The best year ever

If we wanted to, we could use the 1987 calendar this year, as each day fell on the exact same day of the week. (Obviously, if there's one match and the years in question are both "normal" years or both leap years, all the other days have to match as well). Anyway, 24th August was also Monday back then, which is when new releases come out in the UK, and those included the Depeche Mode single "Never Let Me Down Again" 28 years ago - one of the best songs ever. I wouldn't say that such a treat appearing today is completely impossible, but I do feel that particular year was quite special, and it's not (just) nostalgia, as I was actually too young to appreciate it at the time.

Control freak

Exactly 20 years ago, on his 36th birthday, Alan Wilder announced his departure from Depeche Mode. He played a very important part in the band in multiple ways: he was the only trained musician, who was also great at production, arrangements and creating atmospheres, he was the one who enjoyed working endlessly in the studio until every single sound was in its right place, he was a perfectionist, and obviously his taste and opinion also influenced the end result. No wonder that fans weren't happy to see him leave, and since then he (unwillingly) plays a very odd part in Depeche Mode: whenever something's not up to fans expectations, it's because "he's no longer there". Although he issued a statement that made things quite clear, some people aren't sure why he left, so I'll take a look at that (I have to point out that I have no special insider info, just observations and assumptions), and briefly at what happened since.

The impossible princess of pop

Probably since first setting eyes on her (on a TV screen) in 1988, I've always liked Kylie Minogue. Not only because she's such a pleasure to see every single time (of course I have to admit that I do find her very attractive), but she's got such an irresistible charm that makes people warm to her, even when they don't particularly like her singing or acting. I also really like her voice, it's nice to listen to even when she just speaks, and over the years she's turned herself into a truly great  performer and a really good singer. I only wish she had better songs.

Depeche Mode: Construction Time Again era

The album. The singles. The songs. The tour.

The Cure, going nowhere

There are varying opinions about when The Cure stopped being great - some say they're still great, some say they peaked with Disintegration and are on the way down ever since, some say they couldn't really recover after Pearl (known as Porl at the time) and Boris left, but I truly enjoyed Wild Mood Swings (not a flawless album, but definitely not as bad as people usually think), I really liked Wrong Number and then the Bloodflowers album, and even Cut Here was really good (let's forget about Just Say Yes for a moment), so I was quite happy with their output until they left Fiction. I'm not suggesting that leaving the label was what caused the decline, but something went wrong after that.

The best album ever

I'm cheating a bit, because it's not a proper studio album but a live one. Anyway, 101 by Depeche Mode is my ultimate desert island disc (cheating again, it's 2 discs on both vinyl and cd), the one I can never get tired of, the one I listen to the most, simply put, the best album ever.

Violation

The period between 1986 and 1994 is largely considered as "the golden age" of Depeche Mode, the era of their creative and commercial peak. Even the band members seem to agree with that, given that their tour setlists heavily rely on material from those years ever since. They released 4 studio albums during that time, and 3 of those came out in mid-March, so last week was filled with opportunities to look back: Black Celebration turned 29 on Tuesday, Songs Of Faith And Devotion became 22 years old on Sunday, but a quarter of a century mark seemed more interesting, so most of the attention concentrated on Violator's anniversary on Thursday.