Number Ones: #102

• DEPECHE MODE Strangelove (Mute)
• Week Ending 9th May 1987
• 4 Weeks At #1

 

Bong!

And here is the news. On my personal chart for the second week of May 1987, we have a brand new #1.

Bong!

For the third time already this year, a single debuts in pole position, following Manhattan Skyline (a-ha) and Get That Love (Thompson Twins).

Bong!

In doing so, Depeche Mode score a seventh #1 and equal Howard Jones as the most successful artist of all-time (well, since January 1984 anyway). They have also reached #2 with their other releases in that time (Blasphemous Rumours and Shake The Disease).

Bong!

Strangelove is the band’s fifth #1 in a row, stretching back to 1985 and It’s Called A Heart. Only the aforementioned Howard Jones had previously achieved such a run (What Is Love? to Things Can Only Get Better).

Bong!

The first fruits of what promises to be an eagerly-awaited new album later in the year, Strangelove is notably lighter in tone than anything from the Black Celebration era, yet lyrically it’s still perv-factor 9 for Martin Leslie Gore as the kinks have still really got him in a hold. That’s how his love goes. He likes to practice what he preaches. But he’s always willing to learn if you’ve got something to teach him.

Bong!

Pain.

Bong!

I’ll say it again. Pain.

Bong!

Alright, so I’m never going to be able to string this out to thirteen Bongs. I admit defeat!

Now it’s over to Wincey Willis with the weather…..