It has been said before, and no doubt will be again, but things look pretty bleak for pop music at the moment.

Despite being more annoying than an hour trapped in a lift with all this year's Big Brother contestants, Crazy Frog is at number one for the third week running.

What separates this upsetting news from similar episodes, such as the time Please Release Me kept the Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane double A-side off the top spot, is that there's a good chance this animated abomination has hit the top spot precisely because it is annoying.

Kids, bless 'em, love to irritate and mobile phone ring tones offer irritation a-plenty. Unfortunately, the music industry's assimilation of this technology into the charts means a place in the top ten may well depend on a track's ability to make anyone over the age of 11's ears bleed.

So it's up to bands like The Subways to save us from Frog and his friends. Although they appear so young, fresh-faced and enthusiastic they could advertise Coke and Clearasil at the same time, this teenage Hertfordshire trio play dark and nasty skatepunk dominated by angry riff and with a nice sideline in scuzzy bass lines.

They have enjoyed a steady rise in the past 12 months from best unsigned band at last year's Glastonbury to opening the Pyramid Stage at the same festival in a few days' time.

Just like The White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Subways are strong enough musicians to rise above their limited numbers to produce an impressively broad and deep wall of sound.

When he's not screaming into the mic, lead singer and guitarist Billy Lunn pinballs around the stage like he's being controlled by a drunken puppeteer.

The only other times he stays still is to lean lovingly on the shoulder of bassist and girlfriend Charlotte Cooper.

While this puppy love at the heart of the band is sweet, it's a big risk to fall for someone in the same group. Mind you, The Subways already specialise in furious, angst-ridden, us-against-the-world rock so if they end up doing a Fleetwood Mac, their sound could explode into incendiary new territory.

Let's hope that doesn't happen for a while yet and The Subways keep producing a beautiful racket which will drown out that irritating little frog.