A Depeche Mode song popped up in my shuffled playlist this morning. My mind wandered to when I first heard Depeche Mode. I remember it vividly.
It was the mid-80s and I was visiting my mom in Santa Rosa, CA. We were visiting her friend/business partner’s house who had a son a couple years older than me. My mom was going to be working a bit, so the son, his friend, and I all went out for a drive (maybe to get ice cream?). They were both a couple years older than me … I couldn’t drive yet.
Warm California summer evening. Top down in his mom’s car. His friend pops in a cassette tape of Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration” album and we were cruising. Up until that moment, my musical tastes had mostly been whatever my dad listened to (he had an extensive record collection and stereo system). Suddenly I found something I liked that wasn’t my dad’s music. I was hooked.
When I got back after the summer, I picked up the only two Depeche Mode records I could find, “Some Great Reward” and “Speak & Spell”. I wore those albums out. Shortly thereafter, I got a fresh new CD player and picked up the “Black Celebration” and “Music for the Masses” CDs. I’m sure my dad got tired of hearing Depeche Mode.
Then we moved to Germany in the late-80s. Depeche Mode was a fairly obscure, niche band in the US, but was **huge** in Germany. Not only that, but I was introduced to a TON of new music that I couldn’t find in the US (it was there, I just didn’t know to look for it): Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, They Might Be Giants, and on and on. I even got to see most of them in concert. “Alternative” music (mostly penned by MTV) was my jam.
Funny how a song can transport you though.
The song that triggered the memory:
Day 36 of #100DaysToOffload