Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth

What this video is

Released in May 1990, 'Policy of Truth' arrived at a pivotal cultural moment: Depeche Mode had just broken into mainstream global rock consciousness with Violator, an album that transcended their synth-pop origins and found crossover success in the United States. The single was unique in charting higher on the US Billboard Hot 100 (number 15) than the UK Singles Chart (number 16), reflecting the band's growing…

Why it matters

A landmark synth-pop and electronic new wave artifact demonstrating the genre's capacity for cinematic, emotionally complex visual storytelling. Corbijn's directorial aesthetic — pairing electronic music with film-noir-inflected realism — helped codify the 'art music video' as a legitimate form,…

The director

Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (born 20 May 1955, Strijen, Netherlands) is a Dutch photographer, music video director, and feature film director. He began as a music photographer around 1975 and became the long-standing creative director for…