Behind The Wall

Content

Depeche Mode are one of the longest-lasting bands to emerge from the fast-paced pop music era of the 1980s. To this day, they also have some of the most devoted fans. Behind the Wall tells the story of this unique fan culture in the 1980s—behind the Wall, in the GDR (East Germany).

Following their 2013 bestseller Depeche Mode Monument, Sascha Lange and Dennis Burmeister have turned their attention to the phenomenon of Depeche Mode fans in the GDR. An enormous collection of previously unpublished photographs and documents, along with interviews with numerous fans, concert organizers, fanzine editors, fan club organizers, and other eyewitnesses, provides an unprecedented insight into both counterculture and everyday life in East Germany.

At the same time, Behind the Wall is a coming-of-age story. A do-it-yourself story. A music story. A story about Depeche Mode. A story that shows how much more alike young people in East and West Germany were in the 1980s than they realized. And yet they were different—because of their respective social circumstances.

Behind the Wall tells the story of a fall of the Wall long before the actual fall of the Berlin Wall. It is also the story of the fans’ extraordinary and enduring love for their band.

Table of Contents

• Before the Pop Revolution
• Punk & New Wave?
• The Cultural Gateway to the Eighties – Neue Deutsche Welle
• Music on Television?
• People Are People
• Let’s Have a Black Celebration?
• In Search of Vinyl Records
• Depeche Mode – Behind the Wall, 1985?
• The Detour via Beat Street?
• Between RIAS and DT64
• Music Magazines
• Contacts with Western Fans
• Music for the Masses?
• Pentecost 1987 in Berlin and Its Aftermath
• The Long Road to the Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle
• Fanatical Youth and the Stasi
• World in My Eyes
• Depeche Mode Fan Clubs in the GDR