The Wildhearts: "Greetings From Shitsville" (eastwest); Stone Temple Pilots: "Sex Type Thing" (Atlantic)

Now here's an interesting conundrum in the light of the Nirvana/Pearl Jam 'new agenda in Heavy Metal by any other name' debate. Stone Temple Pilots are supposedly part of the new, more thoughtful MTV-bred breed of, ahem, contemporary rockers while The Wildhearts would appear to be locked into imagery and values the best part of two decades old. Why is it, then, that STP sound like an incompetent Black Sabbath covers band with a particularly nasty line in misogynistic lyrics while The Wildhearts rip and roar with all the vim and verve of The Hoodoo Gurus, Motorhead and The Ramones out on the tiles for the evening? I suppose I should be confused but it's the yobbish terrace chant of 'Greetings From Shitsville' - available on mid-brown vinyl, just to hammer the point home - which won't be waiting for the binmen next Friday morning.

Apache Indian: "Movin' On (Special)" (Island)