US record label Sire Records assembled
People Are People after Depeche Mode's previous album,
Construction Time Again, failed to chart in the US. Containing (and named after) their latest single, "
People Are People", the compilation album was released on 2 July 1984 with catalogue number 1-25124. The rest of the album tracks were a "bizarre mixture" of the band's recent songs, with band member
Alan Wilder saying the track listing was created "out of necessity, without any real continuity." The album did not initially sell well in 1984, but it re-entered the charts and sold better when the title track became a summer hit in the US in mid-1985. The album later was certified Gold by the
RIAA for shipments of half a million copies. The release of "People Are People" and its namesake single both helped boost Depeche Mode's popularity in the US. When they played to US audiences in March and April 1985, they were surprised by the large crowds; they had not toured the US since 1983 due to low attendance for their
A Broken Frame tour that year.
Martin Gore later said "we thought that we would never be popular in America. And when we went back in 1985, we'd suddenly become this cult phenomenon. And we were playing for 15,000 people a night." The album, with photography by
Brian Griffin, was originally released on LP and CD with the band name and album name missing from the album cover; these names were then added to the covers for later re-releases. ==Critical reception==