21 for 21: #4—Depeche Mode, "Violator"

As I reflect on this list, it occurs to me that a more honest title should be "Best CDs from my time in graduate school," since 1990-1992 is the era of release for most of these albums. Perhaps none captures the bliss of this era for me more than tonight's #4 pick, "Violator" by Depeche Mode.

This is the second appearance by the British alterna-synth quartet, and far and away their best work of their career. "Violator" was their first top ten album in the U.S., making it as far as #7 on the Billboard charts. It's sold more than 3 million copies to date in the U.S. alone. Listening to the tracks is almost like going back in time.

Grad school was a kind of magic time for me in a lot of ways. I had successfully completed journalism school at Mizzou, but instead of jumping into the profession, I wanted to get a master's degree in English to work toward my eventual goal to become a novelist. Grad school gave me a limited number of fun and interesting classes, a teaching appointment, and ample free time to write and hang out with my friends, who were all still in college during my first year.

To make things a bit more interesting, I also had a girlfriend for a few months, something that hadn't happened since my junior year of high school. I had, quite literally, zero dates during my undergrad years in college. In retrospect, no romantic attachments are certainly conducive to making good grades, which I did. But grad school was different. I was dating, my apartment roommate (Wags) was dating, we had mutual friends who were dating. Result: we hosted dinner parties.

I had learned a little Italian cooking from another friend (and previous year's roommate), so I started working on big pasta dishes—mostaccioli, stuffed manicotti, lasagna. "Violator" was on the CD player whenever I cooked. "World in My Eyes" played during prep. The sauce started with "Sweetest Perfection" and simmered through "Personal Jesus" and "Halo." By the time "Enjoy the Silence" began to play, I put it all together, and put it in the oven by the end of "Policy of Truth."

Our girlfriends and our guests all enjoyed the meals, and I enjoyed feeling like I might actually make a semi-decent grownup. I still like to cook Italian for special occasions, sometimes with friends, usually with the family I have with the wife I met three years after I left grad school. "Violator" is on my iPhone instead of on my CD player, but it still makes for a great cooking album. Here's my favorite song off the album—bon appetit!