Depeche Mode
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50 free Depeche Mode trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Depeche Mode began as four teenagers with cheap synthesisers and became one of the biggest live acts in the world. Few bands have changed so much and kept so many fans: the bright pop of the early singles gave way to darker, heavier records that filled stadiums on both sides of the Atlantic. This quiz follows the whole story. Expect questions on how the group formed and found its name, the albums and the hit singles, the people who came and went, the videos and record sleeves, and the artists who have covered or remixed the songs. There are tales from the studio and the road as well, some of them stranger than you might guess. Most questions can be worked out by a casual listener, and a handful of deep cuts are there for the devoted. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will finish knowing a few stories you had not heard before.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which TV series adapted from a video game played Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again" in its premiere episode?
The Last of Us
The Last of Us used the song twice, first in its series premiere, and streams of the 1987 track tripled overnight.
Q 02Which country legend covered Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" on his 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around?
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash called it probably the most evangelical song he had ever recorded. Martin Gore wavered over giving permission until Dave Gahan told him he would be crazy to refuse.
Q 03Depeche Mode took their name from a French magazine devoted to which subject?
Fashion
Fashion was the subject of the magazine Dépêche Mode. Martin Gore took the name to mean "hurried fashion", though "fashion news" is the closer translation.
Q 04In the "Enjoy the Silence" video, Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan wanders dressed as a king carrying what?
A deckchair
A deckchair goes everywhere with the king, a man who has everything and only wants a quiet spot to sit. Gahan spent a week in costume in the Alps, Portugal and Scotland.
Q 05Depeche Mode named their debut album after which electronic children's toy, then new in British shops?
Speak & Spell
Speak & Spell was suggested by label boss Daniel Miller, who felt a toy aimed at young children suited a band taking its first steps.
Q 06Depeche Mode's concert film 101 was shot at which California stadium before more than 60,000 fans?
Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, hosted the 101st and final show of the tour in June 1988. The band's American label had feared the stadium was too big to sell out.
Q 07Which Oscar-winning actress, a longtime fan, presented Depeche Mode's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2020?
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron, the first South African to win an acting Oscar, has followed the band for years and gave the speech welcoming them in.
Q 08West German television used Depeche Mode's "People Are People" as its theme for coverage of which 1984 event?
The Olympic Games
The Olympic Games theme was also a West German number one, the first time a Depeche Mode single had topped any country's chart.
Q 09Depeche Mode carried their synthesisers to London by train in 1981 to appear on which British TV show?
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops booked the band when "New Life" climbed to number 11, and they hauled their keyboards all the way to the BBC studios themselves.
Q 10Vince Clarke quit Depeche Mode in 1981 and formed which hit-making duo with singer Alison Moyet?
Yazoo
Yazoo, known as Yaz in North America, took "Only You" to number two in Britain within months of his exit.
Q 11Depeche Mode formed in 1980 in which Essex town, where a school plaque marks an early gig?
Basildon
Basildon's James Hornsby School, where Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher were pupils, carries the plaque for the band's first show as a four-piece in June 1980.
Q 12Which duo did Depeche Mode co-founder Vince Clarke form in 1985 with singer Andy Bell?
Erasure
Erasure began when Bell answered an advert for a singer, and the pair went on to sell more than 28 million albums.
Q 13Which 1990 Depeche Mode album got its heavy-metal-style title as a joke the band doubted anyone would get?
Violator
Violator was meant to be the most extreme, ridiculously heavy metal title they could think of. It became their first US top ten album and went triple platinum.
Q 21Alan Wilder joined Depeche Mode after answering an advert, asking for someone under 21, in which music paper?
Melody Maker
Melody Maker ran the anonymous ad in late 1981. Wilder was already 22, but he was hired anyway after two auditions.
Q 22Which label, founded by Daniel Miller in 1978, released Depeche Mode's first single on a verbal deal?
Mute Records
Mute Records' founder approached the band after a gig in Canning Town, and they went with him despite big-money offers from the major labels.
Q 23Vince Clarke recruited Dave Gahan for Depeche Mode after hearing him sing which David Bowie song at a jam session?
Heroes
Q 14Depeche Mode finished their 1983 album at Hansa Studios, where David Bowie had recorded, in which city?
Berlin
Berlin's Hansa had a cult reputation among bands, and the group found it cheaper to live and work there than in London.
Q 15A 1990 Depeche Mode record-store signing drew about 20,000 fans and a near riot in which American city?
Los Angeles
Los Angeles fans were pressed against the shop's glass, and the band later apologised with a limited-edition cassette given out through radio station KROQ.
Q 16Martin Gore wrote Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" after reading a memoir about life with which singer?
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley is shown in his ex-wife Priscilla's book Elvis and Me as her man and her mentor, which set Gore thinking about how a lover can become a kind of god.
Q 17Fans of which Scottish football club turned Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" into a terrace chant in 2009?
Celtic
Celtic supporters started it, and Liverpool fans later sang their own version for striker Luis Suárez. Andy Fletcher said the band felt honoured.
Q 18Depeche Mode's Martin Gore dreamed of the emotion of Neil Young carried by which German group's synthesisers?
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk's machines playing soul music was how he summed it up, with John Lennon named beside Young as the feeling he was after.
Q 19Which American rock act covered Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" as the one new track on a 2004 greatest hits album?
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson put the cover on Lest We Forget: The Best Of, and the band's frontman co-directed its video.
Q 20Which German metal band released a cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped" as a single from a 1998 tribute album?
Rammstein
Rammstein's version drew controversy for a video built from excerpts of a 1930s Leni Riefenstahl documentary.
Heroes was the song Gahan sang at a local Scout hut jam in 1980. Until then Clarke had handled the vocals himself.
Q 24Which photographer, who shot U2's The Joshua Tree sleeve, has directed Depeche Mode videos since 1986?
Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn started with "A Question of Time" and went on to design the band's stage sets and most of their record sleeves.
Q 25A character in which Valve video game wears a Depeche Mode T-shirt, used with the band's blessing?
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 puts the shirt on the survivor Rochelle. The band responded eagerly when the developers asked, and let the game use their music too.
Q 26Depeche Mode backed their single "Behind the Wheel" with a cover of which classic driving song?
Route 66
Route 66, the Bobby Troup standard, was chosen because Martin Gore thought a driving song belonged on the B-side.
Q 27Which 1987 Depeche Mode album was titled as a joke about how uncommercial the band's songs were?
Music for the Masses
Music for the Masses took its name from an old record called Music for the Millions that Martin Gore had come across.
Q 28Which 2023 album was the first Depeche Mode recorded as a duo, after the death of Andy Fletcher?
Memento Mori
Memento Mori already had its title before Fletcher died, and Martin Gore said the loss only cemented the decision to keep it.
Q 29Which one-named producer made Depeche Mode's 1990 and 1993 albums and later shared a Grammy for a U2 record?
Flood
Flood, born Mark Ellis, got his nickname as a studio runner who kept the tea coming, while a less helpful colleague was dubbed Drought.
Q 30Which industrial rock band's founder says Depeche Mode's Black Celebration inspired his debut album?
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor said the 1986 record took his love for the band to a new level before he made Pretty Hate Machine.