But not tonight
SPECIAL NOTE: TODAY 4/21 ONLY, NEW DEPECHE MODE “SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE” DOWNLOAD ON SALE AT AMAZON FOR $3.99.
Today, listening to the new Depeche Mode album on my iPod, I started to meditate (it was hard to meditate, there were two women kissing in front of me, but this is the subway) on all the other “first days” of DM albums. Let’s take a look back, shall we?
The first DM album I actually purchased the year it was released rather than taping my favorite songs off of WLIR was Black Celebration in 1986, in cassette form. I don’t actually remember buying it. Didn’t I know I’d be blogging about it 23 years later? Why didn’t I write that down? I do remember having it “borrowed” indefinitely by a friend at Summer camp, but she’s had an unhappy life since, so I believe she was paid back by Karma.
Then was Music For the Masses in 1987 (remember when bands put out albums every year? No, me either) and that’s easy. I bought it from the Musicland store where I worked. If you also bought a cassette of MFTM at Musicland #488 in suburban Westchester county. I probably kissed it before you bought it. Later, I traded it to a girl in college for the Korean version and bought it on CD instead. Korean version = exotic.
Violator, still probably DM’s most popular album, came out in 1990, and again I bought that at my own store, this time in Baltimore, and still in business! I don’t remember buying it but I do remember buying the “cassette single” of Enjoy the Silence. We didn’t carry it so I had to pick it up at 12 Inch Dance Records, a chain which still seems to exist in DC, but not in Baltimore. D’oh!
1993 brought Songs of Faith and Devotion, and I was back at Store #488, making (piddly) money for grad school. At the time, I found the album bizarre but now I love it. That was the year Dave Gahan went crazy, but that was OK, otherwise they never would have made a Behind the Music about them.
I dutifully bought the next three the day they came out, all from neighborhood stores that no longer exist (Nobody Beats the Wiz, Tower, and Circuit City, respectively). And then there was this one. Life’s different now! There are no more record stores in my neighborhood. I wanted to head down to one of the Indies in the Village and pay $5 extra to support them but I just don’t have time this week. I again tried Amazon to see if they would ship for arrival ON the 21st, but no, they promised that with my Prime plan, I’d have it on the 23rd. No good.
Instead, I stuck with the “Season Pass” I already bought months ago on iTunes. I still want the physical CD, it just won’t be on day of release. On the other hand, for the first time, there exists a picture of me doing something I’ve been doing for a big chunk of my life: buying new Depeche Mode music. It’s too big to fit here, let’s go to the scene:
Me buying Sounds of the Universe, 4-21-09
Wow, I look good. Now go get yours!
Title comes from my Twitter pun of last night, “Reeeeally wanted to stay up to collect the new DM from the iTunes store at midnight but not tonight” Hardy-har-har. But really, I needed sleep.
