This week’s lesson: how to sell six million copies of your debut album before embarking on your first all-out national headlining tour. Our instructor, of course, is Canadian-cowgirl-turned-teenage-mallpunk-savior Avril Lavigne. She may not know who David Bowie is, and it would appear she’s never heard a Metallica album older than Load, but then again, that’s part of her appeal: every subgeneration of adolescents needs its clean break with the past, and Let Go (Arista), still in the Top 40 after more than 40 weeks, is light enough on the senses to lure even the most nascent pop fan into its clutches, and just edgy enough to serve as a gateway drug to, well, emo, apparently — Simple Plan are the openers of choice this time out, along with Avril’s labelmates (and fellow Canadians) Gob, Arista’s token Good Charlotte knockoff. They’re all at the Tsongas Arena (978-848-9600) in Lowell tonight (Thursday, May 15) and tomorrow.

Point of order: is the new blues rock any better than the old blues rock? We actually found ourselves listening to all of George Thorogood’s new Ride ’til I Die (Eagle), which can hold its own with at least, say, the last Von Bondies album. George and the Destroyers kick up a shitstorm with Boston/Nashville guitarist Tom Hambridge on Friday in the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (603-929-4100) and on Saturday at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence. Meanwhile, we’re hoping ZZ Top will drag out "Punk Ass Boyfriend" off their new Mescalero (RCA) when they hit the Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) in Mansfield on Tuesday with the original Detroit garage-punk sensation, the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent.

Granted, all of the above would probably dig the Black Keys, the white Ohio duo who’ve elevated themselves above their contemporaries by not playing the same old blues-punk crap. Their new Thickfreakness sounds the way you imagine their Fat Possum labelmates — crazy old codgers like T-Model Ford and Robert Belfour — might’ve sounded when they were young. The Keys headline their own gig Friday at T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge and then jump on Beck’s tour, which will show up at the FleetBoston Pavilion (617-931-2000) next Saturday, May 24. Beck also does a warm-up date at the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton next Thursday, May 22. For comparison’s sake, the aforementioned T-Model Ford and Robert Belfour are at the House of Blues (617-491-BLUE) in Cambridge on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s garage-punk wave returns the Datsuns to Boston tonight at the Paradise (617-423-NEXT), on a bill with Lower East Side newcomers the Star Spangles, whose forthcoming Bazooka (Capitol) will mark the first time anyone’s gotten a Gang War song (Johnny Thunders/Wayne Kramer) onto a major-label disc. Both bands also hit the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on Friday, and at Pearl Street (413-584-7810) in Northampton on Saturday they’re joined by North Carolina’s Zep-quoting the Cherry Valence, who then defect to the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Sunday for a gig with ageless garage-rock wonders the Fleshtones.