[tweetmeme]With this week marking the 25th anniversary of the release of Depeche Mode’s landmark album Violator, we once again dip into the Slicing Up Eyeballs cassette archives, this time for a recording of the KROQ broadcast during the band’s infamous in-store appearance at a Wherehouse record store on the album’s U.S. release date.
Below, you can stream the nearly 7-minute segment taped live the night of March 20, 1990, as thousands of fans lined up in Los Angeles to meet the band. The recording features KROQ DJ Richard Blade interviewing the members of Depeche Mode about the just-released Violator and the band’s plans for the World Violation Tour.
On the tape, it’s mentioned that the crowd has grown to 17,500 people; the event itself would only last a bit more than an hour before being shut down by police, which ended up sparking a near-riot when fans couldn’t get in. For footage of the in-store, check out a special video shared by Depeche Mode last year or raw news coverage from that night.
Blade, who now DJs on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, will commemorate Violator’s 25th anniversary all week on his “This Is the Day” segment airing on 1st Wave at 3 p.m. EDT Monday through Friday, culminating on Friday, the actual anniversary of the in-store, when he’ll play a 17-minute reel of audio from that night.
Stream our KROQ audio below:
