My #26 All-Time Favorite Album: Violator by Depeche Mode

My #26 all-time favorite album is Violator by the British electronic/rock band Depeche Mode.  It came out in early 1990 with singles releases throughout the year, the most prominent being Enjoy the Silence and Policy of Truth.  The former became a top ten hit here in the USA and its accompanying video, featuring lead singer David Gahan dressed as a king in Shakespearean garb hiking alone across country vistas carrying a folding chair to rest on, captured my imagination.  There's something dark and at the same time romantic about the often-morose music of this band with David's deep voice, all songs composed by their genius keyboardist Martin Gore and featuring creative arrangements using synthesizers.  The first Depeche Mode song I ever heard was back in 1984 on MTV with their Everything Counts video...back then I knew this was a group to watch out for.  On Violator, here is a ranked list of the tracks in the order of my liking:

1-Enjoy the Silence

2-Policy of Truth

3-Halo

4-Personal Jesus

5-World in My Eyes

6-Blue Dress

7-Clean

8-Waiting for the Night

9-Sweetest Perfection

The only song I dislike is Sweetest Perfection...the others have beautiful lyrics, melodies and arrangements.  Culturally, I think that Depeche Mode, as it presented itself during the late 1980s and early 1990s (it's still around today), was more in sync with what I was feeling back during my high school and early college years...a kind of socially skeptical, dark gothic-tinged band with a healthy dose of romantic foolishness thrown in for good measure.  All of this is in great evidence on Violator, which I consider as their best work.  When I listen to their music I wonder if I might not have had a more enjoyable and meaningful adolescence had I been able to fit it with a group of this kind of disposition...but I don't think there was such a thing as goth culture back when I was growing up.  As with all of the albums on my favorites list, you can at least for now hear Violator on YouTube.  I recommend, however, getting the album and enjoying its totality without any annoying ads...