On October 23, 1981, Depeche Mode taped a brief set for a youth-oriented BBC show called Something Else, which we’ve written about before. The show was broadcast on November 6. Depeche Mode played seven songs; what stands out about the performance is how remarkably fully formed the band is, even at this early stage; it’s even more impressive when you realize that their first album, Speak & Spell, had come out just two weeks earlier.

This appearance is also notable for being among the last ones Vince Clarke would play with Depeche Mode—having written one of the band’s most enduring hits in “Just Can’t Get Enough,” Clarke would play his final show with DM a few weeks later, on December 3 in Chichester. Clarke would quite quickly find success by teaming up with Alison Moyet for Yazoo (Yaz in the U.S.) and, of course, in Erasure.
 

 
All of the songs Depeche Mode would play on Something Else were on Speak & Spell, except for the opening number, “Television Set,” a staple of the band’s shows throughout 1981 but one that never appeared on any official Depeche Mode release. The song was written by a Basildon musician named Jason Knott, who was a friend of Clarke’s. Knott was in a band called the Neatelllls (yup, that’s four Ls).
 

Setlist:
Television Set
Photographic
New Life
Puppets
Just Can’t Get Enough
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Nodisco

 
After Depeche Mode runs through this set, the video includes alternate takes of “Tora! Tora! Tora!” and “Nodisco.”
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Depeche Mode: Interviewed on ‘That Was Then..This Is Now’ from 1988