repetition (and compression possibilities) in pop music and how it's changed over the last few decades.

I of course decided to look at how Depeche Mode stacks up, and I zoomed up on them as an individual artist.

From the song and artist library they used, Depeche Mode is listed as the band from the 1990s with the least repetitive lyrics, though it does only use a subset of their songs and it listed them in the 1990s instead of the 1980s. (Naturally, the employed songs span multiple decades.)

The most lyrically repetitive Depeche Mode song is very obvious.

(Tip of the cap to Taha Yasseri and I Fucking Love Data.)

Nominations for 2017 Inductees to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

There are some sweet nominations for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the class of 2017 — including Depeche Mode and The Cars! (And especially including Depeche Mode!)

Update: The above link is to vote. It's on a website that will show different nominees in future years, so here is an article that will still show the 2017 nominees if you are looking at this blog post in the future. This year marks the first time that Depeche Mode has been one of the nominees.

Which Yiddish Word Describes Me?

You can check your own personal Yiddish word for yourself. I got "meshugene". [[whistles]]

By the way, I phrased things the way I did in the paragraph above because today is the 25th anniversary of the release of the song Personal Jesus.

"Delta Machine"

Depeche Mode's upcoming new album (out 26 March!) is called "Delta Machine". That's right! I am going to have the opportunity for many puns that combine mathematics and Depeche Mode.

For some of you, this is probably your worst nightmare.* Consider yourself suitably warned!

* Remember what happened when their 1997 album came out...?

Cool Cover of "Everything Counts"

Here is a funky cover of "Everything Counts". Very cool!

(Tip of the cap to Sunny Park.)

Scala & The Kolacny Brothers

Kevin Hickerson posted this cover version of "Creep" by Scala & The Kolacny Brothers, which is "a Belgian girls' choir, conducted by Stijn Kolacny and arranged and accompanied by Steven Kolacny on the piano." And they performed the proper version --- i.e., the one that uses the word "fuck" --- rather than the censored version I heard dozens of times at Pax 2007. I don't remember having ever heard of this group before, so I looked them up on iTunes, and they have also covered artists like Depeche Mode (3 times!), Nirvana, and even a certain song by The Divinyls. And, believe me, you haven't truly lived until you have heard a children's choir sing "I Touch Myself." This is admittedly a bit disturbing, but these choir versions of those songs are also awesome (and simultaneously also "awesome"), so I bought some of their music. Sweet! Also, I am highly amused.

This is one of the reasons I like Facebook: It makes it easier to find gems like this.

Update (9/16/11): I think this version of "I Touch Myself" is perhaps slightly more disturbing in music video format, and as my cousin Scott points out, the conductor is all kinds of creepy.

VINYL Recommendation

OK, now that is seriously awesome.

I got an item-recommendation e-mail from Amazon recommending that I buy a VINYL version of Depeche Mode's new remix collection. Now that's old school! I wholeheartedly approve! (And there is just something about this that makes me feel very happy.)

I already bought the collection as audio files on the day it came out, but now this makes me imagine, say, a victorian era automated recommendation system. Granted, those 1910 predictions of what the world might be like in 2000 (as discussed in my blog entry from earlier today) are still on my mind.

Thanks, Amazon!

Depeche Mode is Coming to Rock Band!

Depeche Mode is coming to Rock Band!

Here is the blurb on the Depeche Mode news web site: Three classic Depeche Mode songs are coming soon as downloadable content for Rock Band 3. "Personal Jesus", "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Policy Of Truth" will be released on March 8th as DLC (downloadable content) on Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3 systems. "Personal Jesus" will include Pro Guitar and Pro Bass parts.

I can't wait to play those songs!

Depeche Mode concert

I went to the Depeche Mode concert last night; the last time I saw them in concert was in spring 2006 at Coachella. The time before that was in fall 2005. This was the third time I've seen them, which is the most I've seen any artist. There was some seriously cool stuff yesterday, although nothing quite on the level of the stripped-down version of "Shake the Disease" or the 100,000 people singing along to "Enjoy the Silence" at Coachella. The version they played of "Personal Jesus" to close the show was sweet---they started with a long acoustic introduction and then switched to the conventional version. There was also seriously cool stuff with "Policy of Truth" and (because of the audience!) "Home". They played "It's No Good", which pleased me greatly because I really wanted to hear that song live after they forwent it at the other two concerts. Sadly, they didn't play "Strangelove", even though that has often showed up among the encores during the current tour, and I am still waiting to hear that song (one of my all-time favorites) live. I've waited 23 years thus far, as I can handle waiting for a couple more years. I still haven't heard "People Are People" live yet either, though I have the sneaking suspicion that that is not one of the band's favorite songs. Here are the set lists from the current tour.

I got home from London at about 2:15. I was exhausted but exhilarated.

Other details: I went to the concert with Nick Jones and his partner Jane. Our seats were awesome, as we had the front row in our section, so we never actually had to stand up to see. Earlier in the day, I met up with Jit Kee, a classmate from Caltech and one of my best friends.

"Awesome" online security code

I was buying tickets to the February 20th 2010 Depeche Mode concert in London---Oh, Hell yes!!!!! (and the set lists for most of the concerts on this tour have even included both "It's No Good" and "Strangelove", which I really want to hear live and often aren't included on DM concert set lists these days!)---and the online security code to confirm that I was a human were particularly "awesome" (and maybe even awesome) on this occasion: "$10-billion castrate".

Now I just have to wait 6 months for the concert (which I'll be attending with a couple of friends)...

A recent tribute to the original "Enjoy the Silence" music video

The alternate version of the music video for Coldplay's 2008 song "Viva la Vida" was specifically meant as a nod to the Enjoy the Silence music video. I approve! ("Enjoy the Silence" is one of my favorite songs of all time, and its music video is one of my favorite music videos of all time.) The Coldplay song is actually pretty good too.

It's coming!

That's right, friends: A new Depeche Mode album is slated to be released on April 20th, 2009. There will also be a world stadium tour to promote the album, including a performance in London. Hell yes!

In the meantime, I am going to order David Gahan's second solo album.

Amusing LinkedIn invitation

I just got a LinkedIn invitation from Ron Dollette, a Pageboy from the class of 2000. The phrasing of the invite was highly amusing:

"Yo Mason. Every time I drop in Depeche Mode's ULTRA, I still think of how you grilled me on the review I wrote for the Tech. After all these years, I gotta stay, it stands up as a fantastic album. Link a mufuca in!"

Amen!