Happy Anniversary: Depeche Mode, “Barrel of a Gun”

19 years ago today, Depeche Mode fans had their vicious appetite for new material sated at last, thanks to the band releasing the first single from their ninth studio album, Ultra.

Composed by Martin Gore, “Barrel of a Gun” was a song that some folks might've reasonably feared would never arrive, owing to all the turmoil going on within the ranks of Depeche Mode since the release of their previous studio album, 1993's Songs of Faith and Devotion. For one thing, Alan Wilder had departed the band in 1995, which - considering that he'd been in the band since 1982 - was a pretty substantial blow in and of itself, but Dave Gahan had been dealing with substance abuse issues that had been bad enough at one point to result in a suicide attempt, Martin Gore had been battling the bottle as well as suffering a series of seizures, and Andy Fletcher was suffering from depression. (Gee, go figure…)

Thankfully, Gore decided in mid-1996 to write a few new songs in the hopes of inspiring Gahan and Fletcher to revive Depeche Mode, and even more thankfully, his plan proved successful.

Produced by Tim Simenon, “Barrel of a Gun” is a dark, grinding number with lyrics that would certainly seem to be a reference to Gahan's recent troubles, but it took Gore a bit of time to decide for sure that it was a song that screamed “first single.” It proved to be a wise decision, however, as the song hit #4 on the UK Singles chart, which tied it with “People Are People” as Depeche Mode's highest-charting single in their homeland.