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
Synth-pop the UK and top 40 in the US. and Thompson Twins, whose popularity peaked in 1984 with the album "Into The Gap", which reached No.1 in the UK and the US top ten and spawned several top ten singles. Initially dismissed in the music press as a "teeny bop sensation" were Norwegian band a-ha, whose use of guitars and real drums produced an accessible form of synth-pop, which, along with an MTV friendly video, took their 1985 single "Take On Me" to number two in the UK and number one in the US. Synth-pop continued into the late 1980s, with