Have I ever enjoyed being sick? Well, that depends. Are you asking me about now or when I was a kid and a 99 degree temperature might mean a day away from school?

Both of my parents worked, so sick days meant unfettered access to the Lucky Charms, which in turn meant giving the cruddy cereal to the dog and eating a bowl full of novelty marshmallows. It also meant full control of the television, which was good going until late morning when the soap operas took over. I’d sit with my bowl of milky marshmallows and watch old movies, game shows, and old sitcoms. The talk shows were pretty cool, too. Mike and Merv had musical guests, so they were fun to watch. Donahue could be pretty boring for a kid, but now and then he’d creep into the pre-Springer version of trash TV.

During a six month stretch in 1980, I faked sick as much as possible to watch a morning talk show that I swore was the greatest show in the history of television. Eventually my mother caught on–you can only claim a sore throat so many days in a row. Apparently NBC’s executives didn’t think as much of The David Letterman Show as I did, though. They canned Letterman and filled his slot with a game show named Las Vegas Gambit, hosted by Wink Martindale.

I’d never fake a cold for Wink, but Letterman? Heck yes. Anyway, sick songs:

“Slow Motion Sickness,” Dave Navarro.

“Sickness,” Iggy Pop.

“Too Sick To Pray,” Phosphorescent.

“Sick Of Seattle,” The Smithereens.

“Making Me Sick,” Bash & Pop.

“Sick Man Of Europe,” Cheap Trick.

“Sick, Sober, and Sorry,” Lefty Frizzell.

“Homesick Again,” Nazareth.

There you have it: Eight songs to make you sick, or maybe better. I don’t know. Either way, what did I miss? I’m listening.