During the touring and promotion for Speak & Spell, Clarke privately began to voice his discomfort at the direction the band were taking. He later expressed his dissatisfaction, saying “there was never enough time to do anything. Not with all the interviews and photo sessions.”.^[19] In November 1981 Clarke publicly announced that he was leaving Depeche Mode.^[20] It also was claimed Clarke was sick of touring, which Gahan said years later was “bullshit to be quite honest”.^[14] Gahan went on to say he “suddenly lost interest in it and he started getting letters from fans asking what kind of socks he wore”.^[14]

Soon afterwards, Clarke joined up with blues singer Alison Moyet to form Yazoo (Yaz in the US) and later, the duo Erasure with Andy Bell. Initial talk of Clarke’s continuing to write material for the group ultimately amounted to nothing. Clarke offered the remaining members of Depeche Mode the track “Only You“, but they declined. It went on to become a UK Top 3 hit for Yazoo.^[21] Gore, who had written “Tora! Tora! Tora!” and the instrumental “Big Muff” for Speak & Spell, was forced to become the band’s new songwriter.^[22]

In late 1981, the band placed an anonymous ad in Melody Maker looking for another musician; it said “Name band, synthesise, must be under twenty-one.”^[11] Alan Wilder, a keyboardist from West London, responded and, after two auditions and despite being 22 years old, he was hired in early 1982, initially on a trial basis as a touring member.^[23] Wilder would later be called the “Musical Director” of the band, responsible for the band’s sound until his departure in 1995.^[8] As producer Flood would later say, “[Alan] is sort of the craftsman, Martin’s the idea man and [Dave] is the attitude.”^[8] In January 1982, the band released “See You“, their first single without Clarke, which managed to beat all three Clarke-penned singles in the UK charts, reaching number six.^[24] The tour that followed the release of the single saw the band playing their first shows in North America. Two more singles, “The Meaning of Love“, and “Leave in Silence“, were released ahead of the band’s second studio album. Depeche Mode began work on their second album in July 1982. Daniel Miller informed Wilder that he was not needed for the recording of the album, as the band wanted to prove that they could succeed without Vince Clarke.^[25] A Broken Frame was released that September and the following month the band set off on their second tour of 1982. A non-album single “Get the Balance Right!” was released in January 1983, and was the first Depeche Mode track to be recorded with Wilder.^[26]