Album · Depeche Mode
Some Great Reward by Depeche Mode
Some Great Reward is an album by Depeche Mode, released in 1984. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 188 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “People are People”, on 66 lists with a best position of #11.
Some Great Reward, Depeche Mode's fourth studio album, came out on Mute on 24 September 1984, and it's where the band's clanging, sample-heavy sound grew teeth and a heart. They produced it with Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones, and, as on Construction Time Again the year before, the samplers are front and center.
"People Are People" is the anthem, big and pounding and built on industrial clatter, while "Master and Servant" slinks along with a wicked, leering grin and "Blasphemous Rumours" plays it dark and stone-faced. "Somebody" slows it all to a fragile ballad, and it went out as a double A-side with "Blasphemous Rumours".
It was the band's most successful album in Europe to date, reaching number five in the UK, and "People Are People" finally broke them in America, climbing to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1985 and becoming a Top 20 hit in Canada. The Some Great Reward Tour ran from September 1984 through July 1985, yielding the live home video The World We Live In and Live in Hamburg, and the band followed it that October with the compilation The Singles 81→85 and a companion video named Some Great Videos.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Some Great Reward on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | People are People#335 of all time | 66 | #11 | – | 1984–2024 | |
| 2 | Blasphemous Rumours#453 of all time | 62 | #1 | 1 | 1984–2026 | |
| 3 | Master and Servant | 44 | #5 | – | 1984–2014 | |
| 4 | Somebody | 16 | #7 | – | 1988–2026 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.