Depeche Mode’s debut ‘Speak & Spell’ was released on Oct. 5, 1981 — exactly 30 years ago today. To mark the occasion, we present the band’s first few appearances on ‘Top of the Pops,’ which find a group of very young men — introduced as ‘Depech-ay Mode!’ — miming along to their early hits.

This week’s headlines on Slicing Up Eyeballs included a lot of big news about The Cure, plus items on The Mission, Erasure, Gary Numan, The Sisters of Mercy, R.E.M., Lou Reed (and Metallica) and The Jesus and Mary Chain, plus a new Bangles contest.

Susan Boyle, the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ phenom recently described by The Sun as ‘the Highland lassie with the big hits and the hairy chassis,’ has covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy the Silence’ for her new album ‘Someone to Watch Over Me,’ which Rolling Stone this morning premiered.

Members of Depeche Mode and Glasvegas each have revealed that their bands have recorded new U2 covers that appear to be connected to the Irish megaband’s 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Achtung Baby,’ which arrives in November in a variety of formats including a $660 ‘uber deluxe’ edition stuffed with CDs, DVDs, vinyl and more.

Ex-Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder’s auction of studio equipment, records and other memorabilia from his tenure with the synthpop legends is set for this Saturday, and in the run-up to the event, the keyboardist has posted a four-part, 37-minute documentary about his collection and the process of preparing it for sale.

Mission frontman Wayne Hussey this fall will release an album with All About Eve lead singer Julianne Regan featuring ‘strange and interesting interpretations of already loved songs alongside new songs’ — including covers of Depeche Mode, Duran Duran and David Bowie.