Depeche Mode - People Are People

What this video is

Released on 12 March 1984 as the lead single from Depeche Mode's fourth studio album 'Some Great Reward,' 'People Are People' arrived at the height of Cold War tension and West Germany's distinct cultural anxieties. The video's aggressive splicing of band performance against Cold War military hardware — warships, submarines, naval personnel — functioned as an explicit visual argument reinforcing the song's…

Why it matters

A landmark single in the evolution of British synthpop into industrial-inflected electronic pop. The track's use of Synclavier sampling, found-sound percussion loops, and layered tape technology represented a step-change in programmed-music production technique. As Depeche Mode's breakthrough US…

The director

Clive Richardson is a British music video director active in the early-to-mid 1980s UK promotional film industry. He is credited as director of Depeche Mode's 'People Are People' (1984), confirmed by IMDB (tt6149676), Wikipedia's 'People Are People' article,…