Sounds great, looks...

I'm not dashing off every week to buy number one rock albums, because a) I am obviously past it, and b) theoretically quite anti-social:

Popular music gets that way because we're social animals who follow the leads of influential people and/or the crowd, liking what others like because they like it.

Read more here.

However, I am certainly glad I bought the Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, because, simply, it's a great record and deserves its success.

Where I'm going to show my old fart tendencies is in proclaiming the cover (and particularly the CD face) to be disgusting. Hey guys, I am sure you are trying to be a bit rebellious and all grown up here, but you have almost ruined a great musical experience for me.

And no, I'm not putting a facsimile of that offending cover here - buy the CD, and see for yourself. Instead, here is something which I expect will offend someone, but at least it's pleasant.

Forget Arctic Monkeys: web's crazy for the Quo

Not only hugely successful, but enduringly so - Status Quo are an internet music fan's favourite, according to this piece from The Guardian:

Forget Arctic Monkeys: web's crazy for the Quo from Guardian Unlimited: Technology

I have a colleague who, until recently, had only ever seen one band in concert, and that was Quo. But he'd seen them many times. He is also a biker, and a liking Francis, Rick and the boys appears to be a prerequisite in that fraternity. How that hooks in to Quo being Big on the Net, I don't know. Unless the Quo website recently had a special offer for leathers.