The video for Depeche Mode’s new single, “Wrong,” only takes three minutes to be more nerve-wracking than most of the horror movies or Hollywood thrillers I see every year. The Justin Daughters-directed clip begins with a car careening backwards, running into things, its driver slumped over in the front seat. The driver comes to, and you see that he’s bound by duct tape, his face covered in a mask. It’s like the Bizarro World version of that first scene in North By Northwest where Roger Thornhill drunkenly careens down a twisty mountain road—only the difference here is that the lack of the “driver’s” control is palpable, and not played for laughs. You knew Cary Grant’s gonna make it out in the end. But this poor schlub?
I love the fact that these days Depeche Mode is perfectly happy being Depeche Mode. The band’s career had some missteps (Songs of Faith and Devotion Live), but there aren’t many out-and-out stinkers, even with Dave Gahan’s “troubles.” The band plays it pretty straight because their sound at this point is so defined and… comforting? “Comforting”’s probably not the right word for a band whose stock in trade is the kind of menacing, shuffled synth pop evident in this song.
“Wrong” is the first single released under the “iTunes Pass” experiment heralding the release of Depeche Mode’s new LP, Sounds of the Universe. For $18.99, an interested party can sign up for a season pass of sorts to the album; “Wrong” and a remix are immediately downloadable with purchase, with videos and other goodies being part of the 15-week subscription. That includes the album, which streets April 21. It’s an interesting concept, and iTunes is a good content delivery system for this sorta thing—but the price still seems high to me, given there is no physical product involved. Wouldn’t it be great if every album purchase had this sort of extra content for the same price as a regular album? As a preorder experiment, it’s nice. However, I feel like the major labels get that consumers want extra content but still haven’t figured out that, in the end, it’s the price (economy), stupid.
Depeche Mode - Wrong [Dailymotion]
I love this song more than words can possibly describe.
This song, and video, are BANGIN’. Nice work, guys.
And I agree that the presale thing is an excellent idea, and at $15 I’d be buying it on the spot, but as somebody who largely buys physical records, I’m probably going to pass.
The Pass thing is interesting but needs a little more detail before I fully spring for it, given the content already on the deluxe physical version.
(That said, I probably will get the Pass at some point anyway. And yes, stellar song, etc. And while I agree that SOFAD Live was a big ‘uh,’ hearing the full-on live version of “In Your Room” before they switched to always doing the Butch Vig version live is great as hell. The introduction to “Walking In My Shoes” is also one of those ‘holy shit’ moments when the orchestral part suddenly goes distorted.)
The Pass is a joke, and a rip-off to the fans. As far as I can tell the content that comes with the Pass doesn’t overlap with the content that comes with the awesome 2CD+DVD deluxe version of SOTU, so if you want all the remixes and exclusive tracks you’ll have to buy both (or use BitTorrent). And the fact that I don’t get any of that with the vinyl release really sucks.
3CD+DVD, actually! Don’t forget the demo disc.
This would be an automatic purchase if it also included a physical disc.
@Ned Raggett: Ned, perhaps the cool thing about it is the mystery? If they truly held out on neat content (and I doubt this) then that would be pretty exciting to get, say, once a month or so.
I’m thinking that a DM “Five favorite tracks” post a la last week’s awesome Pet Shop Boys call-out would be a lot of fun…
I’m thinking that a DM “Five favorite tracks” post a la last week’s awesome Pet Shop Boys call-out would be a lot of fun…
@Lucas Jensen: Downward spiral from that to exclusive tracks of Chad Kroeger literally farting around in the Nickelback Pass.
That’s the not first scene in North by Northwest. It starts in Manhattan….right?
Can we just get back to how great this single is?
@disinterested 3rd party: Yes.
@Lucas Jensen: Maybe? I really like what Kristin Hersh was doing last year, releasing one song a month for free on the internet (with stems and everything so people could make remixes or whatever, which is awesome yet odd being that it’s Kristin Hersh and not, you know, someone that people ever remix.) But at the same time after the third or fourth month I kept forgetting to actually listen to the new songs.
Also if you’re looking for Hitchcock car scenes, the one in Family Plot is way crazier.
@disinterested 3rd party: Well, I meant one of the first scenes. After the credits it starts with him in the restaurant raising his hand and inadvertently becoming “George Kaplan”.
@bcapirigi: I have never seen Family Plot all the way through. I bought it used on VHS years ago, and it broke, and it’s not at any of the video stores around here. Is it even on DVD? One of the things that hurts me the most in this life was that Family Plot was his last movie, when he had just gotten the rights to Elmore Leonard’s fantastic Unknown Man #89.
@Lucas Jensen: Didn’t mean to be a film nerd, but that’s on of my favorites and you kind of blew my mind for a minute….