Depeche Mode “Music For the Masses” released 35 years ago today, September 28th, 1987. DM’s sixth LP instantly transports me back to  the fall of my junior year in high school, walking through the halls with the cassette in my (off-brand) Walkman just days after its release. I still have that cassette but it hasn’t been played since October ’87 when that off-brand player munched the tape.

Music For the Masses went to #10 in the UK and to #35 in the US. Depeche Mode released the first single, “Strangelove,” a few months before the album, in April ‘87. It hit #16 in the UK and a more uptempo version (“Strangelove ‘88″) made it to #50 in the US. “Never Let Me Down Again,” which was released as a single in August ‘87, hit #63 in the US and #22 in the UK. It was then and remains now one of my favorite Depeche Mode songs ever: it’s danceable and dramatic, atmospheric, and gorgeous with odd emphases and lyrical punctuations. “Behind the Wheel” was the third single, a track that at one point in the 80’s Spin ranked at #30 in their Greatest Singles of Alltime. I love it and while it’s not on the LP version, the extended “Route 66” mashup makes it even better; the “Route 66” version went to #61 on the US singles chart and to #3 on the Dance chart. “Nothing” is another favorite, full of darkness and nihilism, and the stark desperation of “I Want You Now” is heart-wrenching. “Little 15,” the album’s final single, pretty much freaked me out with its dense, creepy funhouse synths and menacing lyrics.