Richard Spencer is not exactly the most popular person outside the circles of the alt-right movement.
The man who said “Does the human civilization actually need the black race?” and who became a popular social media target after getting punched in the face during an inaugural day interview, has REALLY ticked off the members of Depeche Mode by telling New York magazine that “Depeche Mode is the official band of the alt-right.”
The response from the members of the group was swift and pointed. “Depeche Mode has no ties to Richard Spencer or the Alt-Right and does not support the Alt-Right movement.”
Spencer did backtrack a bit, though, telling Rolling Stone that, although a lifelong fan of the group, he had his tongue “firmly in cheek” when he made the statement.
He went on to tell the magazine “They aren’t a typical rock band, in terms of lyrics and much else. Depeche Mode is a band of existential angst, pain, sadism, horror, darkness and much more. It’s not bubblegum pop, with frontmen who sing about ‘luuuuv’ and sugarplum faries [sic]. There was a certain Communist aesthetic to an early album like A Broken Frame as well as titles like Music for the Masses but then there’s a bit of a fascist element, too. It’s obviously ambiguous, and as with all art, everything is multi-layer, contradictory and ambivalent.”
