Martin Gore Song Quotations

When I write love songs, people think they're really soppy - but I see love as a consolation for the boredom of life.

I tend to like songs that are very emotional, that strike a chord with me emotionally.

I do a cover of a Velvet Underground song, and they were one of the most important bands, for me.

When I write a song, I always start on acoustic guitar, because that's a good test of a song, when it's really open and bare. You can often mislead yourself if you start with computers and samples and programming because you can disguise a bad song.

Songwriting is a mysterious art. When I sit down to write a song, the end result should be mysterious and have this dark quality.

As part of Depeche Mode, I don't think it's right for me to be using my own songs for a solo project. I'm not a very prolific songwriter, so I keep those for Depeche Mode.

I didn't write songs for a very long time.

People are People still gets played to death on '80s stations. It was our first big break in America. It's not exactly my favorite song.

When you first sit down to write the first song, until you've maybe got three or four under your belt, it's always, to me, like a mountain to climb. You look at that one blank piece of paper and you think, `God, how many songs do I have to write here?' It always feels like pressure.

It creates a conflict of interest - what songs would I use for me, and what would I use for the band.

Once I'd chosen the songs, it seemed like it would just be a question then of recording them. But it's a case of trying to re-invent the songs; taking them in different directions.

I don't know if it's cool to say this anymore, but I grew up listening to Gary Glitter. A majority of his songs were in that shuffle-blues beat, and I think that's probably why I tend to write like that.

God knows why - no pun intended - but every time I write a song, I feel a need to touch on religion.

I always hate explaining away songs, because for me they mean something, and for other people, they'll mean something absolutely different.