How come they aren't recognized?

A dozen studio albums spanning the last 31 years.
Several excellent remix albums.
Too many fantastic tunes to mention.

A massive influence on electronic and dance music.
Their tunes covered by many well known artists.
They have influenced so many bands.

They continue, to this day, to play to huge audiences worldwide.
They broke the USA over 25 years ago, playing to 60,000 at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
Massive popularity worldwide.

There are only a handful of British bands that have achieved this level of success and this level of influence.

Yet as far as the UK music industry is concerned, they may as well not exist.

I agree.

I like some of their songs and having seen them on youtube, they look great live.

When Brian May and Roger Taylor walked on stage tonight, they hardly got a reaction. Probably because the audience is full of younger people who have no idea who they are lol.

Plus they have a bar dedicated to them in Estonia, all the decor is Depeche Mode themed and it plays nothing but Depeche Mode music - not many acts can claim something like that!

Nice!

That'd be cool, actually.

Not that the BRITs really have anything going for them, but a performance would be great.

I agree with the OP. They do seem to be strangely snubbed by The Brits. Blur were very poor tonight.

Damon Albarn sounded terrible tonight.
Not knocking Blur getting their award, though.
I like their music.
But they haven't been together for ages. On and off for the last decade or so.

It's the same with Duran Duran or Pet Shop Boys winning the same award in the past few years.

These bands had some success in patches.

Yet Depeche Mode have never gone into the wilderness, never had a "come back".

They have continued to produce. Continued to tour. They are fantastic live.

Dave Gahan wouldn't put in a performance like Damon Albarn did this evening. It would be top notch.

The reason I thought about this, the reason I posted, was because I heard talk on the news about the rise of independent labels and their success at the Brits this year.

It seems to me, that the fact that Depeche Mode are with Mute, an independent label, is one of the reasons for their lack of recognition.

It seems a bit hypocritical to me.

i've been in that bar

All of the performances i've seen of them on Youtube have been great.

This thread is busier than my thread calling for Richard Thompson to get it

Still about time Madness won it aswell

Just having a conversation about this very matter about two hours ago.

Vince Clarke:
Depeche Mode
Yazoo
The Assembly
Erasure

I'm confused why Kate Bush was up for British Female and not this. Has she ever had this award? If not, she deserves it!

Yes, they definitely deserve it. I think I might have heard somewhere that they haven't got it because they're not signed to a major label, though I don't know if this is true. The way these things work can be a bit silly.

Does the outstanding contribution award still exist even? I thought I heard somewhere that they were getting rid of it. If not, who won it tonight? I didn't watch.

Kate was offered it but only if she performed on the show, not being a media whore she refused

Blur won it, lol

An example of different artists covering a Depeche Mode tune ..

Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode - Live in Barcelona 2010

Personal Jesus - Johnny Cash

Personal Jesus - Marilyn Manson

Opposite ends of the spectrum. Two decent covers, though, in my opinion.

So many of their tunes have been covered. Not all good. The Saturdays did this ...

Just Can't Get Enough

It does make me chuckle that this tune has become a football chant recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTEUDtX4UtQ

hahaha I thought so too, by Celtic fans!

It's mad that a 31 year old tune from Depeche Modes first album has become such a huge footy anthem.

Worldwide too.

The original live

You could pretty much say the same about Iron Maiden.

80+ million albums sold globally since 1980 and, similar to Depeche Mode, in the UK media and music industry they also might as well not exist.

[quote=Menoetius;56709894]Damon Albarn sounded terrible tonight.
Not knocking Blur getting their award, though.
I like their music.
But they haven't been together for ages. On and off for the last decade or so.

It's the same with Duran Duran or Pet Shop Boys winning the same award in the past few years.

These bands had some success in patches.

I agree with this. I remember Duran Durans performance was, for some reason, put into the middle of the show and not the end like all the other winners of this award. I often wondered why.
I do like Blur and they were brill, apart from it not being Damons best vocal performance. Let's face it, they can not be accused of miming last night.
It's definately over due for Depeche Mode to win the Outstanding achievement award.
I love the YouTube clip of Martin Gore, dressed in a bondage type outfit, singing, 'Question of Lust'. I just love that one.
I also think it's about time Midge Ure and Ultravox, Madness and Erasure got this award.