Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorn. Time now for a segment called I Wish I Made That, where

we invite some of our favorites in pop culture to dive deep into a work of art they didn't

make, but really wish they did. On deck is John Darnell. He's a writer. His 2014 debut

novel Wolf and White Van was nominated for a National Book Award. Along with fiction,

he also writes a column for Decable Magazine. His third novel is out now. It's called Devil

House. It's an epic story that touches on the true crime fad of today, the satanic panic

of the 1980s and a spooky home in Milpitas, California. You might also know John Darnell

for his other gig, Singer, Songwriter and Frontman of The Mountain Goats.

The Mountain Goats are a folk rock band. John started all by himself back in the early

90s. Just him and a tape recorder. Since then, they've gained a few members and put out

over two dozen albums, including last year's Darken here.

When we asked John to pick something he wishes he'd made, he sent us a list first. It said,

Patrick O'Rednik's book, Europeana, the album The Fallen King by Italian Power Metal

Band, Frozen Crown, Gary Guietti's first. Gary Guietti's, that's the third baseman for

the Minnesota Twins, first and last appearance as a relief pitcher for the Cubs in 1999 or

the Spieken Spell, the debut album by New Wave Legends Depeche Mode. Eventually, we got

him to narrow it down to one and he chose the last one. We'll let John explain why.

So my name is John Darnell and one thing among many things I wish I'd made is Depeche

Mode's premiere album Spieken Spell. So the segment's called, I wish I made that, and

one reason I wish that I was the guy who made the Depeche Mode debut is how brave it is,

you know, how singular it was to make a record like this when it came out. It doesn't sound

...