Like so many longtime XM Satellite Radio subscribers, we here at Slicing Up Eyeballs were not pleased with its November 2008 absorption into the FM-like Sirius Satellite Radio, and, in particular, the replacement of our beloved Fred classic-alternative station with the repeat-heavy 1st Wave.
More than a year later, Sirius XM deserves a small bit of credit for expanding 1st Wave’s playlist at least slightly from those awful first weeks, but let’s face it — its regular rotation is still exceedingly shallow and overly repetitious compared to XM’s Fred.
Yet there’s still one beacon of hope on 1st Wave: Sunday night’s “Dark Wave” program, which airs three hours of — for 1st Wave, anyways — surprisingly deep cuts from artists in heavy rotation (The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths) and some that seemingly aren’t in rotation at all (Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Skinny Puppy, Lords of the New Church). Of course, as Random Thoughts Escaping correctly notes, it’s still fairly repetitious, artist-wise — but at least they’re playing less-aired tracks.
To show our support for “Dark Wave” — and the idea that 1st Wave should dig deeper all the time — tonight we begin posting each week’s playlist. And we encourage you to tune in each Sunday night from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern/7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific.
See tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ playlist after the jump…
Playlist: 1st Wave’s “Dark Wave,” 2/21/10
Kraftwerk, “The Telephone Call”
Duran Duran, “Night Boat”
Ministry, “I Wanted to Tell Her”
The Mission UK, “Wasteland”
Joy Division, “A Means to an End”
Acid Horse, “No Name No Slogan”
Jesus and Mary Chain, “Head On”
Cocteau Twins, “Pandora”
Sisters of Mercy, “Flood”
Depeche Mode, “If You Want”
The Stranglers, “Golden Brown”
Japan, “Quiet Life”
The Cure, “Primary”
The Cult, “Nirvana”
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Bring it On”
The Smiths, “Girl Afraid”
The Sugarcubes, “Hit”
Xymox, “Obsession”
The Lords of the New Church, “Russian Roulette”
Joe Strummer, “Love Kills”
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Happy House”
The Mission UK, “Into the Blue” (La La She Look Mix)
Joy Division, “She’s Lost Control”
Nitzer Ebb, “I Give To You”
Killing Joke, “Love Like Blood”
Shriekback, “Nemesis”
Love and Rockets, “Love Me”
Kraftwerk, “Trans-Europe Express”
Cult Hero, “I Dig You”
The Cure, “Another Day”
Death Cult, “A Flower in the Desert”
Skinny Puppy, “Smothered Hope”
Sisters of Mercy, “Lucretia, My Reflection”
Depeche Mode, “Pleasure, Little Treasure”
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Slowdive”
The Smiths, “Miserable Lie”
Public Image Ltd., “Rise”
Joy Division, “Leaders of Men”
I thought I was the only one who gets tired of hearing the same 80s hits being played over and over and over again. I like Dark Wave and I often as why not have a channel that plays that stuff all the time. I also with there was a channel for Industrial, EBM, Gothic, Experimental music. Instead all we have is dance… My letters of dissapointment don’t even get a response any more. Sirius continues to go down hill.
I know they were popular and all that but I am really sick of hearing the Cult on the 80s alternative stations.
If you like Sirius XM then see their “rags to riches” story on DVD. The movie is called “Stock Shock” and it goes over the history, development, and near-death experience of the stock. I did not know the inventor of sirius xm was a woman!–well she is now, at least. DVD is cheaper at http://www.stockshockmovie.com, but the DVD is pretty much everywhere for sale.
It is really a shame that a dedicated show such as this cannot dig deeper into the broader UK/European underground/post-punk/new wave scene. This seems to me a lost opportunity to highlight some of the more criminally neglected bands of the era including:
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS
THE CHAMELEONS
COMSAT ANGELS
THE SOUND
SNAKE CORPS
FELT
DURUTTI COLUMN
FOR AGAINST
LOWLIFE
ASYLUM PARTY
MONOCHROME SET
MODERN EON
THE NAMES
A CERTAIN RATIO
PAULINE MURRAY & THE INVISIBLE GIRLS
PINK INDUSTRY
ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL
MCCARTHY
TUXEDOMOON
CABARET VOLTAIRE
THE THE
THE LUCY SHOW
NEW MODEL ARMY
THE ESSENCE
NINE CIRCLES
CAMERA OBSCURA (the original UK band, circa 1982)
ABECEDARIANS
JOSEF K
And this list above is just some of the more widely known of the cult bands of the era. It seems with seemingly a captive audience and listenership that features a younger, new generation of fans, this is a golden opportunity to introduce to a captive audience a vast array of music that was widely ignored on the first go around, but has influenced a crop of musicians today. Shows like this could do wonders in a) generating interest in their respective back catalogue’s, many of which are out of print; b) influencing the record labels to reissue this work to a legion of fans both old and new; and c) all of the above, which helps the bands get paid as a result of a reissue campaign, or in the case of several who are still active, concert ticket sales.
Bottom line, there is a world of music out there to explore – music blogs exist for this very reason for example – and as we put together playlists in our iPods/MP3 players that reflect our interests, isn’t about time the radio shows follow suit?
I was so sad when they got rid of Fred! Pretty much thought since Sirius took over most of the stations now have a regular rotation, so what makes them different from regular radio now? The daytime programming on 1st Wave has a rotation of around 80 songs which is pretty pathetic. The night time programming is slightly better with the swedish eagle and Dave Kendall playing some stuff not on the standard playlist. But ever since the merger I think XM-Sirius programming has gotten worst.
I love your DARKWAVE your the bomb keep it coming THANKS!
reserruct FRED
How about some clan ofXymox?
I pretty much use your playlist to add some spice to the tired playlists of these classics to friends. I’ve even become excited about going to record stores again to dig and dig and find these gems.