[On the Windscreen] -- My last several Flashback posts have focused on an entire album that was released on, or near, the calendar date in question. I'm continuing that trend today, but with a slight change. April is my birthday month. So, starting this weekend, I am featuring music from 1986, the year in which I turned 18. I've done this at least once before, focusing solely on music released during April 1986. But this time around, I'm leaving the whole of 1986 open to exploration. This week, I'm featuring a little record that hit the charts on 3/17/1986 -- 35 years ago! It is also one of my favorite albums from that year: Depeche Mode's fifth studio album, Black Celebration. Although it received mixed reviews upon its release, Black Celebration reached #4 on the UK albums chart, yielded four singles (all top 40 in the UK), was cited as one of the most influential albums of the 1980s, and earned a spot on Spin magazine's 25 Greatest Albums of All Time (#15, April 1989). This record successfully married pop beats with a darker aesthetic, a combination Depeche Mode went on to further develop in their next few releases (Music for the Masses, Violator, and Songs of Faith and Devotion). I also need to point out that my favorite version of the fourth single, "But Not Tonight," is probably the Extended Remix (which is not, unfortunately, included in the playlist embedded below). So, while we have only "A Question of Time" (but not "A Question of Lust), let's kick off a "Black Celebration" of my birth month in this "World Full of Nothing." Maybe we can all get "Dressed in Black" and watch a "Fly on the Windscreen." However, "Breathing in Fumes" and getting "Stripped" are both optional.
Flashback: Black Celebration (1986)
That's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
I'll see you in seven!
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