Today we unveil the results of Part 1 of our year-long Best of the ’80s feature, an ambitious, year-by-year poll of Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers to determine just what were the best albums of each year of the 1980s — and then, when that’s all said and done at the end of 2013, we’ll run a monster best-of-the-decade poll.

Sparks — aka brothers Ron and Russell Mael — this month will release their first-ever live album, a 2CD set called Two Hands One Mouth recorded on their European tour last year that found the duo performing for the first time without a full band or computers — a show they’re bringing to Los Angeles and San Francisco this spring.

For this week’s “120 Minutes” Rewind, we bring in someone not normally associated with “120 Minutes”: Original MTV VJ Martha Quinn, who is seen in this clip interviewing Michael Aston of Gene Loves Jezebel for the alt-music program during its very early incarnation in 1986.

Depeche Mode’s visit to Austin, Texas, next week for the South By Southwest Music Festival won’t just be all-talk: The band today announced that, in addition to its Q&A session about upcoming album ‘Delta Machine,’ it will perform its first-ever showcase at the annual music festival on Friday, March 15.

As we’ve noted already today, it’s the 30th anniversary of the release of New Order’s iconic 12-inch single “Blue Monday” — and to mark the occasion, John Digweed and Nick Muir have produced a new mix of the classic track, dubbed “FAC 73 – 13 Mix.” You can stream it below or over at Peter Hook’s Hacienda website.

For this week’s installment of Vintage Video, we turn the clocks back to 1987 for this 45-minute TV special capturing Big Audio Dynamite’s performance at the Teatro Carlos Gomes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The seven-song performance comes in the months following the release of Mick Jones and Co.’s second album.

On March 7, 1983 — exactly 30 years ago today — New Order released its monumental single “Blue Monday,” cementing its full transition from the moody post-punk of Joy Division to club-ready synthpop. And, in the process, the band delivered the best-selling 12-inch single of all time.

Pop favorites The B-52s and The Go-Go’s are teaming up for a joint U.S. tour this summer, and while only one date is so far confirmed — at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom on June 19 — the two bands have announced plans to perform together in at least 11 cities.

The double-disc, 26-track best-of set from Australian rockers Midnight Oil that was released Down Under last fall will receive a belated American release April 30 via Columbia/Legacy, the label announced today. Essential Oils offers a career-spanning overview of the band’s catalog.

R.E.M. will reissue ‘Green ‘in a deluxe 25th anniversary 2CD set this May, packaging a remastered edition of the original 1988 album with a 21-song live set recorded at the penultimate concert on the band’s massive Green World Tour — a live set that will be previewed with a 5-song EP released on Record Store Day.

Ultravox frontman and solo artist Midge Ure will be the subject of a new 2CD, 32-track best-of dubbed ‘The Works’ this spring as he puts the finishing touches on a new live album that was recorded in Chicago earlier this year during his rare North American solo tour.

The Jesus and Mary Chain will return to North American this summer — at least for one performance, following this week’s announcement of the Glasgow noise-pop legends as an early headliner of the Sled Island Music & Arts Festival in Calgary, Canada, on June 19-22 alongside Swans, Divine Fits, Explosions in the Sky and more.

This week’s Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour on Strangeways Radio featured new music from The Replacements, Iggy & The Stooges, The House of Love and Primal Scream, plus old favorites from Talking Heads, Game Theory, Close Lobsters, Orange Juice, Bauhaus and The Cure.