The first Synth pop album?

I go this album from a friend of mine. I was quite shocked when I saw it in his library because I could not believe that anyone I knew even heard of Suicide, let alone own some of their music. I learned about the band from a documentary I saw on IFC a couple summers ago and that perked my interest. I had read about the album over and over through various sources, but wondered truly how good it would be or if I could even tolerate it enough to listen all the way through. I heard that the songs were minimalist. Short album length, not a lot of variety sound-wise throughout. All these things are true, but I must say that this is one of the better albums I have ever heard. Because this music is a starting point for much of what is listened to today, it feels familiar. The first tune, "Ghostrider", is a chugging, quick tune with chanted vocals. It sets the scene for the album. "Cheree" and "Girl" are songs of young love and lust. They are the sweetest on the album and seem almost pretty. "Cheree" has a swelling, sort of grand feeling then xylephone like sounds bubble up and sort of send it home. "Girl" is a bit more adult, more from a blue-balls angle. It's slicker, and sexier than "Cheree" but not nearly as charming. But then comes along "Frankie Teardrop". At 10:26, it's the longest song on the album and by far the most disturbing. This song is a knockout if there ever was one. The song is about a guy who is married and has kids. He is working a dead end job that leads him nowhere. "He's just trying to survive/Let's hear it for Frankie/Frankie/Frankie/". The vocals are spoken or rather, chanted. The character has bad things happen to him, such as not making enough money to afford food and he gets evicted. This leads to the culmination of the story in which he kills his wife and kids. The song reaches a certain point, as if it was the character Frankie himself. Desperation reaches a high and Alan Vega starts screaming. Now, these aren't your normal screams. They are ungodly. More intense than John Lennon on "Mother" or "Well Well Well". More intense than Frank Black ever got with the Pixies. Think "Tame" only demented and way, way louder. After the first couple of screams, the song hits an ocean of sound, a grand swirl of distortion. It's wonderful.The album finishes off with a bit of respite after the intensity of "Frankie Teardrop". The songs is of lesser note than the others and could register as the only near dud on the whole album.Listening to this, you can hear synth pop and industrial music. Nine Inch Nails wouldn't exist without this. Just read about it somewhere, you will be hard pressed to find that "influential" is not listed as one of the main attributes. The album is wonderful though, it deserves all the acclaim. Only a hair over a half an hour long. So, even if you don't like it, you only wasted a half an hour of your time. That's sure as hell better than wading through "Stadium Arcadium" trying to find a good song.