Master and Servant Master and Servant "Master and Servant" is Depeche Mode's eleventh UK single (released on 20 August 1984) and the second single from the "Some Great Reward" album. Its subject matter is BDSM relationships, which caused some controversy. It reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart, number 49 in the American dance chart and number 87 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The overtly sexual, BDSM-themed lyrics of "Master and Servant" — complete with synthesized whip-and-chain sound effects — reportedly meant that the song was banned by many radio stations in the United States (although the song reached the "Billboard" Hot
British pop music April 1984, 40 of the top 100 singles and in a May 1985 survey, 8 of the top 10 singles, were of British origin. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Hi-NRG (hi energy) disco had become popular in the gay scene of American cities like New York and San Francisco with acts like Divine, and The Weather Girls. In 1983 in the UK, music magazine "Record Mirror" championed the gay underground sound and began publishing a weekly Hi-NRG Chart. Hi-NRG also entered the mainstream with hits in the UK pop charts, such as Hazell Dean's "Searchin' (I Gotta Find