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The Week(s) in Rock: Dec. 18-31, 2011

The Week(s) in Rock: Dec. 18-31, 2011

Today we round up the last two weeks of Slicing Up Eyeballs headlines, including stories on Morrissey, New Order, Ministry, They Might Be Giants and more, plus the results of our readers poll, of which Duran Duran was the big winner.

Happy New Year from Slicing Up Eyeballs: 'Here she comes... the future...'

Happy New Year from Slicing Up Eyeballs: ‘Here she comes… the future…’

Many think of U2 on New Year’s Day — including us at Slicing Up Eyeballs HQ. But not for the obvious reason (uh, ‘New Year’s Day’). No, the clock striking midnight on New Year’s Eve always reminds us one most heavily bootlegged concerts of the era, when U2 rang in the 1990s at Dublin’s Point Depot in a show broadcast live across Europe and behind the crumbling Iron Curtain.

Slicing Up Eyeballs' most-clicked of 2011: Nirvana, U2, The Smiths, Pixies, The Cure

Slicing Up Eyeballs’ most-clicked of 2011: Nirvana, U2, The Smiths, Pixies, The Cure

Well, here we are — the end of another calendar year, and time to see what folks have been reading on Slicing Up Eyeballs over the past 12 months. The verdict? A lot of Nirvana, U2, Pixies, Joy Division and The Cure, each of which scored multiple headlines in the year’s Top 20 list.

Vintage Video: Watch The Jesus and Mary Chain's infamous 1985 Camden gig and riot

Vintage Video: Watch The Jesus and Mary Chain’s infamous 1985 Camden gig and riot

Given that it’s Jim Reid’s birthday today — he’s 50 — we turn this installment of Vintage Video over to The Jesus and Mary Chain, featuring full video of the band’s infamous Sept. 9, 1985, performance at Camden’s Electric Ballroom. The Mary Chain played a 6-song, 20-minute, feedback-drenched set, then left the stage.

Morrissey's Top 10 albums by Morrissey and The Smiths: The records 'of which I am most proud'

Morrissey’s Top 10 albums by Morrissey and The Smiths: The records ‘of which I am most proud’

Morrissey this week ranked his back catalog in a list that’s topped by his last three solo records — ‘Years of Refusal,’ ‘Ringleader of the Tormentors’ and ‘You Are the Quarry’ — and that relegates three latter-day works by The Smiths to Nos. 5 through 7.

They Might Be Giants set U.S. tour, will perform 'Lincoln' in Los Angeles, Atlanta

They Might Be Giants set U.S. tour, will perform ‘Lincoln’ in Los Angeles, Atlanta

They Might Be Giants will embark on a 22-date U.S. tour early next year, a trek that includes a special 30th anniversary concert in Los Angeles next month that will find the band performing its sophomore album ‘Lincoln’ in its entirety. The band will perform the 1988 album at one other show, in Atlanta.

Playlist: Slicing Up Eyeballs on Strangeways Radio; Episode 53, first aired 12/27/11

This week’s installment of Slicing Up Eyeballs on Strangeways Radio featured some of the best new music of 2011, with selections from Paul Weller, Wire, The Godfathers, R.E.M., The Feelies, Peter Murphy, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Duran Duran, The Primitives and more.