This is what the site used to look like
Five years ago today — at precisely 10:37 p.m. MST on Feb. 20, 2009 — Slicing Up Eyeballs launched so very inauspiciously, with just a simple 91-word post announcing plans to provide “the latest info on new albums, reissues, upcoming reunions and tour dates.” For the next day days, it’s likely the site had a single visitor: myself.
How times have changed. Five years and and 4,054 posts later, this site has garnered 10,269,313 pageviews from 3,332,838 unique visitors — numbers that would have been utterly inconceivable on that February night in 2009. Plus it’s spawned four hours of weekly programming on Sirius XM Satellite Radio and Strangeways Radio, a monthly mixtape series, our ongoing Best of the ’80s polls and more.
As I’ve written before, what started as a late-night labor of love — I figured I’d write about the music I know and love, and see if anybody else cared — has turned into a serious undertaking. And it turns out that other people do, in fact, care, which is why I’m keenly aware that any success I’ve had with Slicing Up Eyeballs is due entirely to those of you who visit the site every day.
So, once again, thank you so much for stopping by and helping celebrate this great musical era. None of this would matter if nobody cared, so please accept this very sincere thanks for commenting, voting, sharing — just participating in any way you see fit.
It’s been fun. Here’s to five more years.
— Matt Sebastian, founder/editor
Oh, and if you’re a fan of what we’re doing here, there are ways to help spread the word:
- Go “like” us on Facebook and share posts with your friends.
- If you’re on Twitter, follow us there, too. Retweet the good stuff.
- If you tumble, we’re also on Tumblr. Reblogging is fun.
- Doing the Google+ thing? So are we. Put us in your circle, and hit us with some +1s.
- Or just get a free Slicing Up Eyeballs sticker and stick it on something. Here’s how.
Great job, Matt. Two thumbs up!
Congrats!
This is a great site and the news items are always professionally written.
I sometimes wonder if the site name works against it on some level. My girlfriend was looking over my shoulder one day and was all, “WTF are you reading?!?!” I had to explain to her about Pixies and Bunuel… 8-P
Do NOT change the name, ever. Your site has been a part of my morning routine for almost as long as you’ve done it and I truly appreciate your work. No snark, no holier-than-thou attitude, just great coverage of the music that made me and the music I still gravitate to. Here’s to the next five years!
Tu página web es excelente!! Sigue adelante!!
Congrats from Sao Paulo! This is a great site indeed.
Happy birthday, Matt! You provide a valuable service, sir.
Happy Birthday!
Matt, I was absolutely stoked the day I found SUE, and I visit every day. Thank You for carrying the torch.
-Marty
Congratulations Matt! No other site comes close. You should be proud and we are all very grateful.
Thanks Matt!
Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!
Five more years for sure! Love the site, it’s my go to for all things musical! Happy Boithday!
Congratulations Matt.
SUE is without a doubt the best music site on the internet (IMHO)! My day would not be complete without it and I cannot imagine life without it! In fact, SUE has become so much part of my daily routine that I’m surprised it has only been five years!! What the hell did I do before it existed?
Congratulations Matt! Hardly a day goes by that I don’t check in. Keep up the good work.
Love this site! I haven’t really listened to the show as much as I’d like to but I constantly check out the site… Keep up the great work and Happy Birthday!
Congratulations Matt! Thank you for keeping the memories alive!
S.U.E. is so automatic in my daily routine, it’s almost become an institution…a welcome institution.
Not being of the “generation”, I’ve discovered so much “new” music from this site…Thanks Matt!
I’m one of those that pretty much checks in daily, so thanks Matt.
Congratulations and thank you for all your efforts. Also, thanks for taking over ‘Darkwave’ on Sundays, the programming improvement is noticeable and appreciated!! So what do listeners need to do to have Sirius XM let you have an entire channel on their network?? The service is severely lacking in a true alternative/goth/industrial/etc. option and you could fill it admirably!!
I would be in the dark without this site. THANK YOU.
Your site freaking rules. First, it’s a reference to one of the most innovative alternative bands of all time. I like to see the new news about the bands who started the alternative movement. Happy Birthday to Slicing Up Eyeballs!
Happy 5 years for one of the best (if not THE best) music news sites in my book, especially when it comes to ’80s alternative!
happy anniversary … Great, great job!!!
Happy Anniversary! Great site indeed. Thank you, kind sir.
Congratulations, Matt! Heaps of thanks for making this the ace-est of music sites!!!
Thank you all so, so much for the kind words. I really do appreciate it.
Congratulations and thanks Matt. I also check in daily and appreciate the news and updates.
You are also very friendly and responsive to feedback or news item tips.
Keep up the great work!
GOOD ONYA MATT
“visit the site everyday”? more like every 15 minutes for me
Thanks!
Congrats Matt! SUE is one of my daily stops.
Well done on creating such a fantastic site, I usually check it 3 or 4 times a day. Keep up the good work. Cheers.
what’s not to love? This is still the best music source for what was, and continues to be, the 80’s!
Happy Anniversary and thank you for the site. Unlike other web sites, there’s a much lower a-hole ratio; i.e., the majority of people are cool people I would probably want to hang out with in person and you can’t say that about that many sites these days. So keep up the good work and here’s to 5 more. :)
Congrats! Great site!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqKMJiFj8A
Saw these guys live many years ago, should be a good show.
Congratulations!!! Love the website!!!
ho 1000 cassette ,siete interessati?
bellissime !
Congratulations on your 5th year anniversary! Looking forward to your 25th! :-)
Hey Matt,
All of this music was the era of my 20’s; the most memorably outrageous and fun time of my life, when I first really became independent and began to experience the world outside my hometown. Music is my life’s greatest passion & so many of these great 80’s musicians had such a significant influence on me which I can’t even begin to explain–ironically, it was the Smiths who taught me so many valuable lessons & provided me the will not to “check out” when things were getting rather hopeless. Congratulations for having so much success with SUE, and thanks for your ongoing commitment in keeping all of these artists relevant and continuing to provide us with all of the up-to-date news on them.
Cheers,
~~Dave (Phoenix)
It’s amazing when people’s passions can make them filthy rich & successful if they act upon them. Just kidding Matt….all the best to you and this wonderful site for keeping me in the know of the greatest avant-garde pop known to mankind. Your tireless efforts in this genre show me (old wannabe hipster) how much I really missed out on back then. Amazing. Thanks again Matt!