“Love Sucks” is the seventh and final demo episode of The Theme Show. Initially aired on Winamp on January 13, 2000.
Although posted in January, the “Love Sucks” playlist was initially designed as a Valentine’s Day special. However, things didn’t go as expected. A sudden hard drive failure forced the show into a three-year hiatus, making it impossible to finalize the setlist that would have preceded this one. Fortunately, I had this pre-prepared playlist waiting in the wings, allowing me to keep the show alive for one last episode despite the setback.
This Demo has been recreated for your enjoyment at:
Like earlier demos, this episode was built around three defining segments:
- Theme Show Warm-Up: Every broadcast kicked off with five fast-paced, high-energy tracks, setting the tone. Then, after the fourth song, I would check my Yahoo! Messenger, eagerly awaiting the first correct guess of the theme. The person who answered first won a prize, which, more often than not, was a Pez dispenser.
- Requests: This segment was designed to blend pre-arranged selections with real-time audience engagement.. While a significant portion of the song choices were curated in advance, if someone had an exciting song idea that fit the theme, they could message me, and—provided I had the track in my library, I’d weave it into the setlist.
- Obligatory Polka: Of course, I tried to end every episode with a Polka song. Even if the final song didn’t match the overarching theme, that was entirely fine. I’ve always found Polka entertaining, and as a longtime fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic, I did my best to make sure this unexpected finale stayed intact.
As time passed, the show evolved. Eventually, I decided to simplify the podcast pre-recording process by trimming down these segments. Despite that, elements of the “warm-up” concept continue to live on—often appearing in newer Spotify and YouTube Music playlists, where I still organize songs based on BPM and energy level.
Variations on the heartbreak theme would return in the podcast format as:
and
Episode 55: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Blackhearts Band
Setlist
Theme Show Workout
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| I Will Survive | Gloria Gaynor |
| Don’t You Want Me | The Human League |
| Sleep With Myself | Prozzak |
| What is Love | Haddaway |
| Guilty Partner | New Order |
Standard Playlist
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| You Don’t Love Me Anymore | “Weird Al” Yankovic |
| This Love | Daniel Ash |
| Love Stinks | The J. Geils Band |
| Sucks to Be You | Prozzak |
| Sally’s Song | Danny Elfman |
| Sour Times | Portishead |
| Jukebox (Don’t Put Another Dime) | The Flirts |
| Love Will Tear Us Apart | Joy Division |
| Heartbreaker | Led Zeppelin |
| One More Minute | “Weird Al” Yankovic |
| Don’t Leave Me Now | Pink Floyd |
| Crucified | Army of Lovers |
| I’ll Never Fall in Love Again | Burt Bacharach |
| Tainted Love | Coil |
| Anna-Lisa | Prozzak |
| Since You’ve Been Gone | “Weird Al” Yankovic |
| Stormtrooper in Drag | St. Etienne |
| Luv U Still | Praga Khan |
| Closer to You | Daniel Ash |
| Babylon Drifter | My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult |
| Strange Disease | Prozzak |
| Without You I’m Nothing | Placebo |
| What is Love | Howard Jones |
| I Was Only Kidding | “Weird Al” Yankovic |
| Everytime You Lie | Army of Lovers |
| Something I Can Never Have | Nine Inch Nails |
Obligatory Polka
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| Come Back to Me | Brave Combo |