It’s indie guitar god J Mascis’ birthday today — he’s 45 — and to celebrate, here’s some high-quality video of J and the reunited Dinosaur Jr tearing through its trademark cover of The Cure’s 1987 pop hit ‘Just Like Heaven’ at a show last year.

Erasure today released the video for ‘A Little Respect (HMI Redux),’ the new version of the classic song they recorded to raise awareness about gay bullying and teen suicides that benefits the Hetrick-Martin Institute.

Today we launch the Slicing Up Eyeballs Readers Poll 2010, your chance to vote for the best new albums and best reissues, compilations, live albums and box set by veteran ’80s college rock artists or their offshoots. Voting is open through 12 p.m. EST Dec. 27.

The ongoing brouhaha over British Prime Minister David Cameron’s liking of The Smiths — something both Morrissey and Johnny Marr, in a rare show of public unity, have forbidden — spilled over onto the floor of Parliament yesterday during the always-entertaining Prime Minister’s Questions.

Sub Pop Records today offered up the first taste of Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis’ forthcoming record ‘Several Shades of Why’ — an acoustic collection that’s actually his first-ever studio solo album — in the form of a free download of the track ‘Not Enough.’

The Cars continue to slowly reveal their reunion via Facebook, first posting a photo of the band in the studio last summer, then proceeding with short teasers of new music, the second of which, a 56-second video clip of a new tune called ‘Sad Song,’ was posted yesterday.

Exploring the legacy of ’80s college rock, the ‘Slicing Up Eyeballs’ show airs every Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific on Strangeways Radio.