Depeche Mode “Music For the Masses” released 30 years ago on this date, September 28th, in 1987. Up until recently, I only had this album on cassette because in September ‘87 I didn’t own a CD player and my teenage brain believed vinyl was anachronic. Inevitably my off-brand Walkman munched up part of the tape, pictured here and still stopped at the 1987 munch-point.

I still really really love Music For the Masses. It is moody, introspective, spacious  yet still danceable. The single “Strangelove” was released months before the album, in April ‘87, hitting #16 in the UK and a more uptempo version (“Strangelove ‘88″) made it to #50 in the US. I was, and still am, enamored with “Never Let Me Down Again,” which was released as a single in August ‘87, hitting #63 in the US and  #22 in the UK. It is dramatic and atmospheric, with odd emphases and lyrical punctuations (”We’re flying high/We’re watching the world pass us by/Never want to come down/Never want to put my feet back down on the ground”). “Nothing” is another favorite, full of darkness and nihilism, and the stark desperation of “I Want You Now” is heart-wrenching. “Little 15″ pretty much freaked me out – the dense and creepy funhouse synths, the menacing lyrics – and it still does.