Charlize Theron Inducts Depeche Mode Into Rock Hall
Charlize Theron described Depeche Mode as the "soundtrack of my life" as she inducted them into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
"There was literally a song for every occasion of my life," she explained in the virtual ceremony, broadcast tonight on HBO and HBO Max after the in-person event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. "My first date, my first time leaving South Africa and, of course, the first time I got my heart broken."
It wasn't until Theron saw the band in concert for the first time a few years ago that she fully understood why she so deeply connected with the music. "They celebrate the outsider," the Academy Award-winning actress noted. "Their music brings people together from all different walks of life, makes them feel like it’s okay to be different. ... I was moved to tears, I came home I told my daughters about it. And I was also really fucking pissed, because I don’t usually go to rock concerts to bawl my eyes out."
Her fandom gave her the opportunity to place the band's 1987 single "Behind the Wheel" on the soundtrack to 2017's Atomic Blonde, a movie in which she both starred and served as a producer.
Depeche Mode are part of an induction class that includes the Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, T. Rex, Whitney Houston and the Notorious B.I.G. The British synth-pop kings had been eligible since 2006 but had only been on the ballot on two prior occasions. However, Theron added, "they would have been there 20 years ago if it was up to me. But what an incredibly well-deserved honor. Thank you, guys, for being the soundtrack to my life."