Album · Depeche Mode
Ultra by Depeche Mode
Ultra is an album by Depeche Mode, released in 1997. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 43 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “It's No Good”, on 23 lists with a best position of #13.
Ultra, Depeche Mode's ninth album, came out on Mute in 1997, and by rights it shouldn't exist. Alan Wilder had walked out, Dave Gahan's drug problems had ended in an overdose that nearly killed him, and plenty of people had written the band off. What was left, Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher, went back in as a trio for the first time since A Broken Frame in 1982, and for once handed the controls to an outsider: Tim Simenon, the man behind Bomb the Bass.
It sounds like a record made in the aftermath, heavy, slow-burning and shadowed, with Gahan's voice battered but upright over thick, grinding electronics. "Barrel of a Gun" and "It's No Good" went out ahead of it, "Home" and "Useless" followed, and instead of a full tour the band threw a few Ultra Parties. It went straight in at number one in Britain, and Miami's Ultra Music Festival even took its name from it.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Ultra on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It's No Good | 23 | #13 | – | 1997–2024 | |
| 2 | Barrel of A Gun | 19 | #57 | – | 1997–2023 | |
| 3 | Useless | 1 | #88 | – | 1997 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.