Number Ones: #69

• DEPECHE MODE A Question Of Lust (Mute)
• Week Ending 3rd May 1986
• 1 Week At #1

 

How much of a total Depeche Mode nut was I in 1986? The fact that this single, the second from Black Celebration, became the second from the album to top my chart probably says it all.

It’s far from their best (reflected in the below-par UK peak of #28), and was a rare case of A-side status being granted to a Martin L. Gore ballad. 1984’s Some Great Reward LP offered up the arresting Somebody, which shared billing with Blasphemous Rumours but ended up on the cutting-room floor when it came to the Singles 81>85 selections.

Emboldened by the reception afforded to Somebody, or simply chosen as a further act of defiance by the band, A Question Of Lust worked best as part of the album’s opening trilogy of songs alongside the title track and a monumental re-working of choice B-side Fly On The Windscreen (dubbed the “Final” mix).

Of all the Martin L. Gore ballads on Black Celebration (and boy, there were several), A Question Of Lust was easily the most superior, but should it have been a single? That’s one Question which we have never had the answer to.

 

PS1: My true feelings towards it were most tellingly reflected in the failure to purchase AQoL on any format, the first time I hadn’t bought a Depeche Mode single since People Are People (in the days when I bought very few singles at all).

PS2. Yes, this track was my 69th chart-topper. Ahem.