I’m in the midst of a Depeche Mode binge. Funny how I listen and it totally captures a specific time in my life, a specific person I was then.

This song in particular – Shake The Disease
Here is a plea
From my heart to you
Nobody knows me
As well as you do
You know how hard it is for me
To shake the disease
That takes hold of my tongue
In situations like these

Oh the angst! Understand me.. God

I was in my early teens when I discovered them. My friend Wendy had an older brother who introduced me to so much fabulous music. The first time I heard Dead Kennedys was through him, Black Flag, etc. And then punk began to fade and Depeche Mode found its way to his record player (yes, record player my young friends).  People Are People. It was 1984, I was 16.

I can actually still remember taking the record home and putting it on. That funky beginning, I’d never heard anything like it before. And then Get the Balance Right, Leave in Silence, Everything Counts – I listened to it over and over and over. I was in love by the end of the next day.

Help me understaaaand….

Tenth grade. Wow. I had really big hair. My first real boyfriend who loved the Thompson Twins. Oh Sean th his name was. The only blond boy I ever dated. I remember going to a dance at his high school and dancing with him to Just Can’t Get Enough which, if I remember right, was like an import record at the time.

And then there were The Smiths

1984 was a big music year for me, much like 1980 and then 1990. The cassette of The Smiths landed in my hands and I heard Reel Around The Fountain. I’m shrugging because I still get all breathless rememebering hearing Morrisey’s voice for the first time. Meat is Murder came out the next year and it’s one of “those” records much like I discussed “those” books last week. It came out in February, near by 17th birthday. On my back in the park, probably chemically enhanced in some way, looking up at the stars listening to How Soon Is Now.

And then I graduated from high school to The Queen is Dead. Some months later I met my husband and pretty shortly thereafter we got an apartment together and I listened to the cassette nearly every day when I drove home from work.

I can’t promise I won’t write about music again, I can’t help it, I love it so much and it’s such a huge part of my creative life…