The Chingang Play Count (reasoned) #2

NEW AND IMPROVED! Now with perfectly illegal downloadable MP3s.
I'd love to make this a tuesday tradition, to coincide with the annoying ITunes emails, the ones recommending Fergie or John Mayer or Evanescence or (how dare you?) The Killers.
So here we go, the most played on my ITunes this week (click on title to download):

Robbie Williams "The Actor"
From Rudebox
Bizarrely compiled album, patchy and funny. Too bad that all the covers are irrelevant karaoke renditions (could it be a parody of the boyband phenomenon?) This song is like a comedy act but with a chart-courting pop sensibility. Only the Brits can attempt successfully this cross-cultural kind of commentary on celebrity.

The Strokes "What Ever Happened?"
From Room on Fire
The Marie Antoinette Effect. I have never liked a Strokes song before but the trailer brainwashed me.

Pet Shop Boys "Bright Young Things"
From the Numb single
Typical PSB B-side. Overly grand statement, doesn't fit anywhere. Certainly not on the Album. I happen to love a lot of PSB odd b-sides...all petheads do. Plus the Radio City Music Hall extravaganza is still vivid in my head and this single is brand new.

Scissor Sisters "Making Ladies"
From the Bonus CD in the UK limited edition of Ta-dah
Further example of lovely stuff that doesn't make the cut on the Album, with a capital a. Silly, frilly, and what we want the Sisters to be. Not the self-important stadium-filling über-band they want to be.

Shriekback "Lined Up"
From Care
Something new, something old... The high count on this one comes from putting together a "mixtape" (yeah, whatever) for Marco's Eighties Bash. I forgot how crisp this sounds. And it takes me straight back to Tenax.