Blasphemous Rumours

“Blasphemous Rumours” is the ninth track from British electronic band Depeche Mode’s 1984 album: “Some Great Reward”.

“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!”.

The music video for “Blasphemous Rumours” was released sometime in 1984 but was uploaded to the band YouTube channel in December 2018 and was directed by Clive Richardson. The music video features scenes of pots and pans falling down stairs, intertwined with shots of the band performing the track live on stage to a clapping audience. As of November 2019, the video has over 2.1 million views and almost 20,000 likes.

Release Date: 29th October 1984

Songwriter: Martin Gore

Producer/s: Depeche Mode, Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones

Label: Mute

Music Video Release Date: 1984

Music Video Director: Clive Richardson

Chart Rankings: “Blasphemous Rumours” peak chart position was #16 in the UK Official Singles chart in November 1984, and spent 6 weeks in the chart. As of November 2019, “Blasphemous Rumours” has over 3 million plays on Spotify alone.

The lyrics to “Blasphemous Rumours” can be viewed here: LINK