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Josh Homme is hot—from his forearms to his chain-smoking stage persona. Unfortunately, as Man-Crush No. 1 (runners-up: E-40 and Davids Thomas and Lee Roth), he’s as misogynistic a songwriter as anyone currently bothering a chart. Alt-rock failed utterly at circumcising the cock from cock rock. Homme just does it better than anyone else.

Homme’s homonyms make his feelings plain at the outset: “I’ve got some wine/ And so do you/ Mine came with a cork/ I wish yours did, too.” By the time he hits the charming couplet, “Tell your new boyfriend where I came/ Take that broken pussy elsewhere,” he’s infuriated every last right-thinking women’s studies major in the country. But the music undercuts the cocksmanship at every turn, a glitter-makeup pimp-strut straight out of Marc Bolan’s bell. The vocals mewl, a piano hammers out a ’70s tiger beat, and you remember Homme goes home to the Distillers’ Brody Dalle, who we’re guessing don’t take no mess.

Lullabies to Paralyze initially lived up to its title a little too closely, but close listening reveals that, under the scrim of seemingly lazy songwriting and production murk, it contains some of Homme’s best songs yet. And, as a pal pointed out months after it was released, if you listen to “Broken Box” close enough you’ll notice a little “I love you, man,” to his band mates buried in the mix. What a softie.