We end the year at Slicing Up Eyeballs HQ by looking back at the past 12 months — or in this case, the 10½ since our relaunch — to see what’s been of most interest to you, our readers. In 2017, that included news about R.E.M., Morrissey, The Cure, Depeche Mode and more.
As you can see from the list of the Top 20 most-viewed posts below, our artist polls — rankings of the full oeuvres of R.E.M., The Cure, The Smiths and Depeche Mode — all rated highly with readers, with the R.E.M. countdown taking the No. 1 slot. Also of interest (as always): Morrissey canceling things.
And note that Feb. 28 was a particularly big day for the site: two news stories posted that day, announcements of the Howard Jones-headlined Retro Futura package tour and the North American leg of Depeche Mode’s Global Spirit Tour, both landed in the Top 10.
More than a year after throwing in the towel, Slicing Up Eyeballs relaunched on Feb. 11, and we’ve slowly been rebuilding the site’s presence since then, with 582 new posts over the course of 2017.
Traffic has not, and may not, ever match our peak, circa 2013, but we’re thrilled to have logged more than 1 million pageviews this year from nearly 400,000 unique visitors from 201 different countries — including a single visitor from Turkmenistan, who we have to believe is the same single visitor from Turkmenistan we recorded in 2013 and 2014. (Hi, person from Turkmenistan! Welcome back!)
So thank you all for coming back to Slicing Up Eyeballs in 2017 — that’s been the most gratifying part of all of this. Thank you for reading, watching, listening, commenting and sharing.
And stay tuned for and even better 2018.
Slicing Up Eyeballs’ most-viewed posts of 2017:
1. Absolute best of R.E.M.: All 282 songs ranked by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers (7/31/17)
2. Morrissey cancels concert because it was too cold and the on-stage heater broke (11/5/17)
3. Howard Jones, English Beat, Men Without Hats, Modern English team up for U.S. tour (2/28/17)
4. Absolute best of The Cure: All 225 songs ranked by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers (5/22/17)
5. R.E.M. tears up pre-‘Murmur’ set in earliest known pro-shoot footage (7/6/17)
6. Depeche Mode unveils 28-date fall North American leg of Global Spirit Tour (2/28/17)
7. ‘Holy grail’ recording surfaces of New Order’s scorching ’83 gig in Chicago (8/6/17)
8. Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins reunite as Poptone, will resurrect old music on U.S. tour (2/17/17)
9. Morrissey walks off during ‘Everyday is Like Sunday,’ ends concert after 6 songs (4/11/17)
10. Andy Partridge stars in trailer to upcoming XTC documentary ‘This Is Pop’ (3/4/17)
11. Pat DiNizio, The Smithereens’ singer and songwriter with ‘magic touch,’ 1955-2017 (12/12/17)
12. Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Christmas Megamix 2017: 4 hours of alternative holiday cheer (12/4/17)
13. Butthole Surfers’ reunited ’80s lineup heads out on North American tour this fall (9/24/17)
14. Violent Femmes and Echo & The Bunnymen plot North American co-headlining tour (4/4/17)
15. 7 things The Cure’s Robert Smith promised to release this decade, but hasn’t (3/2/17)
16. Depeche Mode covers David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ at ‘Spirit’ tour opener — full setlist (5/5/17)
17. Absolute best of The Smiths: All 70 songs ranked by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers (6/27/17)
18. Fans of The Cure stitch together full concert filmed on phones — and give it away (11/13/17)
19. Absolute best of Depeche Mode: All 209 songs ranked by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers (9/27/17)
20. Trailer for ‘Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records’ documentary (3/30/17)
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Slicing Up Eyeballs’ most-clicked of 2014: Best of ’80s, The Cure, R.E.M., New Order, ’Mats
- Slicing Up Eyeballs’ most-clicked of 2013: The Replacements, Peter Murphy, Best of the ’80s
- Slicing Up Eyeballs’ most-clicked of 2012: R.E.M., The Cure, Dead Can Dance, Depeche Mode
- Slicing Up Eyeballs’ most-clicked of 2011: Nirvana, U2, The Smiths, Pixies, The Cure
- Best of 2010: The Cure dominates Slicing Up Eyeballs’ most-viewed posts of the year
- The Cure, Pixies, Morrissey, Depeche Mode top list of most-viewed stories of 2009
- Morrissey, Cure, Depeche Mode, Pixies top first 6 months of Slicing Up Eyeballs
Thank you soooo much again for being back! :-)
Wishing you a happy new year.
Great to have SUE back. I had been checking in periodically and was thrilled to see the site active again several months ago. I spent a few hours catching up on the posts. Looking forward to 2018 and news on new releases/reissues, tours, and your reader polls. Thanks for all of your efforts Matt.
Thanks for being here and all the timely coverage. It’s someplace where I feel welcome and understood. Back in the 80s my parents didn’t understand why I was so crazy about this music. Now my grandkids don’t!
Love this site and I appreciate all you do. Happy New Year!
A very happy New Year’s to you and many thanks for bringing the site back up. One of my favorite stops to check. Looking forward to more chats with everyone in 2018!
The best of 2017 was the return of S.U.E. Thanks so much Matt and keep up the good work,
Yes, welcome back SUE and please, please, please let us get what we won’t and don’t ever go away again!