The Cassette That Changed Everything

I was twelve the first time I heard Depeche Mode.

My cousin was sixteen, deep into the new wave scene: Doc Marten Mary Janes, fishnets, heavy eyeliner. She lived in her headphones. I was into skateboards and still listening to The Beach Boys on the family’s record and tape player combo. Two totally different worlds.

One afternoon she handed me a cassette of Catching Up With Depeche Mode and said, “Listen to this.”

I took it into my room like it was contraband.

The first song I remember hearing was “Blasphemous Rumours.” I had never heard anything like it. The industrial samples, the breathing-machine rhythm. It didn’t sound like music to me. It felt like someone telling a truth you weren’t supposed to hear as a kid.

Back then, music wasn’t endless playlists. You got whatever an older, cooler person let you borrow. You flipped the tape, rewound it, hoped it didn’t get eaten.

I played that cassette every day until the hiss got loud and the tape warped. I didn’t care. It already changed something in me.

That tape led me to everything: The Cure, Joy Division, Gene Loves Jezebel, and the whole world of post-punk and new wave that shaped who I am now.

It is wild how one small moment can shift your whole life. A cousin passing you a cassette. A song hitting at the right time.

What was the moment that changed music for you?