It was in 1987 that I discovered the music of Depeche Mode. Up until then I listened to mainly crappy pop music, and after discovering DM I discovered bands like The Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, OMD, and other bands of that great genre, "Modern Rock." So long, crappy pop music.

I've loved nearly all of Depeche Mode albums, but Black Celebration was always at the top of my list of all-time favorite albums, period. It was a dramatic turn for Depeche Mode, following the relatively upbeat Some Great Reward (which did have a couple of dark songs, such as "Blasphemous Rumours" to foreshadow what was to come).

Black Celebration combines Martin L. Gore's dark lyrics and music with Alan Wilder's spectacular sonic landscape. Black Celebration opens with the title song, which starts with a sort of minimalist synth backdrop, combining weird noises and vocal sounds while a simple synth line is added until everything explodes in a crescendo of music, and leads to Dave Gahan singing the opening line, "Let's have a black celebration, black celebration, tonight..." which sets the stage for the remainder of the album.

"Black Celebration" transitions into "Fly on The Windscreen — Final," which immediately tells you what it's about with the lyric, "Death is everywhere, there are flies on the windscreen for a start, reminding us we could be torn apart..."

Gore switches gears a bit with "A Question of Lust," a sort of darker version of "Somebody" from Some Great Reward.

"Sometimes" is a simple piece, mainly piano and Gore's vocals, just under two minutes long. "It Doesn't Matter Two" is another song about relationships, albeit a troubled one.

Other highlights include "Stripped" which segues into "Here Is The House," my favorite track on the album, as Black Celebration slowly begins an upbeat turn.

Gore takes a stab at politics with "New Dress" and, frankly, is a bit out of place here, as is the closing track, "But Not Tonight," which is entirely too upbeat, and would have been a better fit on Some Great Reward.

Black Celebration would be followed by the hugely successful Music For The Masses, which is a very different album than Black Celebration, and from that point DM's music matured and moved away a bit from the darkness of Black Celebration.

I know many DM fans list Black Celebration as their favorite DM album. Over time Black Celebration has lost a little of its appeal for me (now that I'm 37, and I first heard Black Celebration when I was 19), but it is still one of DM's finest albums. If you don't own this album, buy it now.