Recently, I wrote this post on John Sandford’s Stolen Prey (excellent, by the way, also includes an amazing veggie burger recipe). In the comments, there is a discussion about Virgil Flowers. He’s a minor recurring character in the Prey series who now has a series of his own. Virgil is known for quite a few things including fishing, a colorful nickname, his divorce rate, and his choice of indie rock t-shirts. On John Sandford’s website, he lists Lucas’s Best Songs of the Rock Era, but none of Virgil Flowers’ apparel. I wanted a list of those t-shirts (as evidenced by this post), but I hadn’t quite mustered up the ambition to reread and note said t-shirts. A few others have had the same thought as me. However, one commenter actually thought to email the author (brilliant, right?). Thirty minutes later, we had a list. So thank you Bob for thinking to ask and thank you John Sandford (or his son Ros or web admin) for replying.
“What Virgil Flowers Wore: An unofficial guide”:
“Dark of the Moon”
Sheryl Crow (carp)
Modest Mouse
Flaming Lips
Decemberists
Arcade Fire
AC/DC
Franz Ferdinand
“Heat Lightning”
Bif Naked
WWTDD
Hole
KMFDM (Money)
Pogues
Interpol
Death Cab for Cutie
“Rough Country”
Sebadoh
Nine Inch Nails
Breeders
Rolling Stones (Paris, 1975, tongue)
Gourds
Blood Red Shoes
Appleseed Cast
“Bad Blood”
Virgins
“Shock Wave”
Freelance Whales
My Chemical Romance
Slobberbone
“Mad River”
Wolfmother
As mentioned in the Prey series:
“Stolen Prey”
Radiohead
Covers: Goodreads
flannel and folklore 
Thank you for doing this! I figured someone else out there had to have done it already without me going back and poring through the books to “collect the whole set”.
I have now created a playlist with the most downloaded or most popular song from each group. Of course, music being what it is, your tastes may radically differ for what is the “best” song each group has produced, but I went with the simple majority opinion. Here’s the list:
Sheryl Crow – All I Wanna Do
Modest Mouse – Float On
Flaming Lips – Do You Realize?
Decemberists – Don’t Carry it All
Arcade Fire – Reflektor
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
Bif Naked – Lucky
Hole – Celebrity Skin
KMFDM (Money) – Money
Pogues – Fairytale of New York
Interpol – Evil
Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You Into the Dark
Sebadoh – On Fire
Nine Inch Nails – Closer
Breeders – Cannonball
Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil
Gourds – Gin and Juice
Blood Red Shoes – It’s Getting Boring by the Sea
Appleseed Cast – Fight Song
Virgins – Rich Girls
Freelance Whales – Broken Horse
My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Dark Parade
Slobberbone – Get Gone Again
Wolfmother – Joker and the Thief
Radiohead – Creep
Hope you enjoy!!!
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I was going to do that myself before someone mentioned emailing the author. Brilliant suggestions. And I love the playlist (though I’d sort of like to see something other that Closer for NIN, totally personal preference though).
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