90's Jams #43: Depeche Mode "Personal Jesus" (1990)

Okay, so at some point there has to be some cheating involved... Violator was Spring '90, but the "Personal Jesus" single was actually Fall '89... We could have been cool about it and just said we like the album version better, but that's actually not true because the version on Violator stretches the outro a bit too long, and it doesn't have that final chilling unresolved "Reach out and touch faith..." followed by the haunting guitar-ping. And speaking of guitars, this was their first song ever with any guitar at all, let alone a guitar riff, and of course it ends up turning out to be one of the coolest riffs ever... And speaking of cool, what the fuck ever happened to cool rock bands? Are any current bands pulling it off as well as these guys once did? The always-growing number of artists who've honored "Personal Jesus" is almost as impressive as their variety, ranging from Marilyn Manson's "Rock Is Dead" right on up through Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl."