Editing Depeche Mode (section)

===''Songs of Faith and Devotion'' and Wilder's departure (1991–1995)===
{{See also|Songs of Faith and Devotion|Songs of Faith and Devotion Live}}
[[File:Alan Wilder at Szikra 2010 048.jpg|alt=Alan Wilder|thumb|Alan Wilder in 2010]]
In 1991, Depeche Mode contribution "Death's Door" was released on [[Until the End of the World (soundtrack)|the soundtrack album]] for the film ''[[Until the End of the World]]''. Film director Wim Wenders had challenged musical artists to write music the way they imagined they would in the year 2000, the setting of the movie.

The members of Depeche Mode regrouped in [[Madrid]] in February 1992. Gahan had become interested in the new [[grunge]] scene sweeping the US and was influenced by the likes of [[Jane's Addiction]], [[Soundgarden]], [[Alice in Chains]] and [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]].<ref name="Contact">{{cite web |title= Dave Gahan's Rock Awakening |website= [[Contactmusic.com]] |date= 20 June 2003 |access-date= 26 March 2013 |url= http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/dave-gahan.s-rock-awakening |archive-date= 2 June 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130602194426/http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/dave-gahan.s-rock-awakening |url-status= dead }}</ref>
{{Quote box
| quote = "There's so many sounds that are created from the voice that you wouldn't know were taken from the voice, like rhythm sounds. The number of times I've been sitting in the studio and said, 'I wish I could get a bass that would just go [mimics wet, thick hip-hop bass-drum sound].' Then I think, 'Why can't I just go [repeats noise] into a mic and sample it?' It's ''obvious''; you spend all day trying to get a synthesiser to try and create this sound but you can just go [repeats noise] and you've got it. Then you can send it through some other device after that, and you've got something that sounds absolutely nothing like a voice, but the source was a voice. ... It is a very interesting process."
| source = Alan Wilder on the genesis of some of the sounds on ''Songs of Faith and Devotion'', stated to ''Pulse! magazine'' – May 1993.<ref name="P93"/>
| width  = 30%
| align  = left
| style  = padding:10px;
}}
In 1993, ''[[Songs of Faith and Devotion]]'', again with [[Flood (music producer)|Flood]] producing, saw them experimenting with arrangements based as much on heavily distorted electric guitars and live drums (played by Alan Wilder, whose debut as a studio drummer had come on the ''Violator'' track "Clean") as on synthesisers.<ref>{{cite web |title= Songs of Faith and Devotion – Depeche Mode |website= Recoil.co.uk |access-date= 14 May 2016 |url= http://oldsite.recoil.co.uk/report/edit/dm8698/epilog1.htm |archive-date= 11 August 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220811204525/http://oldsite.recoil.co.uk/report/edit/dm8698/epilog1.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref> Live [[String instrument|strings]], [[uilleann pipes]] and female [[Gospel music|gospel]] vocals were other new additions to the band's sound. The album debuted at number one in both the UK and the US, only the sixth British act to achieve such a distinction to date.{{sfn|Miller|2004|p=299}} The first single from the album was the grunge-influenced "[[I Feel You]]". The gospel influences are most noticeable on the album's third single, "[[Condemnation (song)|Condemnation]]". Interviews given by the band during this period tended to be conducted separately, unlike earlier albums, where the band was interviewed as a group.<ref name="P93"/>

The [[Devotional Tour]] followed, documented by a concert film of the [[Devotional (video)|same name]]. The film was directed by [[Anton Corbijn]], and in 1995 earned the band their first [[Grammy Awards|Grammy]] nomination.<ref>{{cite web|title= 37th Grammy Awards – 1995 |website= Rock on the Net |access-date= 24 February 2009 |url= http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1995/grammys.htm}}</ref> The band's second live album, ''[[Songs of Faith and Devotion Live]]'', was released in December 1993. The tour continued into 1994 with the [[Exotic Tour/Summer Tour '94|Exotic Tour]], which began in February 1994 in South Africa, and ended in April in Mexico. The final leg of the tour, consisting of more North American dates, followed shortly thereafter and ran until July. As a whole, the Devotional Tour is to date the longest and most geographically diverse Depeche Mode tour, spanning fourteen months and 159 individual performances.

''Q'' magazine described the 1993 Devotional Tour as "The Most Debauched Rock 'n' Roll Tour Ever".<ref>{{cite magazine|first= Omar |last= Ali |title= In the Mode for Love |date= 4 April 2001 |magazine= [[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]] |url= http://sacreddm.net/2000s/tmo040401/tmo040401main.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110724051944/http://sacreddm.net/2000s/tmo040401/tmo040401main.htm |archive-date= 24 July 2011}}</ref> According to ''[[The Independent]]'', the "smack-blasted" Gahan "required cortisone shots just to perform, borderline alcoholic Gore suffered two stress-induced seizures, and Andrew Fletcher's deepening depression resulted, in the summer of 1994, in a full nervous breakdown."<ref>{{cite news|first= Glyn |last= Brown |title= Music a la Mode |newspaper= [[The Independent]] |date= 2 May 1997 |access-date= 28 February 2019 |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music-a-la-mode-1259205.html}}</ref> During the performance in [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]], Gahan suffered a heart attack brought on by drug use and had to be ushered out of the [[Lakefront Arena]] in an ambulance.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/keith_spera/depeche-mode-dave-gahan-were-fantastic-at-new-orleans-show/article_3910afc8-6606-11ee-a07e-43710285a40d.html|title= Depeche Mode defied mortality in New Orleans 30 years after singer nearly died here|publisher=nola.com|access-date=2025-04-27}}</ref> In [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], local police arrested Gore and fined him $50 for disturbing the peace when he held a loud party in his hotel room.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://totally80s.com/article/november-1993-when-martin-gore-depeche-mode-got-arrested-denver|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105231220/http://totally80s.com/article/november-1993-when-martin-gore-depeche-mode-got-arrested-denver|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2020|title=November 1993: When Martin Gore of Depeche Mode got arrested in Denver|access-date=25 June 2022|website=Totally 80s}}</ref> Fletcher declined to participate in the second half of the [[Exotic Tour/Summer Tour '94|Exotic Tour]] due to mental instability;{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} he was replaced on stage by [[Daryl Bamonte]], who had worked with the band as a personal assistant since the beginning of their career in 1980.<ref>{{cite web |title= The Singles 86–98 |website= Recoil.co.uk |access-date= 14 May 2016 |url= http://oldsite.recoil.co.uk/report/edit/dm8698/epilog1.htm |archive-date= 11 August 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220811204525/http://oldsite.recoil.co.uk/report/edit/dm8698/epilog1.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>"Compact Space". Compact Space. 2011.</ref>

In June 1995, Alan Wilder announced that he was leaving Depeche Mode, explaining:
{{blockquote|Since joining in 1982, I have continually striven to give total energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the furthering of the group's success, and in spite of a consistent imbalance in the distribution of the workload, willingly offered this. Unfortunately, within the group, this level of input never received the respect and acknowledgement that it warrants.<ref>{{cite web|title= Sad Announcement: Alan Wilder left DM |date= 2 June 1995 |url= http://www.tuug.utu.fi/~jaakko/dm/alan.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140204023346/http://www.tuug.utu.fi/~jaakko/dm/alan.html |archive-date= 4 February 2014}}</ref>|author=Alan Wilder}}

He continued to work on his personal project [[Recoil (band)|Recoil]], releasing a fourth album (''[[Unsound Methods]]'') in 1997.