Music For The Masses

Just over 30 years ago, an album was released which changed my life. Love or hate DM, this is one of the most influential bodies of pop music realeased. Ever.

It was the perfect soundtrack to a bleak youth, from the free-thinking girl from Upington, South Africa, stuck in PW's white prison of conformity, to kids in East Berlin, Kiev, Tehran, Sinaloa and Indonesia, all with their own struggles.

The threat of nuclear war always hanging over our heads. I sometimes wonder if the Cold War hadn't messed with the heads of some us Gen X'ers. It was quite a dark companion, woven into the very fabric of society. The communists were coming. Always.

The songs sounded like how we felt, but almost every single also became a dance hit.

It then sold more than 1 million copies in the USA, cementing these four often awkward and dorky guys as stadium rock gods by the time their supporting world tour was over (though the guitar only started making brief appearances at this stage).

They played 101 shows, with the final show recorded and filmed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, spawning a double live album. And that is a story for another day.