Gore, the band’s songwriter, keyboardist, guitarist and singer, phoned the program a few days prior to the appearance, and I discussed the possibility of a big crowd with him.
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I hosted a live weekday music TV show at the time on local Orange County station KDOC entitled Request Video. Word started circulating around the station that Depeche Mode might draw 10,000 people to The Wherehouse. I say this to give you a backdrop as to what some of us were thinking as the night of the in-store drew closer. I was there backstage and onstage, making announcements and firing up the crowd along with my fellow KROQ jocks. Less than two years earlier, the boys headlined the Rose Bowl in front of a crowd of 65,000. While there was no denying Depeche Mode’s massive popularity around the world, there was equal agreement that they were the most popular in Los Angeles. Nobody in their wildest dreams anticipated the hysteria that would take place! A few security guards were hired, and everything seemed simple enough. KROQ would massively promote Depeche Mode’s appearance at The Wherehouse for the week leading up to the in-store, and broadcast live from the venue while the band was there. Fans would get in line, be let in a few at a time, and the band would then sign copies of their new release and other DM memorabilia from 9 p.m. The Wherehouse Records store across the street from the Beverly Center on La Cienega Boulevard and 3rd Street in Los Angeles was the location where this all would happen. That would be Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher and Alan Wilder.
The plan was to have the entire English band attend. They set up an “in-store” for Depeche Mode a day after the release of their new record Violator. The key players in putting this promotion together were Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM (my employer at the time), Mute Records ( Depeche Mode’s label) and The Wherehouse, a record and video store chain. Welcome to the story of the Depeche Mode Riot.
More than that, it was a night that will live on in infamy forever. It amounted to me getting suspended by the radio station.
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The scene was one you might see in a futuristic movie culminating in an anarchistic government takeover. What happened was something beyond even the wildest of comprehensions. On Tuesday evening, March 20, 1990, I was part of one of the most insane radio station promotions of all time.
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