Walking in my shoes
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In the beginning of David Gahan's career (1980) he was found by Martin, Vince and Fletch singing David Bowie's "Heroes" at a local hall in Basildon.
Question(Q): First record bought?
Dave: It was David Bowies "Space Oddity" (when it was re-released in 1972).
P.S.: By the way the film director of "101" Pannebaker had also filmed David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust' tour" (an obvious plus where Dave Gahan was concerned).
Q: Looking back at the 80's, do you see many changes in music?
Dave:I think this is a really awful time for music. I prefer 60's and 70's. I am a big David Bowie fan and T-Rex and The Rolling Stones.
Q: Favorite musicians?
Martin: When I was 13-teen I really liked Gary Glitter.
P.S.: Glitter's creation was used in "Personal Jesus" and "Pleasure, Little Treasure".

QUESTION : On the other side of the fence, is there anyone in particular that has played an influential role in what you're doing? ANSWER : "People like Neil Young, John Lennon and Leonard Cohen are people whose talents I respect. I've always tried to marry technology with good songwriting. I think that's important, because if you know you're a good songwriter, you can do things in a very retro style; but I think merging technology with good songwriting is just as important. Also, another big influence would have to be someone like Kraftwerk. Not necessarily on the songwriting, but with their instrumentation."
QUESTION : You've influenced many bands over the years; however, who would you say has been a musical role model for Depeche Mode?
ANSWER : "I think we draw our influences from a very diverse field. Currently, I'm listening to a lot of blues-based stuff from people like Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Haley Moore and Buddy Guy. I also like listening to Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday and a lot of the older stuff; I enjoy the emotion in their voices, and it's something that I bring to Depeche Mode. Martin, on the other hand, listens to music that's very current, and he's into the techno stuff, but I'm not into that as much. I like the fact that we can mix things up."

DAVE: It's interesting to hear other people's perspective on our songs and the way that they hear them and the way that musically they record them.
I particulary like the Smashing Pumpkins version of "Never Let Me Down", because it's kind of like the opposite of what you'd expect the Pumpkins to do with it. I actually like their version a lot better than our's.
MTV News (may 1998).