Depeche Mode · Music for the Masses

Strangelove

Strangelove is in E minor at 118.9 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

119 BPM · Moderatomedian of 237 analyses · 118.8–119.1 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E minor1 sharp · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
92%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
237people who ran the extractor
One beat
504.6milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439.5Hz · -2 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.83dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.896Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.226Essentia's danceability, 0–3

Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.

What the numbers say

237 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 92% — put it in E minor, a key signature of 1 sharp. The tempo printed above is the median of the 237 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 118.9 BPM one beat lasts 504.6 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 126.2 ms and a dotted eighth 378.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 59.5 BPM, counted twice as fast 237.8. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439.5 Hz, which is 2 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.83 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.896 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.

10 other recordings here are in E minor; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.

Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.

Keys that fit with E minor

Each of these differs from E minor by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.

Delay times at 119 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42018.50.5
Half note21009.30.99
Dotted quarter1.5756.91.32
Quarter note (one beat)1504.61.98
Quarter triplet0.667336.42.97
Dotted eighth0.75378.52.64
Eighth note0.5252.33.96
Eighth triplet0.333168.25.95
Dotted sixteenth0.375189.25.28
Sixteenth note0.25126.27.93
Sixteenth triplet0.16784.111.89
Thirty-second note0.12563.115.85

Half time 59.5 BPM · double time 237.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (504.6 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Beds Are BurningMidnight OilE minor119BPM
  2. Boogie NightsHeatwaveE minor119BPM
  3. The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)The DoorsE minor120BPM
  4. For All the CowsFoo FightersE minor118BPM
  5. Invisible ChoirsScannerE minor120BPM
  6. DiscothèqueU2E minor120BPM
  7. Time of the SeasonThe ZombiesE minor117BPM
  8. Orange CrushR.E.M.E minor121BPM
  9. March of the MeaniesGeorge Martin and His OrchestraE minor117BPM
  10. Stay High (Habits remix)Tove Lo feat. Hippie SabotageE minor121BPM

Recordings in E minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 119 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E minorAll songs at 119 BPME minor at 110–119 BPMDepeche Mode

MusicBrainz collapses 45 recording ids into this one. Recording id dfac3d5d-a114-4bbb-a8fd-0ebf08ac5741.