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Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s music pick celebrates Depeche Mode’s apex’s exceptional craftsmanship and penetrating moodiness.
Genre: Alternative, Synth Pop, New Wave
Label: Sire
Release Date: March 19, 1990
Vibe: 💯
After seeing them live in April 2023 as part of their tour supporting Memento Mori, I was reminded how powerful and exacting every song off Violator remains nearly 25 years later. Every time Martin Gore, Dave Gahan, and company reached back into the album’s tracklist, its steely magnetism cuts right through to your soul without ever sounding manipulative or over-the-top. Call it whatever you want—goth, emo, darkwave, ambient electronica, and so on—what makes this record great is the earnest romanticism that bubbles beneath its detached-sounding exterior. Like Robert Smith’s best material, it backs up its emotional extremes by ensuring you always feel those proclamations come from a sincere place that yearns for connection.
I say all this, but let’s forget just how massive Violator’s commercial success was for the group. Buoyed by the Top 10 hit single “Enjoy the Silence,” it was their first album to sell over a million copies stateside, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. Part of its appeal is in its elasticity, deftly bringing rock, pop, dance, and early hip-hop elements together to create the sound most fans now associate with the Depeche Mode brand. The bouncy bassline on “World in My Eyes” brought the group’s 80s sound into a new era, with Gahan’s indigo-tinted crooning both arresting and vaguely unsettling (“I’ll take you to the highest mountain/To the depths of the deepest sea/And we won’t need a map, believe me”). “Sweetest Perfection” is a Reznor-esque treatment of sex and addiction (or maybe sex as addiction?), while “Policy of Truth” is perhaps the best example of the record’s enigmatic allure. Do the protagonist’s seductive vocals admonish dishonesty in a relationship or fetishize it to gain the upper hand in some warped power dynamic?
Then there’s “Personal Jesus,” the most arresting moment in a lineup full of them. Its slow-burn guitar riff saws through a drum beat that wants to punch you in the face as much as it wants to get your hips moving. The lyrics, which play with the idea of unhealthy relationship idolatry a la Priscilla Presley, are simplistic in a cutting sort of way, hiding its wolf-like intentions under a veneer of trustworthiness (“Things on your chest you need to confess/I will deliver, you know I’m a forgiver”). On paper, it shouldn’t necessarily work as well as it does, but that’s the magic of truly original art. It has the power to stun, even on repeated listens.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈