Blasphemous Rumours

Lore & Background

The song stems from the times that Martin Gore would go to church alone, not with bandmate Andy Fletcher. Gore describes the song's meaning: "I was going to church a lot at the time, not because I believed in it, but because there was nothing else to do on a Sunday. I found the service very hard to take seriously. The whole setup is quite handy but I'm not sure that's what God intended. Particularly a part of the service called the prayer list, when the preacher rattles off the names of those sick and about to die. The person at the top of the list was guaranteed to die, but still everyone went right ahead thanking God for carrying out his will. It just seemed so strange to me, so ridiculous and so removed from real experiences." Dave Gahan said, "I'm by the way not anti-religious at all! My mother was in the Salvation Army. So she sent me to the church every Sunday till my 18th birthday. Together with my sister, we usually went for a ride with the bike and told mum afterwards how lovely the homily was. The song only wants to say that no one should let someone force anything upon him. Whether it's politics or something else, that doesn't matter. You have to choose yourself what you wanna do with your life. And dare to take risks."

Reader's Guide

The track was recorded in late 1983 through mid-1984 at Music Works in London and Hansa Studios in West Germany. Depeche Mode had released their previous single, "Master and Servant", to mild controversy due to its sexual theme. BBC Radio had considered, but did not, ban "Master and Servant" from radio airplay, and were still concerned about radio censorship following the blowback from their censoring Frankie Goes to Hollywood's song "Relax" a few months before the "Blasphemous Rumours" / "Somebody" single was released. Wary of growing pushback from British press and clergy, Mute decided to release "Blasphemous Rumours" on Depeche Mode's first-ever double-A side release, paired with "Somebody". Band member Andy Fletcher later said, "we wouldn't say our songs are controversial. They do cause controversy, but Martin [Gore] would say all he does is write about life." The song was later included on compilation albums including The Singles 81→85 (1985), Catching Up with Depeche Mode (1985) and Greatest Hits (1987). Live performances appeared on The World We Live In and Live in Hamburg (1985) and 101 (1989). The video appeared on Some Great Videos (1985) and Video Singles Collection (2016).

Did You Know?

• The single was Depeche Mode's second double A-side release; their earlier single 'Get the Balance Right!' / 'The Great Outdoors!' in 1983 was indeed a double A-side.
• The live tracks on the 12" release were recorded on 29 September 1984 at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, the same day as the single's release.