For their new album, Depeche Mode said they were using analog synthesizers and other vintage gear to "conjure up images of the universe and space travel." But the result sounds like a time machine back to the Eighties. The pulsing single "Wrong" oozes classic synth-pop angst, but with Commodore 64-style beats and laser-tag keyboards, ballads like "Peace" are comically New Romantic, and the dour "Spacewalker" sounds like the score to Star Trek rewritten by a deeply bummed-out robot. Depeche Mode should be poised for a comeback, but it's too soon to unpack those black turtlenecks.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.