By Mary Gahan BBC News Online business reporter

A grungy American rock band is helping the head of the HMV record store chain to take his mind off his company's tumbling share price.

The first album from the San Francisco band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is the CD of the moment as far as HMV chief executive and rock fan Alan Giles is concerned.

He said the album was a very good listen which he would highly recommend.

But then he is also highly recommending his company's shares, even though they have performed pretty poorly since trading started earlier this month.

Off-key

The shares made their debut at 192 pence, but failed to strike a chord with investors and are now languishing around the 165p mark.

I... had not realised the extent to which we were going to be used as a very high profile test case

Alan Giles, HMV chief executive

But the enthusiastic chief executive has no apologies for floating the company when he did.

"It was the right decision and a logical time to bring the company to market," he told BBC News Online.

"I think it's fair to say we did not expect the share price to drop.

High profile

"Ultimately we will be judged on the long run performance of the business and I'm perfectly comfortable that we should be judged in that way," he said.

According to Mr Giles, one of the problems for HMV was that it was the first of a series of well known names to float on the stock market this year, so its share performance was very closely watched.

"I probably in truth had not realised the extent to which we were going to be used as a very high profile test case.

"And I do think the reaction we have got on the share price has largely been about that broader principle rather than company specific issues," he said.

Being blamed

It is certainly true that every time a new issue is mentioned at the moment, HMV's name is invoked as a warning.

Alan Giles: floating HMV was "the right decision"

"I do seem to be being blamed for everyone else's problems," Mr Giles said.

He is certain the share price will recover, but says he does not know how long it will take.

He wants to concentrate on improving the business and making it more attractive to investors.

Turning Japanese

There are 135 HMV record stores in the UK at the moment, and the plan is to increase that number to approximately 200.

Overseas, Japan is the main target.

"It is a particularly good market. The Japanese consumer seems to really appreciate the attributes that the HMV brand and, indeed, that other Western music retail brands bring to the market," said Mr Giles.

"And the stores we have opened have typically been profitable from year one," he added.

Brighter outlook?

HMV also owns the Waterstones book stores which have seen profits falling.

Mr Giles said he thought it would be at least two to three years before the business realised its full potential.

The company is planning to spend money to improve the layout of the stores and make them brighter, in an attempt to try and win back customers.

The battle for custom could be about to get tougher though, with some indication that growth in High Street spending could be about to ease.

But Mr Giles said he thought it was too early to say whether or not there was a slowdown.

With average purchases in his stores running at between �12 and �15, he did not expect them to suffer too much if people reduced their spending.

However, it's not the customers Alan Giles needs to worry about at the moment, it's the investors who are shunning his shares.