As a decades-long fan of both sex and honesty, this is naturally one of my Depeche Mode favorites.
“Stripped” is of course not about sex, but about the intimacy that on the best of nights sex can be, ironically, a gateway to. Nose-to-nose on a couch, intertwined in bed… sharing dreams, fears… truths. On the best of best nights, murmurs and kisses last until dawn; the fantastic sex (or sometimes even more fantastic “making out”) becoming breaks from talking, rather than vice-versa.
In the scope of one’s life, these times are mystifying elusive… even maddeningly rare. With one lover or another, I’ve yearned for them more than I’ve yearned to see her naked derriere again… which is saying something, I suppose.
From one of the greatest live albums and concert videos of my generation:
– Steve Stav
