Something we like, and something we don't.

Thumbs up: Yeah Yeah Yeahs' video for "Heads Will Roll"
It's our favorite song off It's Blitz!, and the video in typical YYY fashion is another creative venture. It basically involves the band performing while a werewolf-looking bloke dances for a crowd of unsuspecting patrons. Said werewolf then attacks one of the said patrons and guts and blood fly everywhere. Like confetti. Confetti of horrors. It's all quite nice.



Thumbs down: Shiny Toy Guns cover of "Major Tom"
It's most unfortunate what's happened to the Guns. Two years ago they were our favorite new band. Their debut album We Are Pilots contained not one, not two, but at least four or five electronic pop gems ("Le Disko", "Don't Cry Out", "You Are The One", "Rainy Monday", "We Are Pilots", "Rocketship", etc). Then they got themselves a new female singer and released a second album that is just complete crap. Then they do what any band would do in the 21st century and whore themselves out to the corporate world by recording a cover of Peter Schilling's 1983 hit "Major Tom" for a Lincoln car commercial. The original "Major Tom"- quite incredible. One of the best '80s songs. Shiny Toy Guns' version- rather stale and just sounds like a high quality karaoke track.



That is all for now.

Every once in a while you just need to reflect...

Bizarre as it might seem, sometimes we here at Mp3s and Cookies forget (albeit very briefly) just how amazing Girls Aloud are. So, for no reason in particular, we felt it important to remind the viewers and ourselves just why we cherish this little pop band so much.

"The Promise" - Initially this song had the curious effect of being both great and a bit boring. Time, however, has proven it to be a rather excellent and necessary gem in the Aloud catalogue. Fact: the opening verse is one of the greatest pop moments of this decade.


"Sexy! No No No" - Think the Black Eyed Peas could ever come up with something this absurd and still be brilliant? Clearly, the Aloud are so 3008.


"Biology" - Basically, Jesus Christ himself wrote this song. That about sums things up.


We could go on but there are a lot of amazing Girls Aloud songs, and frankly we don't have the patience. But you get the general idea.

Now it's the Americans' turn...

First things first, the top 10. And viewers, things are not looking good...

1. Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling"
2. Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow"
3. Drake "Best I Ever Had"
4. Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West and Ne-Yo "Knock You Down"
5. Lady Gaga "LoveGame"
6. Pitbull "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)"
7. Sean Kingston "Fire Burning"
8. Jeremih "Birthday Sex"
9. Linkin Park "New Divide"
10. Katy Perry "Waking Up In Vegas"

I literally cannot say that I like a single song that is in the top 10 this week. Of course, this statement must be followed by the fact that I have never heard the songs at number 1, number 4, number 7, number 8 and number 9. But the fact remains - none of these "artists" are remotely appealing to me. The Black Eyed Peas' dominance of the top two positions clearly proves that things in America are truly in a rotten state.

I don't really feel the need to report on the rest of the Hot 100 chart. It might cause me to lose my lunch.

Let's have a look at the UK singles chart, shall we?

Right. This week's top ten -

1. La Roux "Bulletproof"
2. David Guetta feat Kelly Rowland "When Love Takes Over"
3. Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow"
4. Lady Gaga "Paparazzi"
5. Keri Hilson, Kanye West, Ne-Yo "Knock You Down"
6. Agnes Carlsson "Release Me"
7. Pixie Lot "Mama Do"
8. Daniel Merriweather "Red"
9. Dizzie Rascal and Van Helden "Bonkers"
10. Veronicas "Untouched"

Thoughts on the top ten
Well done to La Roux for making number 1 with such a brilliant song. Drinks for everyone. That said, the whole David Guetta-Kelly Rowland affair is rather dull, and apparently not even the Britons are immune to the Black Eyed Peas "charms". There's nothing left to say about Lady Gaga that hasn't been said before, and I haven't heard the number 5 song, but I can imagine anything with Kanye West and Ne-Yo in the credits is something I ought to steer clear of.

All right, here's your dose of reliable music blogging - we haven't actually heard any of the other songs in the top 10 other than numbers 1 through 4. Sorry, readers. We know you count on Mp3s and Cookies to be on the cutting edge of music, and we've let you down. Send our regards to your mothers.

Elsewhere in the UK singles chart....

Freemasons and Sophie Ellis-Bextor didn't exactly perform "up to standards", as "Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer" managed to zoom its way up from last week's debut at number 15 to its current peak at....number 13. Slow down there, turbo.

In the wake of Michael Jackson's death, nineteen of his songs (one of them being a Jackson 5 track) have charted on this week's UK singles chart. Now we're not one to jump on bandwagons here (collective Internet audience rolling their eyes), but we will say that Jackson's death is a rather significant moment for music. Granted, he hasn't done anything worth much musical value in nearly twenty years, but even we aren't dimwitted enough to understand how important he has been to modern pop music.

That being said, here's something every up-and-coming pop artist/group needs to understand- IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE IT BIG, FIND SOME WAY TO DIE. Trust us, nothing screams chart success like ending up on an obituary. Look what it did for Aaliyah, or George Harrison. Posthumous number 1's fell right into their laps. (This is the part where Mp3s and Cookies ends up rotting in hell)