“Bang Bang Bang” – Sports Team
UK funsters making fun of Americans for our fascination with guns.

“Afraid of Guns” – Motorbike
Cincinnati funsters making fun of Americans for our fascination with guns.

“Death of a Giant” – Murder Capital
Irish funsters making fun of…oh, wait. Actually this song is about the band members being in Dublin on the day of Pogues leader Shane MacGowan’s funeral.

“777” – illuminati hotties
Sarah Tudzin takes her normal fuzzy, power pop sound in a slightly more shoegazey direction here. She never misses.

“Salome” – The Ophelias
Hey, another Cincinnati band! Something is going on down there. Not sure M is into indie rock but perhaps I should tell her to start checking out the music clubs.

“Debonair” – The Afghan Whigs
Might as well sidetrack for a moment to touch base with the kings of the Cincy indie scene, and one of the truly great songs of the 1990s alternative revolution. This ain’t about regret.

“Narc” – Cutouts
If Depeche Mode had made the theme song for The Sopranos, it might have sounded like this.

“Charm” – The Men
Oh hell yes, jangly, scuzzy, punk rock!

“Into Your Arms” – The Lemonheads.
This week’s The Alternative Number Ones entry, a true classic. It’s a 10 to me, just an 8 to Tom. But he’s younger than me and it hit him differently at the time.

I know few of you are Stereogum subscribers, so I pulled a few lines from his write up, which is one of his better ones.

When writing about The Lemonheads, you can’t avoid Evan Dando’s looks and personality. Breihan first describes Dando as “…a foxy airhead.” Which is about perfect.

This anecdote about Dando missing a show is amazing: “In 1995, Dando missed the Lemonheads’ scheduled set at Glastonbury because he was having a heroin-fueled threesome, and you almost can’t begrudge him that.”

A lifetime of drug use apparently has not marred Dando’s face: “At some point, he developed a bad Oxycontin habit and lost all his teeth. He still looks implausibly great, though.”

I guess he did finally kick the drugs. Or at least most of them: “He says he’s clean from all drugs except LSD. That’s a new one on me, but hey, whatever works.”

Finally, Breihan describes this song in this way: “It’s like a relentlessly affectionate golden-retriever puppy — still cute even when it’s chewing up your stuff and shitting on your floor.”

“Steppin’ To The A.M./The Gas Face” – 3rd Bass
These hip hop legends recently reunited on stage. Naturally there is (decent) video. The sound isn’t great but you get the point. Funny how the OGs don’t really change up their stage personas. The “throw your hands in the air and say ‘Ho!'” stuff. Prime Minister Pete Nice still rocking the cane was a nice touch, too. You can not imagine how excited 18-year-old, college freshman D was when The Cactus Album came out. Along with Paul’s Boutique, it was the golden age of legit, white boy rap. Then Vanilla Ice came and fucked that all up a year later…

Might as well share the original “Gas Face” video, too. PW Botha still gets the gas face, even in death.