Depeche Mode fans have strong opinions about their favourite band – check any forum, Facebook post or pre-gig bar and you’ll witness endless debates about the best X or the worst Y.
Violators might be universally adored by the so-called “Devotees” but there is plenty of room for disagreement over many aspects of the album.
Since late 2018, Twitter account PollicyOfTruth has been taking the temperature of the fanbase with numerous polls via the social network.
If you are a Twitter user and don’t follow the account, we urge you to do so – for the laughs, conversation and the opportunity to take part and see the results of the polls, among other things.
In the run-up to Halo’s release day, our co-authors persuaded Polls to run a series of votes about Violator-related issues.
We are delighted to share the results of seven polls carried out over the course of September (note: some are more serious than others):
[Our very warm thanks to Polls for doing this for us, we really appreciate it]
First up is an obvious one…
The next few weeks is all about @HALOBook although, disgracefully, they're not paying me to say that. We've got a bunch of Violator polls to mark the book's release and here's the first. BEST. SINGLE. Easy. You're not voting for b-sides or remixes here, this is all about side A.
— Depeche Mode Polls (@PollicyOfTruth) August 25, 2022
Time to think about design…
Time for another Violator poll courtesy of those two reprobates at @HALOBook. This time we want to know which of the four singles had the best artwork. For me Anton's photos for WIME are very hard to beat, but surely the different ETS roses will perform well…
— Depeche Mode Polls (@PollicyOfTruth) September 1, 2022
With plenty of versions to choose from, when it comes to remixes during the Violator era, we asked specifically about the dubs…
** VIOLATOR SINGLES DUB MIX SHOWDOWN! **
— Depeche Mode Polls (@PollicyOfTruth) September 21, 2022
The four Violator singles all had least one 'dub' mix with few vocals and lots of fancy production work and knob twiddling. I've picked what I think are the four best dub mixes – but which one will be crowned KING?
There were a number of b-sides but only three with lyrics…
There's no rest for you lot, I'm afraid. I have promised @HALOBook I will deliver a wealth of vitally important statistics by the end of next week, so we must continue with the Violator polls!
— Depeche Mode Polls (@PollicyOfTruth) September 15, 2022
Today, we are asking: which is the best vocal b-side track from the singles?
Controversial…
Still time for another couple of Violator polls on behalf of my chums at @HALOBook – this one might get you thinking:
— Depeche Mode Polls (@PollicyOfTruth) September 20, 2022
If you could have a full, official live World Violation release – album AND film with all the trimmings – but it meant that 101 had never existed… would you?
This poll had rounds before a grand final, initially pitting the six videos on the Strange Too compilation against one another. The preliminary heats gave us Halo versus Enjoy The Silence…
This is it then, the final Violator poll for the good [ahem] people at @HALOBook.
— Depeche Mode Polls (@PollicyOfTruth) September 22, 2022
** BEST VIDEO FROM STRANGE TOO! **
Group winners! The peerless Halo takes on the mighty Enjoy The Silence. Plenty I could say but I'll shut up for now… VOTE, there's only a few hours left!
And, finally, the all-important question about Dave Gahan’s claims regarding his physical prowess…
What do we reckon?
— Depeche Mode Polls (@PollicyOfTruth) September 14, 2022