Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel

What this video is

Released on 28 December 1987 as the third single from Music for the Masses, 'Behind the Wheel' arrived at a pivotal moment in Depeche Mode's trajectory — the album marked a deliberate push toward the American market, evidenced by the Route 66 cover version on the B-side. The video, shot in black-and-white near Málaga, Spain, positions Corbijn's signature European art-photography aesthetic against a road-movie idiom…

Why it matters

A landmark artefact of late-1980s synth-pop visual culture, this video exemplifies the Corbijn–Depeche Mode collaborative language that defined the genre's aesthetic identity: black-and-white film photography translated into moving image, narrative minimalism, and European art-cinema influence…

The director

Dutch photographer and director born 20 May 1955 in Strijen, Netherlands. Pioneer music video director from 1983, credited with approximately 80 videos for artists including Depeche Mode, U2, Nirvana, Metallica, and Nick Cave. Long-term creative director for…