dm press archive

Hello there!

My name is Jacek and I run this website. Let me write a few words about myself and this site.

I am a longtime Depeche Mode fan from Poland. My first conscious contact with the music of the Basildon band took place around 1988-1989, when the sounds of the song Strangelove, recorded on a cassette bought at a flea market, flowed from the speakers of my tape recorder. The cassette was supposed to be empty, but in the meantime it had a good dose of 80's hits on it, including the aforementioned Depeche Mode track.

Like probably every young fan of the band in Poland, I hungered to know about the band's activities. In the 80's and early 90's it wasn't easy to get information about international bands - articles in the national press were quite rare, and the foreign press still reached Poland in a rather narrow stream.

The political transformation of 1989 and opening to the world resulted in the appearance of Polish editions of foreign youth magazines. The domestic music press also began to develop. Fans in Poland were finally able to keep abreast of Depeche Mode's career by collecting and exchanging press clippings about the band from various and increasingly numerous sources.

My private collection of such material was slowly on the rise. Despite the fact that a few years later a lot of information could be found successfully on the internet, it was still a lot of fun for me to find and collect press clippings about DM, both archival ones and those describing current events, recordings or tours.

My collection grew, although over the years and with the development of the Internet, the printed press gave way to faster and much richer access to information online. Traditional reports from the Depeche Mode camp were replaced by rapid-fire posts in the virtual world, social media posts...
My life didn't stand still either, and when family and children came to the forefront more than a decade ago, the passion for collecting took a backseat.

But it's impossible to forget something that you have been doing for many years and that you have enjoyed doing. The web site that you, dear visitor, have the opportunity to visit is the result of a desire to return to that excitement of years ago, and at the same time (or perhaps above all) a desire to share my collections with others. I hope you will have as much fun as I had years ago searching for such press "gems" while exploring my archives related to Depeche Mode. Please remember that this is a NON-PROFIT site with archival press material that I own (in "analog", paper version) or have permission to use scans here. I do not charge for access to the material published here. This site was created for Depeche Mode fans and anyone else interested in the band's history.

I try to make sure that the material published on this site is adequately described bibliographically. So those who are interested in researching the development of DM's career will not only get a good dose of nostalgic time travel, but also a reliable source of knowledge, telling them when and where a certain article or mention about the band was published.
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that it is impossible to avoid making mistakes when researching material from so many years ago. If you notice that a certain material has been described incorrectly, please contact me. I will be happy to correct or complete the descriptions.

On this page you will find scans of printed material that I have collected over the years. The photo galleries are just a preview of what the scans will look like. The actual digital copy of material (in pdf format) can be downloaded by clicking the link situated below the bibliographic description on the enlarged thumbnails. To make the scans readable when printed on a home printer, they were scanned at 600 ppi.

Courtesy of Michael, creator of the Smash Hits Remembered website, you can also read articles and press mentions of Depeche Mode that appeared in Smash Hits magazine! Images selected for this webpage are copies of files found on Michael's site. Next to each enlarged image are bibliographic information, a link to the magazine's yearbook on the source page. Pages of articles sourced from Michael's site can also be downloaded as pdf files, but their resolution may differ from 600 ppi.

I wish you an enjoyable browsing experience!

Jacek 'Slowblow'

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P.S.
If you have press material about Depeche Mode that you have collected years ago and would like to share it with others – don't hesitate to drop me a line! Or perhaps your item is in a better shape? Any kind of help for the development of this site will be very welcome! Together we can create a unique place for the fans of DM!

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P.P.S.
If you like my site and would like to support me in developing it - you can do so by buying me a virtual coffee!