The Alternative Number Ones: Depeche Mode’s “Walking In My Shoes”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I'm reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones, and it's for members only. Thank you to everyone who's helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

Now this is more like it.

Depeche Mode attempted to rebrand themselves with "I Feel You," the first single from their 1993 album Songs Of Faith And Devotion. "I Feel You" was built on elements that already existed in the group's music, but it took those elements way further, and it presented them in an entirely different way. Suddenly, singer Dave Gahan was a long-haired, tatted-up rocker who talked about Neil Young and Soundgarden in interviews, and the band's new sound was a hyper-processed blues-rock snarl. The message was: This band would never make blinky-blink '80s synthpop, what are you taking about, you must be thinking of some other Depeche Mode. It's the '90s, baby! Depeche Mode are ready to rock!