Black Celebration, released in 1986 through Mute Records in the UK and Sire Records in the US, is the fifth album by English Alternative Dance band Depeche Mode. Building off of the template established by Some Great Reward two years prior, the album sees the band completely discard the teen-oriented image that they'd carried since their debut, ramping up the industrial influences that songwriter Martin Gore had introduced on Construction Time Again, diving deeper into the darker arrangements that Alan Wilder concurrently brought, and deemphasizing pop-friendliness in favor of a more experimental, atmospheric, and aggressive style.
Matching this, Martin Gore's lyricism becomes darker as well, taking on a far more pessimistic tone and painting portraits of a society in decay. This shift in approach, both musically and lyrically, would go on to directly inform the approach of their following three albums. While Some Great Reward had already laid the direct prototype for this album and its successors, Black Celebration further cemented it.
Promotion for the album further saw the band begin their longtime working association with photographer, graphic designer, and director Anton Corbijn, who directed the music video for "A Question of Time". Corbijn's photography style had previously played deeply into the gothic image of Joy Division, and that same dark atmosphere would carry over to the video as well, albeit offset with a sense of wit. Corbijn would continue to direct most of the band's music videos for the rest of the 20th century, as well as a few clips after that (his most recent for the band being 2017's "Where's the Revolution?").
Black Celebration was supported by three singles: "Stripped", "A Question of Lust", and "A Question of Time". In the US, the band's American label, Sire Records, opted not to release "Stripped"; however, they added its B-side, "But Not Tonight", to the album in the region, and released that as the album's final single to promote its inclusion in the film Modern Girls (with "Stripped" fittingly being the B-side instead).
Tracklist:
Side One- "Black Celebration" (4:55)
- "Fly on the Windscreen — Final" (5:18)
- "A Question of Lust" (4:20)
- "Sometimes" (1:53)
- "It Doesn't Matter Two" (2:50)
Side Two
- "A Question of Time" (4:10)
- "Stripped" (4:16)
- "Here Is the House" (4:15)
- "World Full of Nothing" (2:50)
- "Dressed in Black" (2:32)
- "New Dress" (3:42)
- "But Not Tonight" (4:15)note
She's a picture of the tropes:
- Alternate Album Cover: The initial LP release includes embossed symbols on the side of the cover that correspond to each of the album's songs; these same symbols are present in the liner notes. On most CD and digital releases, the symbols are absent from the cover, while on the UK CD release, the symbols appear printed in light gray.
- The Anti-Nihilist: Compared to the cynicism of the rest of the album, "World Full Of Nothing" leans more into this approach: a young couple are both losing their virginity, complete with Tears of Joy, and while the song makes clear it isn't a case of true love, it's still valuable as it adds a bit of happiness to an otherwise grim and meaningless world.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Played for drama on "New Dress", where a variety of tragedies around the world are contrasted with the one story everyone is focusing on: "Princess Di is wearing a new dress."
- Concept Video: Anton Corbijn's first video for the band, "A Question of Time", centers around an old man delivering an abandoned baby to the band, who then proceed to try raising it.
- The Confidant: The narrator's partner in "Here Is the House" is also considered someone he can confide to."Let's stay home, it's cold outside, and I have so much to confide to you. With or without words, I'll confide everything."
- Darker and Edgier: Black Celebration is even bleaker than the albums before it, featuring a more doomy atmosphere and pessimistic lyricism.
- A Day in the Limelight: Martin usually sings lead on one song per album, but on Black Celebration he sings about a third of the album.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Setting a trend for Anton Corbijn's music videos, the one for "A Question of Time" is shot entirely in black and white.
- Downer Ending: Outside the initial US release, the album ends with "New Dress", a cynical Protest Song about news media shafting stories of legitimate crisis in favor of peddling celebrity gossip.
- Everything Is an Instrument: The percussion track for "Stripped" consists of an idling motorcycle engine and the band smashing cars in a junkyard, both of which are visualized in the song's music video.
- Fading into the Next Song:
- The Title Track segues into "Fly on the Windscreen — Final", which in turn leads into "A Question of Lust".
- "A Question of Time" hard-cuts into "Stripped", which in turn leads into the start of "Here Is the House".
- Flower Motifs: Black Celebration begins the band's association with various flowers, with a bed of tulips being visible at the foot of the skyscraper on the cover.
- The Jailbait Wait: Implied in "A Question Of Time", where the protagonist is in love with a girl who's only 15 (the implication is that he's around 20 or so). However, he also wants the protect the girl from other guys who may take advantage of her.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Sometimes" just barely fails to crack two minutes.
- Murder Ballad: Left ambiguous, but "Stripped" is at the least playing off the parallels between backroad Auto Erotica and a Stalker with a Crush kidnapping someone in their trunk and taking them to a private spot in the woods.
- Mythology Gag: "Stripped" reprises the structure and melody of "Love, in Itself".
- New Sound Album: The band shifts to Alternative Dance, mixing their industrial Synth-Pop sound with Goth Rock.
- Patched Together from the Headlines: Nearly every line in "New Dress" is taken from an actual news headline, adding onto the sense of dread the band conveys when noting how reporters are more focused on the fact that "Princess Di is wearing a new dress."
- Protest Song: "New Dress" bitterly attacks news outlets that prioritize trendy celebrity gossip over actual important news, with the chorus outright accusing them of attempting to manipulate voters through this.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: The US release's addition of "But Not Tonight" as the new closing track gives the impression of this, showing room for genuine happiness and redemption in the face of an increasingly bleak world.
- Rearrange the Song: "Fly on the Windscreen — Final" is a remix of "Fly on the Windscreen", the B-side to "It's Called a Heart"; the suffix "Final" implies that the Black Celebration version is meant to be seen as the definitive take on the song.
- Redemption in the Rain: "But Not Tonight" sees the narrator feeling renewed by a rainstorm that they've just gotten caught in, noting how "it's filling me up with new life" to such an extent that it makes this particular night feel all the more special.
- Sequel Song: As given away by the title, "It Doesn't Matter Two" acts as a direct sequel to "It Doesn't Matter" from Some Great Reward, right down to being sung by Martin Gore.
- Shout-Out: "Stripped" namedrops Metropolis.
- Step Up to the Microphone: Martin Gore sings lead vocals on "A Question of Lust", "Sometimes", "It Doesn't Matter Two", and "World Full of Nothing".
- Strawman News Media: "New Dress" presents the news media as shoving aside horrifying tragedies in favor of falling all over Princess Diana's latest dress.
- Stripped to the Bone: Discussed metaphorically. The signature line in "Stripped" in "Let me see you stripped down to the bone", which is the main chorus lyric repeated ad nauseum.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: Initial US copies close with "But Not Tonight", an upbeat song about finding Redemption in the Rain.
- Title Track: Black Celebration is the only Depeche Mode studio album to contain one; it serves as the opening song.
- Worst News Judgment Ever: Played for drama in "New Dress", where the media push shallow celebrity journalism to the forefront while ignoring genuine crises happening around the world.
