Depeche Mode

Speak & Spell is the debut studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released on 5 October 1981,[3] or possibly 29 October 1981,[4] by Mute Records. It was the band's only album to feature Vince Clarke, and is much lighter in tone than their subsequent releases. The album peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, and was ranked number 991 in the 2000 book All Time Top 1000 Albums.[5] This was the only Depeche Mode album with Vince Clarke as a member. Clarke wrote most of the songs for the band, before departing to form Yazoo and later Erasure. The album is significantly lighter in tone and melody than their later work, a direction which can largely be attributed to Clarke's writing. After he left, Martin Gore took over songwriting duties, writing almost all of the band's material. Later albums written by him would explore darker subjects and melodies. When interviewed by Simon Amstell for Channel 4's Popworld programme in 2005, Gore and Fletcher both stated that the track "What's Your Name?" was their least favourite Depeche Mode song of all time.