Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode gave Music for the Masses a title dripping with irony in 1987, then went out and made it come true, turning a cult synth band into a stadium force.

Their sixth studio album was produced by the band with David Bascombe, marking a step away from the production team behind their earlier records. The result is wider and more cinematic than anything they had made before, with orchestral weight and industrial clang folded into the electronics. The tour that followed ended at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, captured on the film and live album 101.

"Never Let Me Down Again" opens the album with a surging, wind-in-the-hair rush that became one of their great live moments, arms waving across entire arenas. "Strangelove" pairs a nagging synth riff with Martin Gore's thorny view of love and devotion, and "Behind the Wheel" rolls along on a hypnotic, low-slung groove.

Away from the singles, "The Things You Said" shows the quieter, more intimate side of Gore's writing, while Dave Gahan's rich baritone gives everything a brooding, slightly dangerous glamour.

This is the record where Depeche Mode stopped being a well-kept secret and became one of the biggest bands on the planet, and it still sounds dark, sleek and enormous.