Depeche Mode didn't invent synth-pop, but with their impeccable hooks and unimpeachable cool they filled stadiums with it and changed the face of alternative music. You can hear their swagger in the louche synth-rock of The Killers and The Faint, while Nine Inch Nails tap their leering menace. DM's take on sepia-tinged Americana became a mini-genre unto itself—see Moby's "Extreme Ways".