Yesterday, Slicing Up Eyeballs hit a somewhat negligible milestone, the six-month mark in its still-nascent existence chronicling the past, present and future of ’80s college rock.
To mark the occasion, I thought it would be worth noting the site’s most-viewed posts over that span, which saw more than 160 news items posted.
It’s something I’d actually been planning to do for a while, which is why it’s ironic that on the very day in question, the post about Adam Yauch’s cancer diagnosis got Farked, immediately shooting that item to the top of the list — and eclipsing everything else in terms of traffic.
So perhaps this will serve as an introduction to the site’s thousands of new visitors: Welcome, and here are the next 10 most-popular posts since we launched six months ago:
- Morrissey’s ‘Years of Refusal’ tour marred by cancellations, immigration trouble (March 7): While Morrissey’s late-period renaissance continues with the just-released Years of Refusal, the ex-Smith’s latest American tour has been beset by problems ranging from canceled gigs to an apparent immigration snafu in Atlanta.
- Happy Mondays, Psychedelic Furs doubling up for U.S. club tour in September, October (June 17): Details are scarce, but it appears ’80s stalwarts — and John Hughes soundtrack stars — The Psychedelic Furs are plotting a fall club tour of the U.S. with recently reactivated Madchester survivors Happy Mondays.
- The Cure’s Robert Smith counts down Top 30 songs of the ’80s on Sirius XM (May 30): Last weekend’s “4 for The Cure Memorial Weekend” special on Sirius XM’s classic-alternative station 1st Wave featured an unannounced and unexpected bonus: Robert Smith counting down his Top 30 songs from the ’80s.
- Pixies add more European festival dates; ‘big announcement’ due Monday (April 18): With the once-again-reactivated Pixies promising “a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT on Monday” on the band’s Facebook page, several more European summer festival dates have begun surfacing.
- Cassette art: Turning old tapes into Robert Smith, Ian Curtis, Ian Brown (April 3): The alleged vinyl resurgence may be all the rage in the media right now, but for many of us who came of musical age in the ’80s, the much-maligned cassette still holds a special place — in our hearts at least, if not on our shelves.
- Depeche Mode cancels concerts after Dave Gahan injures leg during performance (July 10): Depeche Mode today canceled two more concerts on its Tour of the Universe after Dave Gahan tore a calf muscle during last night’s festival performance in Bilbao, Spain, the band is reporting on its Web site.
- Pet Shop Boys unleash month-long Pandemonium Tour on North America (June 5): The Pet Shop Boys this morning announced a North American leg to the duo’s Pandemonium Tour, a trek that’ll see the group hitting 15 cities in late August and September.
- R.E.M. planning ‘Reckoning’ reissue, ‘Dublin Working Rehearsals’ live album (March 30): With touring and promotion of 2008’s Accelerate now finished, R.E.M. this year will issue, at a minimum, a pair of archival releases, hitting both ends of its long and fruitful career.
- U2 announces ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ reissue box set via plastic shopping bag (July 3): U2’s The Unforgettable Fire will be remastered and reissued in a “super deluxe” box set this October that will include “B-sides, rare and previously unreleased songs, and film and video footage.”
- ‘XTC As…’: Re-branded Dukes of Stratosphear reissues due in March (Feb. 23): The EP and album that XTC’s Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory released under the guise of their psychedelic-pop side project The Dukes of Stratosphear in the mid-’80s will receive the expanded reissue treatment on March 24.
