Did you know? Alan mimes Dave’s opening lines in Get the Balance Right
The voice is familiar. The face delivering the first lines might make you look twice.
In the Get the Balance Right video, Alan Wilder lip-syncs the opening lines even though the voice is Dave Gahan’s. The official archive says the band were too afraid to tell director Kevin Hewitt that Dave was the lead singer. [1]
A credit you can check with your own eyes
Some production stories require access to a tape box or a recollection from decades later. This one begins with something right on screen. Play the opening and watch the relationship between the voice you hear and the person apparently producing it. The mismatch is the fact, not a fan theory about a secret lead vocal.
A wonderfully awkward detail
The archive’s explanation gives a polished promotional object a human edge. It is easy to imagine every visible decision as carefully planned. Sometimes a detail survives because the people in the room do not correct an assumption. We do not need to invent dialogue from the shoot to find that interesting.
Try listening before looking
Listen to the opening once while looking away, then replay it with the picture. Does seeing a different member mime the line change the way you attend to the voice? That is our viewing experiment. Afterwards, follow the limited single’s live recordings into the Vault: the same release can lead towards both an onscreen oddity and a piece of the concert archive.
Watch Get the Balance Right
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Explore the live archive on the 1983 singles →
Source: Depeche Mode official video archive, curated by Daniel Barassi. Archive facts and our viewing suggestions are distinguished above.
MODE UNKNOWN · 14 September 2026 · AI-assisted research and writing using the credited primary sources.