Music for the Masses is the sixth studio album by Depeche Mode, released in September 1987 by Mute Records in the United Kingdom and Sire Records in the United States. It followed the highly successful Black Celebration from 1986 and marked a significant step forward for the band.
Co-produced by Depeche Mode and David Bascombe, it was the first album on which Alan Wilder assumed a central role in shaping the production. Anton Corbijn’s involvement in the music videos and promotional materials also helped redefine the band’s evolving aesthetic. With Music for the Masses, Depeche Mode began to break into truly massive territory, a rise spectacularly confirmed by the legendary 1988 Pasadena Rose Bowl concert, later documented in the film 101. The band had managed to conquer the United States in a way no other British group of their style had done before.
The album produced four successful singles: Strangelove, Never Let Me Down Again, Behind the Wheel, and Little 15, but its deeper cuts were just as important. Tracks like the intimate Martin Gore–sung The Things You Said, along with To Have and to Hold, I Want You Now, and Nothing, further explore themes of longing, desire, and power disparity.
Music for the Masses continues the atmospheric direction established on Black Celebration, blending industrial textures, cinematic synth layers, and percussive experimentation with an even sharper sense of ceremoniousness.
The album’s title, originally intended as a wry bit of irony, proved unexpectedly prophetic. Through it, the band ultimately did reach the masses. Only a few years later, Violator would arrive to further validate Depeche Mode’s place as one of the most influential synthpop bands of all time.
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Depeche Mode
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