Depeche Mode is all over Left 4 Dead 2

by Richard Mitchell { Jul 29th 2009 at 1:29AM }

What's the first thing you think of, musically, when you think of Left 4 Dead 2? The most obvious answer, of course, is Depeche Mode. At Comic-Con, Valve's Chet Falizsek revealed to Kotaku that the company approached many record labels and music groups seeking their music for the game, with Depeche Mode apparently being one of the most enthusiastic. The band is allowing Valve to use its music, likeness and merchandise, like the T-shirt sported by Rochelle in the image above. Just how much Depeche Mode is featured in the game beyond T-shirts, Faliszek didn't say.

Frankly, if we get anything less than a music video maker that lets you set your zombie-slaying to the tune of "Personal Jesus," we'll be disappointed.

Tags: depeche-mode, left-4-dead, left-4-dead-2, valve

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

MechaGamerX @ Jul 29th 2009 1:33AM

Hey guys,

I can't understand what makes a man. Should I hate another man?

Someone help me understand.

Andrew @ Jul 29th 2009 7:20AM

People are people so why should it be,
that you and I should not survive some zombies?

Damian @ Jul 29th 2009 9:28AM

I can not wait to play as Uncle Phil and shoot some zombies,i hope Carlton is an unlockable character.

cheese @ Jul 29th 2009 1:35AM

Lol, yeah, this is about as out of touch and/or off-base as they could get. Seriously, an African American female in the South, listening to Depeche Mode, let alone wearing a shirt with Depeche Mode on it? I think not. WTF are they thinking?

fasty @ Jul 29th 2009 1:52AM

Are you suggesting that in the greater New Orleans area that Depeche Mode didn't sell ONE t-shirt to a black female in the last two decades?

Really? You don't know anything about this character other than she's a southern black female. She doesn't have to be a walking stereotype.

Besides, even if your assumptions about her were correct - she's on the run from zombies. Perhaps she picked up whatever shirt she could find along the way? Thrift store? She likes pink? It was a gift? Maybe she's European and visiting. Maybe she's related to Jordan or Janet, DM's two very black and very awesome long-time touring backup singers. Maybe she IS one of them traveling under an assumed name.

It's a game where super zombies who all look the same grab you with their tongue and vomit on you. Realism is not the point anyway.

Plus, Depeche Mode's awesome.

cheese @ Jul 29th 2009 1:56AM

whatever fasty, I was just sayin... I'm in florida and I bet you I could ask all my black female coworkers who Depeche Mode is and most would probably be like ???

mezzaninex @ Jul 29th 2009 1:59AM

I think like, 1 in 3 people listen to Depeche Mode. This isn't much of a stretch.

Trulz @ Jul 29th 2009 4:07PM

Wow, fuck you. I was starting to write a long post about why you were an idiot, but if you don't already know, you can really just go fuck yourself. Ignorant prick.

Sly @ Jul 29th 2009 2:15AM

more like 1 in 10... 1 in 25 in the south. i live in alabama, so i can back this up.

Jeremy White @ Jul 29th 2009 2:23AM

I live in Mississippi and can also back this up.

I just can't picture a southern black woman wearing a Depeche Mode t-shirt. Though it's not impossible.

IslandLife @ Jul 29th 2009 2:40AM

I'm a black guy that lives in the Bahamas, and I listen to Depeche Mode and so do quite a bit of my other friends, so I fail to see your point.

BTW, they better put "Behind the Wheel" in there somewhere!

Swagman @ Jul 29th 2009 3:23AM

So we've finally resorted to racially profiling videogame characters have we?

As a guy who was introduced to Depeche Mode (along with The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, etc.) by an Aftican-American women he was dating, I find this entire topic of discussion, distasteful and insulting. Why don't we just take poor, lil' ol' Ms. Rochelle there, and give her a bucket of fried chicken and watermelon as in-game props, while we are so busy assigning generalizations to an entire race/ethnicity of people?

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Jul 29th 2009 8:36AM

A bucket of KFC and a Watermelon should be unlockable melee weapons. Just sayin'.

cheese @ Jul 29th 2009 9:08AM

@Trulz and Swagman, wow. I didn't say anything ignorant or hateful. I was just noting that usually, from where I'm from, where I live, and judging from the African American girls I know, they would be hard pressed to listen to any music in the same vein as Depeche Mode. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with DM. If I ever bring up country, rock or classical music, African Americans will usually scrunch up their face or laugh at you.

I really don't think the culture in the Bahamas is anything like what it is here in southern US. I know quite a few people from the Bahamas and they DO have broad musical tastes.

CH3BURASHKA @ Jul 29th 2009 10:54AM

@cheese: you're a racist.

@General Death: you're a funny racist.

cheese @ Jul 29th 2009 11:01AM

@CH3BURASHKA

Thanks for the ignorance you've shown towards me. I didn't say anything that is racist. Everyone else chooses to get their panties in a bunch though. These days the only way you can not be called a racist is by prefacing everything you say by "I'm *insert ethnicity here*..." and then whatever is said is ok, as long as you don't say you're white.

Jeremy White @ Jul 29th 2009 3:45PM

Most people in this thread of posts are generally retarded.

You can't be a fucking racist for noting that where you're from, which is the area the game is set in, most black women are not in to Depeche Mode.

Give them some Lil' Wayne, Lil' Boosie, etc, and they're all over it. But Depeche Mode? You guys are definitely from the North.

Also, the Bahamas is a lot different than the southern United States you moron.

But fuck, ya know what? I hate being honest. All black women in the southern United States love Depeche Mode.

Durden @ Jul 29th 2009 5:13PM

@ Sly

I'm in Leeds, AL. Where you at?

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Jul 31st 2009 10:02AM

Would it make anyone feel any better if I said that another unlockable weapon set should be a jacked-up 80's model pickup truck and a rebel flag on a pole?

Southern Stereotype Bases: Covered.

TomCo @ Aug 2nd 2009 5:50PM

Negros, wearing certain clothes sutible for white folk?!
Sorry, but I just can't fathom it.

Now, back to the porch for some cotton watching.

NeilNaS @ Jul 29th 2009 1:39AM

Irrelevant, I'll never hear any of the music from the original game.

Something about Cannibal Corpse's album "Kill" that just complete's the game for me.

MechaGamerX @ Jul 29th 2009 1:43AM

Terrible choice.

Everyone knows that the best choice is ALWAYS Richard Cheese's "Down With The SIckness".

A classic.

Michael @ Jul 29th 2009 1:50AM

amen

LameDuck @ Jul 29th 2009 1:52AM

They don't have the rights for 50 cent, Soulja Boy, and t-shirts.

Brian @ Jul 29th 2009 2:01AM

needs more Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head.

Mazrael @ Jul 29th 2009 4:24PM

How about some Carcass while we're at it..

1349's 'Perished in Pain' & Strapping Young Lad's 'Devour'.. they could throw in 'Still Alive' for laughs (you know the one!)

LameDuck @ Jul 29th 2009 1:53AM

HOW in the world did my comment jump from cheese to NeilNa S... Really Joystiq... really...

cheese @ Jul 29th 2009 1:58AM

It would have made waay more sense for them to get license from a clothing company like Aeropostale or something like that.

Einhanderkiller @ Jul 29th 2009 2:45AM

But that's boring.

ill trooper @ Jul 29th 2009 5:56AM

Give it a rest, It's getting hard reading the faded type of your comments.

Rhamsey @ Jul 29th 2009 1:59AM

now i have personal jesus stuck in my head just as i was heading to sleep.

MechaGamerX @ Jul 29th 2009 2:01AM

Hopefully Mr. Mason didn't join that thought.

Rhamsey @ Jul 29th 2009 2:11AM

fuck, i just had to check my email before i went to bed.

Bravo6 @ Jul 29th 2009 2:00AM

State of Emergency by Papa Roach should be the theme song.. they only say 'I don't wanna be Left for Dead' like a hundred times in it!

Sly @ Jul 29th 2009 2:16AM

BBBUUUUUUUTTTT it's papa roach.

NOOK @ Jul 29th 2009 5:31AM

Exactly. Papa Roach: Fail.

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Jul 29th 2009 8:39AM

What...no Papa Roach? Does that mean we'll also get no Creed??

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo

B @ Jul 29th 2009 2:17AM

Holy mother of god. I didn't know Philip Banks was in L4D2....

DAY. ONE.

Boff @ Jul 29th 2009 5:57AM

"GEOFFREY!!"

bongoes @ Jul 29th 2009 1:16PM

L4D2 is gonna through DJ Hero out the front door.

tr1cky tpr @ Jul 30th 2009 12:32PM

He'll take a bite out of those zombies.
Bi-Bi-Bite!
Bi-Bi-Bite!
Bi-Bi-Bite!
*clip of PB eating*
Vote for Philip Banks!
Philip Banks!
PHILIP BANKS!

Old Professor Zertoss @ Jul 29th 2009 2:21AM

And I thought Depeche Mode was going to be a new game type.

Frost @ Jul 29th 2009 3:59AM

You know, i would be down for that.

Bselvar @ Jul 29th 2009 2:31AM

awww.. lame.

dronesensor @ Jul 29th 2009 3:22AM

How hilarious would it be if Valve decides to pull a sick "Producers"-like joke on all of us, with random, completely inappropriate (context-wise) Depeche Mode songs playing at all times, and the crescendo moments of every campaign boiling down to you having to defend the members of Depeche Mode from the incoming zombie onslaught? Like they purposely make a horrible game that will assuredly bomb, for some kind of insider-trading money-making scheme?

Sorry, I'm high.