Depeche Mode is an English alt-rock/new wave/synth-pop band formed in 1980. They’ve had 54 songs on the UK singles chart and 17 top 10 albums. They’ve sold over 100 million records.
The band’s name famously comes from the former French fashion magazine Dépêche Mode.
“Everything Counts” from 1983 uses a funky mixture of instruments and sounds to call out corporate greed and corruption. Or maybe it’s recording industry greed and corruption in particular.
Either way, the point is valid, and the song makes it clearly, directly, and with not a shred of subtlety. I like that.
Bonus fact: In 1983, songwriter Martin Gore established a company called Grabbing Hands Music Ltd., now based in London and still going strong.

Everything Counts
By Depeche Mode, 1983
Written by Martin Gore
The handshake seals the contract.
From the contract, there’s no turning back.
The turning point of a career in Korea,
Being insincere.
The holiday was fun-packed.
The contract, still intact.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can,
All for themselves, after all.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can,
All for themselves, after all.
It’s a competitive world.
Everything counts in large amounts.
The graph on the wall
Tells the story of it all.
Picture it now.
See just how the lies and deceit
Gained a little more power.
Confidence taken in
By a sun tan and a grin.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can,
All for themselves, after all.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can,
All for themselves, after all.
It’s a competitive world.
Everything counts in large amounts.
Everything counts in large amounts.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can.
Everything counts in large amounts.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can.
Everything counts in large amounts.
Everything, everything.
Everything, everything.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can.
Everything counts in large amounts.
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can.
Everything counts in large amounts.
https://rockysmith.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/everything-counts.mp3
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