Today marks the 47th birthday of one of the signature guitarists of his generation: Johnny Marr of The Smiths. In honor of this peerless player, here’s a full ‘Meat is Murder’-era Smiths show, filmed for Spanish television on May 18, 1985, in Madrid.

Taking a break from the ongoing Crowded House tour, bandleader Neil Finn played a solo show at London’s Jazz Cafe last night, and as he’s wont to do, invited Johnny Marr onstage to perform several songs, including The Smiths’ beloved ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.’

On May 26, 1984 — just three months after the release of ‘The Smiths’ — a young and occasionally smiling Morrissey appeared on the BBC TV game show ‘Pop Quiz,’ which pitted two teams of musicians against each other in a battle of musical knowledge hosted by a ridiculously attired DJ named Mike Read.

Highlights of tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave included a rarely-heard Depeche Mode B-side (‘Breathing in Fumes’), a pair of songs from The Cure’s ‘The Top’ (‘Shake Dog Shake,’ ‘Birdmad Girl’) and Joe Strummer’s great contribution to the ‘Sid and Nancy’ soundtrack (‘Love Kills’).

Former Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield today apologized ‘unreservedly’ to Peter Hook after blasting his now former bandmate for ‘hawking his mate’s corpse around to get paid,’ a pointed dig at the ex-Joy Division bassist’s recent spate of Ian Curtis tribute concerts.

The long-planned triple-bass supergroup Freebass — which already lost Andy Rourke of The Smiths earlier this summer — has imploded on the eve of the belated CD release of its debut album, with Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses unloading on Peter Hook via Twitter.

Our friends at 24 Hour Service Station are providing us with three promo CD copies of their brand-new digital-only compilation ‘Hand in Glove: The Smiths Tribute’ to give away to Slicing Up Eyeballs readers.

When Peter Hook’s Freebass finally released last spring’s debut EP, ‘Two Worlds Collide,’ on CD last week, the band also issued a digital-only EP featuring five new mixes of the Tim Burgess-sung ‘You Don’t Know This About Me’ by longtime New Order collaborator Arthur Baker.

This week’s new releases include a pair of EPs from Killing Joke and the Peter Hook-led Freebass that already were issued online earlier this year, plus a new digital single from Tears For Fears’ Curt Smith.

Andy Rourke of The Smiths is no longer part of the Manchester triple-bass supergroup Freebass, which also features Peter Hook of New Order and Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses, according to a note posted on the band’s website.

This week’s installment of the A.V. Club’s series ‘Undercover: 25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small Room’ features indie rockers Superchunk tearing through a cover of The Cure’s classic 1985 single ‘Inbetween Days.’

This week on the A.V. Club’s ‘Undercover’ series, Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump goes solo-acoustic to offer his take on The Wedding Present’s 1987 single ‘My Favourite Dress.’

Tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave featured many of the usual suspects, but a few gems stuck out, including a mid-period single from the rarely played Cabaret Voltaire (‘Sensoria’), a dash of Die Warzau (‘Funkopolis’) and some off-base picks for some of the show’s bigger bands (The Smiths’ ‘Never Had No One Ever,’ The Cure’s ‘Siamese Twins,’ Depeche Mode’s ‘Shame’).