I'm а Depeche Mode fan.

 February 25 in Moscow in the Olympic stadium will host a concert of the legendary band Depeche Mode. About this great team, I will write a separate post. Today I want to be a little bit nostalgic and remember my years of youth. To tell about how my friends and I were part of a subculture called "DM fans".

 For the first time in my life this British Quartet appeared in 1988. I almost immediately "fell ill" with this group. As it turned out later - for many years. Chronically. Their music conquered my youthful brain and my open heart. Life has acquired a completely different meaning. It was a real fanaticism. Whole religion. In late 80's and the early 90's DM was no most popular overseas band in our country. The last pages of school notebooks was devoted entirely to the DM logo, album titles, lyrics and cartoons of the band members. If you wash the plaster in the old Moscow house entrances now, I will prove to you that these walls know more about Depeche Mode than Wikipedia. All my room was hung with posters from the music magazines, drawings and photos. I remember that in 1989 one of our classmates had the first video recorder. He managed to record a video from one of the new year TV show programs. The next day we spent the whole crowd with him. The same video "Enjoy the silence" we watched at least a hundred times.
 We wanted to dress and look like a Depeche Mode. Fanatic paraphernalia at that time in the country was not sold at all. But I wanted to look at. Jeans, dad's old white shirt two or three sizes bigger, grandpa's old black coat and old boots. On hand personally made the coolest bracelet, like Dave has, from my mother's narrow black belt. This bracelet was the coolest at the LIGHTHOUSE (the place in the center of Moscow city).

 The main attribute of any fan is a biker leather jacket. Yes, this jacket could afford only rich guys. I thought there was nothing more desirable than this black leather jacket. Later it was bought by my uncle after a foreign trip, but then, in 92-m it was just a dream. Black high shoes I "bought" by myself. Without hesitation I traded for them a whole album with icons, which were collected prior to that since early childhood. It was a real landing "Haken boots," I went to them then all the year long.
 The most important was the hairstyle - so-called "platform". If you managed to find a hayr master who could make you a platform in a poor quality photo, then this is a huge success. Good thing I was "Dave", all I needed was a haircut, hairspray, and mom's dry eyebrow mascara. Those who were like Martin Gor had to fork out for hair chemistry and paint.

 There is a day in the calendar - the 9th of May. This is a Birthday of Dave Gahan - frontman of the DM. And for us fans, it was an even bigger celebration ever. To this day, we were prepared ahead of time. The main thing was to try look as best as possible. This time I cut my dad's wide leather belt for narrow leather strips that wrapped my wrists, and hung on the neck of a large cross like Dave from Personal Jesus. Don't ask me what dad gave me for that belt. Importantly, that I again was very cool. In 1992, there was a record number of fans. In the capital was attended by fans from all over the former Soviet Union. Especially many of the Baltic States. According to various estimates, we were about 100 thousand people that day. Depeche fans are the most peaceful people among the representatives of fan movements. Among us was the largest number of excellent students and intellectuals. Unless the fans of Mozart and Beethoven can bet the level of education and culture.
Further, the celebration took place at the LIGHTHOUSE, then someone went to Gorky Park, but at 8 pm all gathered in the main disco. Most often this was the House of culture of Moscow Aviation Institute, the district of Sokol. It was the best themed discos. Imagine the nineties. Any the Russian disco was accompanied by clashes, fights and sometimes it came to stabbing. But DM disco always had peace and quiet. Why? We just all loved the MUSIC. DM and their romantic synth-pop developed in us a sense of beauty. They sang about love, friendship, faith, devotion. No aggression neither the music nor the lyrics. Despite the black leather jackets and boots in the style of Dr.Martens, the symbol of the dispatchers was a red rose.

 25 years later. My shoes broke up a long time ago. My favorite biker jacket had to be sold when I crashed someone else's car. I no longer dye my eyebrows or wear the platform. BUT I'M STILL A ROMANTIC. I DM FAN I love this music. Thanks to DM I speak English although I have studied other languages all my life. I play guitar and keyboards. At 43 years old i look great in the black leather jacket that I bought a year ago. And in 2 weeks I will be in Olympic stadium. You know what pisses me off the most? I hate it when the DM concert people come to SIT and LISTEN. When anyone who stood up, put down the words "WE can'T SEE anything because of you standing"! Are you guys serious? You've come to a super synth rock pop band concert. How can you sit and listen? You're not a real DM fans! I remember three years ago when I was lucky enough to be at the DM concert at the Olympic stadium, but not in Moscow, but in Rome. This is a completely different culture of adoration.
Where are you, those fans from the ' 90s? Although, this is already a story for another publication.
Alexey