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Depending on how much you've been following The A.V. Club's "Undercover" series, The Get Up Kids' cover of Blur's Britpop classic "Girls and Boys" is either a huge shock or the series' next logical step. The program, which allows bands to cover a preselected list of songs, has already seen Ted Leo & the Pharmacists cover Tears For Fears, The Walkmen cover R.E.M. and Ben Folds cover Elliott Smith. Now the Kansas City, Missouri, emo quintet has taken on Blur's poppy, bouncy 1994 classic.

The band didn't need to practice too much, as the song has long been a staple during the group's sound checks. "We were playing around with the first verse of it; just sort of goofing around at sound check all the time," bassist Rob Pope says before admitting the band's love of the British rockers. Singer Jim Suptic adopts his best British affectation on the track, while the band, eying each other for cues, gamely turn the synthy track into a guitar-driven rocker. Well, rockier, we suppose.

There Are Rules, the group's fifth album, was released earlier this year on Quality Hill Records.

+ Watch The Get Up Kids cover Blur's "Girls and Boys."

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Tags Blur, the-get-up-kids

Credit: Redferns

Happy Flashback Friday, everyone! The sun is shining, you're not paying attention to whatever's going on at work/school, and, understandably, you are ready to rage. To help you get pumped for this three-day weekend, I've selected a video from the English alternative rock band Blur, whose exuberant ode to... something, "Song 2," helped the Brit-pop superstars gain popularity here in the U.S.

Although they'd been major in the U.K. since the early '90s, touring with The Cramps and charting with singles like "She's So High" and "Girls & Boys," in 1996 the band had yet to become a household name outside their home turf. While their countrymen in Oasis rode the Brit-pop wave to international stardom, the boys of Blur felt stalled. Seeking a change in direction, they began listening to noisy American alt-rock bands like Pavement and Sonic Youth, and the resulting self-titled album was nothing short of revolutionary for them.

The second single off said album, "Song 2," was meant to be a parody of American grunge rock, but the song mimicked it so well that American audiences either didn't notice or didn't care, and it climbed to No. six on Billboard's modern rock chart. (And trust me, even if you don't know this song by name, you'll recognize the signature "WOO HOO" chorus in an instant.) However, it was quite different from the rest of the band's body of work, which meant this mainstream success was to be short-lived. Nevertheless, "Song 2" (aka The "Woo Hoo" song) introduced quite a few lovable suburban brats (like myself!) to the tasteful world of under-the-radar college rock, and judging from how much said whippersnappers got out of that, I think the ends certainly justified the means.

+ Watch Blur's "Song 2" video.

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Tags Blur, Flashb, video

(Credit: Splash News)

+ Talk about beautiful, dark, twisted fantasies. To kick off the MTV EMA, fake Lady Gaga battled fake Katy Perry in an old-fashioned Spanish tomato fight in London, paying homage to this year's host city, Madrid. (MTV UK)

+ Speaking of dark, twisted fantasies, Kanye West will bring the music of his new album (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) to this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. (PopWatch)

+ Justin Bieber will give his own account of his experiences being bullied on today's episode of the "Ellen DeGeneres Show." (MTV News)

+ As if Blur and Gorillaz weren't enough, Damon Albarn is now forming a band with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist Flea. (Spin)

+ A must-read take on The-Dream and Kim Kardashian collaboration that wonders whether a musical of Kimmy's life can be made out of existing The-Dream songs. (Sound Of The City)

Tags Blur, Damon Albarn, Flea, Gorillaz, justin bieber, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The-Dream

(Credit: Getty Images)

It's time once again for my round-up of 10 things you need to know this week that will, I hope, will help soothe your Halloween candy-induced hangover.

1.) Urlesque shows us how Lady Gaga COULD be costing us 13.3 trillion dollars.

2.) It's election time, and while it's really important that you get out there and vote, it's actually more important that you watch my favorite quasi-patriotic video, Liam Lynch's "United States of Whatever."

3.) Katy Perry and Russell Brand received a bull, as in a boy cow, as a wedding gift. That's what you get for not registering at Bed Bath & Beyond like everyone else. (NY Daily News)

4.) Shy Ronnie, the gun-shy alter ego of Andy Samberg, returned with an epic Bonnie and Clyde-style SNL digital short with musical guest Rihanna this week. You should know about it. (Hulu)

5.) The tracklist for Pink Friday, Nicki Minaj's debut LP, hit the Internuts this weekend and includes collaborations with basically everyone ever: Eminem, Kanye West, Will.i.am, Rihanna and Drake. See the full thing here. (Rolling Stone)

6.) This baby Hasselhoff has chest hair...and, I'm guessing, hits the bottle too much, too. ZING! (Buzzfeed)

7.) I watched the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear from my couch this weekend, and it looked amazing BUT COLD! Good thing The Roots' Black Thought kicked off the festivities wearing a seriously AMAZING jacket. (MTV News)

8.) Snoop Dogg: rapper, actor, Sookie Stackhouse lover and now numerological vampire Muppet.

9.) This painting of a mosh pit looks so real you're not going to actually believe that it's a painting of a mosh pit. (Animal)

10.) Do you like Gorillaz? I do. Some people think they're cartoons, but they're not really cartoons, just people (such as Damon Albarn, once of Blur) who hide behind cartoons. Anyway, they did an amazing 45-minute concert--not as cartoons--for "The Late Show" and you can watch it here. (CBS)

Tags 10 Things To Know Now, Andy Samberg, Blur, Damon Albarn, Drake, Eminem, Gorillaz, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Liam-Lynch, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Russell Brand, Snoop Dogg, The Roots, True Blood, Will.i.Am

Here we have the video for One Night Only's "Say You Don't Want It" -- a nice enough, jaunty slice of Brit pop that wouldn't sound out of place next to Blur or The Smiths; it's debonair, breezy and instantly catchy.

But there's an elephant in the room (or the video) in the form of "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson. Now, as metaphorical elephants go, you could do worse than Watson, but her presence automatically gives One Night Only a little bit more exposure than an indie-leaning band might normally get. How did One Night Only pull off the feat of snagging Hermione for their video? She just happens to be dating One Night Only singer/guitarist George Craig. Mystery solved!

The video is actually really charming -- full of low-key footage of New York's Lower East Side. Watson appears about midway through the video, looking lost. Craig approaches her and kicks some game, no doubt revolving around he is also British and what a small world it is, etc.

Check out the video below. One Night Only's self-titled sophomore album is due out in August. Oh yeah, Emma Watson is in some wizard movie that's coming out soon, too.

Tags Blur, Emma Watson, Harry Potter, One Night Only, The Smiths, video

The brand-new video for "Stylo," the latest clip from animated supergroup Gorillaz — the brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and Tank Girl co-creator Jamie Hewlett — is something visually different from these cartoon hip-hop-popsters.

Most Gorillaz vids take place in a wondrous animated world, but the clip for "Stylo," the first single from the group's new album, Plastic Beach, is a beautiful mixture of live action and animation. As the animated Gorillaz members break the speed limit in their muscle-car called, easily enough, Stylo, they are pursued by a highway-patrol car and then by Bruce Willis. Wait. ... What?

Sounds like we'll have to add this to our recent list of celeb-filled videos.

As Bruce chases the Gorillaz, we're treated to muffled rapping from Mos Def, passionate singing from soul-legend Bobby Womack and great desert scenery.

Check out the video below. Plastic Beach is out next week.

Tags Blur, Bruce Willis, Damon Albarn, Gorillaz, Mos Def, video

Oh, Pink. Only happy when it rains. I gotta say, there are two different ways to deal with wedding day heartbreak. There's the Katy Perry way, as seen in "Hot 'N' Cold" (all choreographed dancing, and runaway-groom chasing) and there's the Pink way, as seen in this video for "I Don't Believe You," the sixth single from Funhouse.

In this impressionistic clip, directed by legendary music vid auteur Sophie Muller (Blur's "Song 2," No Doubt's "Don't Speak"), Pink is trapped inside of an old movie, set in an empty church where love once blossomed. Well, needless to say, love don't live here anymore; and there's lotsa running around, crying and staring into mirrors to prove it.

Related Content More Pink Videos, Watch Pink's VMA Performance Of 'Sober', More Sophie Muller Videos

Tags Blur, Katy Perry, No Doubt, Pink, Sophie Muller, video

+ Former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken will NOT throw a Strawberry Shortcake-themed pity party for this year's runner-up Adam Lambert, or any of his fans for that matter. Never one to put things "gingerly,"
the red-headed heartthrob went on to say that his ears bled at the sound of Lambert's voice. Seems a bit harsh, no? (E! Online)

+While we're on the subject of our little "Lam," check out this video of Adam singing at his graduation ceremony, and how everyone starts clapping (around the 2:55 mark) in fear for their lives. (Towleroad)

+ And now, calling all Twitter "Lambs!" In case you missed Mariah Carey's tweet last night, here's the name of her new album. (Pink Is The New Blog)

+ As we were crumbling the last bits of our "Flake" bar into our ice cream, British rock band Blur announced that they may possibly add some U.S. dates to their upcoming world tour. Are you ready 'Girls & Boys?" (The Tripwire)

+ Amerie (remember her?) returns with a new single "Just Tell Me U Love Me," but the record sounds dated and just too similar to her first single from back in the day, "One Thing." What do you think? Do u love it? (Neon Limelight)

+ In what must have been perfect weather here in NYC, Fall Out Boy performed "Dance, Dance" live on the TODAY show. Today. (Bitten & Bound)

Tags Adam Lambert, American Idol, Amerie, Blur, Clay Aiken, Fall Out Boy, Mariah Carey

+ Britney Spears is about to be back on top with her new LP -- but that doesn't mean everyone's lining up to work with her. "She's not at the top of my list," admits self-professed girl-kisser Katy Perry, who sez she'd much rather collaborate with the likes of John Legend. (E! Online)

+ Meanwhile, the Pussycat Dolls would LOVE to collab with Brit Brit. Er, again. Hey, maybe this time, Britney's scenes will actually make it past the cutting room floor! (Angry Ape)

+ Did Tom "Couch-Jumpin'" Cruise SERIOUSLY just give Spencer Pratt marital advice? Seriously?? (Hills: Live After Show)

+ Depressions are depressing! Which is why Diddy has decided to scale back his bling until after the rest of the country can afford to pay their electric bill. Awww. (Remote Control)

+ Hilary Duff and Mandy Moore have found an ingenious way to combine our hatred of cancer ... and our love of 18 karat gold jewelry. (WXYZ)

+ Taylor Swift continues to insist that she's totally, 100% O-V-E-R Joe Jonas. Yep, because nothing says "I'm single and fabulous!" quick incessantly talking about your ex. (MTV News)

+ One-time Brit-pop rivals Blur and Oasis are reportedly reuniting next summer in London's Hyde Park. Um, finally! (NME via Scandalist)

+ Crazy caps lock-lovin' Kanye West confirms MTV News' report that Will.i.am will be "PRODUCING ON U2'S NEXT ALBUM." (MTV - UK)

Tags Blur, Britney Spears, Diddy, Hilary Duff, Joe Jonas, John Legend, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Mandy Moore, Oasis, Pussycat Dolls, Spencer Pratt, Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise, U2, Will.i.Am