Virgin Prunes
“Dark Wave,” hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Matt Sebastian, explores the darker side of classic ’80s alternative, including vintage goth, post-punk and industrial. The shows airs at 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern every Sunday on Sirius XM satellite radio’s 1st Wave (Channel 33).
The most recent two episodes are also available to subscribers to stream via the Sirius XM app.
Got a request? Requests will be considered for future episodes as long as they fit the show’s format and fall generally within the 1st Wave era — and provided the host doesn’t harbor an intense dislike of the song. If there’s something you’d like to hear, drop it in the comments below.
HOUR 1
This Mortal Coil, “Drugs” (Dust & Guitars)
The Sisters of Mercy, “Good Things” (BBC Session) (BBC Sessions 1982-1984)
Xmal Deutschland, “Matador” (Viva)
The March Violets, “Snake Dance” (Extended) (The Botanic Verses)
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “The Killing Jar” (Peepshow)
New Order, “Your Silent Face” (BBC Evening Session) (In Session)
Kraftwerk, “Trans Europe Express” (Trans Europe Express)
Xymox, “In a City” (Twist of Shadows)
Severed Heads, “Twenty Deadly Diseases” (Bulkhead Plus: Singles 1983-2004)
Agent Orange, “The Last Goodbye” (Living in Darkness)
Dead Kennedys, “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” (Milking the Sacred Cow)
45 Grave, “Procession” (Sleep in Safety)
X-Ray Spex, “Oh! Bondage, Up Yours!” (Germfree Adolescents)
HOUR 2
Bauhaus, “In the Night” (The Sky’s Gone Out)
Virgin Prunes, “Love Lasts Forever” (The Moon Looked Down and Laughed)
Belfegore, “All That I Wanted” (Belfegore)
Alien Sex Fiend, “I Walk the Line” (All Our Yesterdays)
Nine Inch Nails, “Ruiner” (The Downward Spiral)
Ministry, “Crumbs” (Filth Pig)
KMFDM, “Virus” (12-Inch Mix) (Extra Vol. 1)
Ledernacken, “Amok” (First Album)
Revolting Cocks, “Something Wonderful” (Beers, Steers + Queers)
Moose, “Jack” (Sonny of Sam)
Slowdive, “Alison” (Souvlaki)
The Verve, “Slide Away” (A Storm in Heaven)
Kevin Shields, “City Girl” (Lost in Translation: Music From the Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Lush, “Ladykillers” (Lovelife)
HOUR 3
The Cure, “The Holy Hour” (Faith)
Wire, “So and Slow It Grows” (Single Mix) (The First Letter)
The Names, “Nightshift” (Swimming)
Snake Corps, “Looks East for Eden” (Flesh on Flesh)
Peter Murphy, “Cochita is Lame” (Silver Shade)
Joy Division, “Atmosphere” (Heart and Soul)
Weimar Gesang, “Held Inside” (Even Stone Pales)
Morrissey, “Alsatian Cousin” (Viva Hate)
Throbbing Gristle, “Six Six Sixties” (Throbbing Gristle’s Greatest Hits)
The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Sidewalking” (Barbed Wire Kisses)
Cabaret Voltaire, “Sensoria” (12-Inch Version) (Micro-Phonies)
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, “These Remains” (I See Good Spirts, I See Bad Spirits)
Nitzer Ebb, “Ascend” (Ebbhead)
The Sugarcubes, “Sick for Toys” (Life’s Too Good)
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Playlist: Sirius XM’s “Dark Wave” — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (3/15/26)
- Playlist: Sirius XM’s “Dark Wave” — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (3/8/26)
- Playlist: Sirius XM’s “Dark Wave” — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (3/1/26)
Slicing Up Eyeballs independently selects all releases featured on this site, but we may earn a commission from products purchased through affiliate links. Those commissions help support and fund the site.
Good show tonight, especially that shoegaze block to close out hour 2.
This might be stretching the criteria of “classic”, as the song I’m about to mention is twenty-one years old, but could you play “Very Gun” by Black Wire on a future ep?
Best to all in the week ahead!
For future shows:
1. City of Refuge – Nick Cave + the Bad Seeds
2. Love + Kisses – Altered Images
3. A Matter of Time – Berlin
4. Blue-Eyed Pop – the Sugarcubes
5. I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts – X
6. The Ordinary Boys – Morrissey
7. Wonderful Woman – the Smiths
8. Sister Europe – Psychedelic Furs
9. Growing In Green – March Violets
10. Tora! Tora! Tora! – Depeche Mode
11. Rules + Regulations – Public Image Ltd.
12. Medusa – Clan of Xymox
13. Whistling For His Love – Danielle Dax
With a Hip
by the Bunnymen
Please
get it? Bunnymen for Easter ?
Haha
Great show again! For the next show:
The Alley Cats – Night of the Living Dead
Great show, I so dig the shoegaze.
Thank you for Lush, and that track from the Verve was fantastic.
Always play more Lush, still holding out for Undertow. :)
Maybe some Perfume Tree next time?
Hey great show! Loved the Joy Division, moose, and Agent Orange picks. Sucks about Jello. Could you play The Stone Roses “ I Am The Resurrection” great song and fitting for Easter! Thanks
Thanks for playing The Cure request!
Dead Can Dance has a new track “Our Day Will Come” and would love to hear it played
Great show as always
Garbage Man – The Cramps. Thanks, been listening to the show for many years, keep up the good work.
Seconded! Excellent suggestion.
Sol Invictus Black Easter
And more 1980s and 1990s apocalyptic folk
Matt,way to bring in Spring with a Dark touch,much appreciated,bravo.Sets were on and so are these offers to you.All the best as always,do be careful,lol.
PETER MURPHY-The line between the Devils teeth.
EXECUTIVE SLACKS-The Bus
Howdy Matt!!!! Hour 2 totally slayed….loved New Order NIN ASF & KMFDM tracks!!!!! I find myself in a foul mood these days – I’m one of those federal workers getting the shaft with no pay. I’ve got angst up the wazoo. I need the following:
Ministry – Just One Fix
Skinny Puppy – Pro-Test
KMFDM – Anarchy
Thanks ….. This will help. ｡◕‿◕｡
Oh and kick ass shoegaze set too !!!!!!
Sex Gang Children – Children’s Prayer
Hey Matt!
Absolutely loved the New Order/Kraftwerk/Xymox sequence – oodles of stellar synth!
Great to hear the shoegaze set as well… awesome!
I’m scrolling through my Dancing in the Rain CD, trying to pick the best The Essence track to request… so here it goes:
The Essence // Everything, that’s my choice! :)
Cheers!
This show definitely had something for everyone. Loved the shoegaze set and thanks for playing my Moose request. Moose is indeed super underreated. Isn’t it a review of one of their early shows where the term shoegaze was actually coined, in Melodymaker I think? The synth goodness into a punky blast in hour 1 was also genius. Get well Jello! Lots of great cuts in hour 3 as well.
Request for a future communion, only because we can never have too much: “Jordan, Minnesota” by Big Black.
Have a great week Matt, cheers!
Hi Matt, I’ve noticed an abundance of Verve requests lately which I love! But, no one has requested anything off of the “Holy Grail”( of Verve records) meaning Voyager 1 which was re-released for RSD last year. So with that being said I would like to request the version of “ South Pacific” off of Voyager 1, if you have it. I don’t know what media ya’ll use to play y’all’s music. Thank You
Ok so, I just discovered this show and I have a tiny issue I feel needs to be addressed. Let me say, I love the song, and artist selections…. Mostly. What let’s me down is that you don’t play any of the MODERN artists that are keeping this era of music alive still to this day! Artist and bands such as Carpenter Brut, Dance With the Dead, Perturbator, Gost, Street Cleaner, Dan Terminus, We Are Magonia, Power Glove, etc… I could go on, but I feel many of these artists (as well as others) deserve, and should recognized for the combined contributions these people have made by dedicating their careers to this era of musical perfection. They should not be disqualified because they didnt exist as professional artists yet. It’s their passion and love for that era that should qualify them. Besides, when you really think about it, these modern dark wave artists are the children of the 80’s and share the same love for this genre as all of you. Maybe im wrong. That’s just my thoughts. Your selections are excellent though! Thanks
It’s the 1st Wave channel, so they likely have to be 80s/90s.
Something else I feel should be addressed. The artists I mentioned are incredible! However, out of the idk 10 or so electronic stations on SiriusXM that spin new and old music, I have never heard of a single “synthwave” artist getting airtime. And that is simply, WRONG and a missed opportunity for millions of people around the world to discover that this genre of music is ALIVE and IMMORTAL! That’s All
Happy Mondays – Kinky Afro [7” Euro Mix]
Wow, there’s so much dark goodness stuffed into this episode. Thank you for playing my Kraftwerk request. It paired perfectly with that gem from New Order. And how I love the punk and shoegaze blocks and Morrissey, JAMC, Cabaret Voltaire…
My obligatory request for this time of the year. One of my all time favorite songs from the Reid brothers:
The Jesus and Mary Chain “April Skies” (Darklands version)
Thank you. Take care everyone!
I would loooooooove to hear Totally Nervous Phenomenon by Test Dept / bet you’ve never played THAT!
20 Deadly Diseases!!! I’m always glad to revisit that Severed Heads phase I went through in the early 90s…in fact I remember this version exactly from whichever Bulkhead singles collection we had in WOSR…most likely on CD.
The New Order song from the year 2001 is really great too!
My favorite Wire song is Eardrum Buzz, but my husband requests In Vivo; his personal fave.
“Drugs” was such a great open. Really cool to hear “So and Slow it Grows.” Makes me want to find that album on vinyl. Must start listening to more Ledernacken! Thanks for all you do!
Enjoyed all of the blocks! And always great to hear Shields’ material from the Lost in Translation soundtrack!
Thank you for playing The Names Nightshift. I totally love that song. First heard it on a show called Drastic Plastic on KTIM in San Rafael, hosted by DJ David Bassin. KTIM doesn’t exist anymore, but I met David Bassin one time in Berkeley and thanked him for exposing me as a high schooler to so much amazing New Wave and Dark Wave music. He was one of the originals. Now he is into World Music and Jazz and his show is on SoundCloud.
Request: Too Many Creeps by the Bush Tetras.
An Oakland California band called
False Figure “original sin” .
Great song.
Hey how about Shoot by Sonic Youth?
Thanks!
Fra Lippo Lippi – Recession (1981) Apple Music + Qobuz + Bandcamp
Mag & The Suspects – Erection (1981) Vinyl Only
Laibach – War (NATO)
Another great show, Matt. Thanks for playing my Severed Heads request. I’d love to hear No Separation by Nocturnal Emissions on an upcoming episode.
Request – Siousxie & Banshees – “Shadowtime” – Thanks !
You have fantastic taste in music Matt–and this is coming from a megalomaniacal music snob. I’ve listened to this broadcast for years and have followed the Slicing Up Eyeballs blog since the beginning. Have you ever thought of doing something like Soma.fm? If you played music like your shows, I’d listen all day long and would probably consider a subscription. Don’t rock…wobble!
Play Tutto Passa by White Woolly!!