Blasphemous Rumours

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Lore & Background

The song stems from the times that Martin Gore would go to church alone, not with bandmate Andy Fletcher. When Gore initially showed Fletcher the song, he found it quite offensive. 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! I only oppose a certain kind of religion that was forced upon me when I was young. 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."

In Their Own Story

The single was released on 29 October 1984 by Mute Records in the UK, and Intercord records in Germany. In the UK, there were two 7" vinyl releases, the first of which included only the two songs, and the second of which was an extended play 7" that also contained live tracks recorded during the then-underway Some Great Reward Tour. The 12" release included additional live tracks recorded from the same performance. Catalogue numbers were 7BONG7, 7BONG7E and 12BONG7, respectively. In Germany, the same releases were given catalogue numbers INT 111.824 regardless of the release format. The live tracks were recorded just a month before the single's release, on 29 September 1984 at Liverpool Empire Theatre. The single represented the first double A-side single for Depeche Mode. "Blasphemous Rumours" was later included on Greenpeace – The Album (1985). Videos for both "Blasphemous Rumours" and "Somebody" were shot (separately), and were both directed by Clive Richardson, who had directed many of the band's contemporary videos. In 2017, "Blasphemous Rumours" was included on Billboard's list of their top 20 Depeche Mode songs.

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.