'NSYNC

The 5 Worst Trends Started By the Class of '99

Chris Gray's write-up of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Christmas Rocks" show at the Arena Theatre a couple of weeks ago got me thinking. These days, the swing maestro seems to be comfortably settled into his own little niche in the music industry, playing swingin' Christmas carols to grown folks. Bu ... More >>

That's a Big Twinkie: A Soundtrack to the Apocalypse

The last shipment of Hostess Twinkies was supposedly delivered last Tuesday, as Hostess indeed filed for bankruptcy. Twinkies were also linked to great destructive forces in the movie Ghostbusters. This all falls very close to December 21, which marks the end of the Mayan Mesoamerican Long Count C ... More >>

The Top 5 Artists Written Off By "Serious Music Listeners"

One of the weirdest things to happen in music in 2012 was the revelation that Ke$ha might be, gasp, a talented singer with ambitions beyond brushing her teeth with Jack Daniels. I'm pretty sure when she debuted in 2009, none of us "serious music listeners" appreciated anything about her. I mean, she ... More >>

Last Night: One Direction at The Woodlands

One Direction Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion June 24, 2012 Ahh! OMG... Eek! I love you guys! Now repeat that a million times and it will somewhat sum up Sunday night's show. Along with my little sister, I arrived to the sold-out show in astonishment. I did not expect to witness what I saw: Handma ... More >>

I Need More Spotify! App to Offer Streaming Radio Service

We've already talked about how Houston absolutely loves One Direction, Carly Rae Jepsen and Gotye, that somewhat fun, catchy pop music that the regular radio stations play ad nauseum according to Spotify. Now the service is adding one more feature to it's already growing stature -- and it might kick ... More >>

The Best Fathers Day Gift: 24 Hours Without Dubstep

This Sunday is a big day. For our dads, that is. It's Fathers Day, and whether we have daddy issues or not, we have to admit that we children put their dads through a lot. They helped change our diapers (hopefully, if not poor mom), they killed spiders for us (my dad still does), but best of all, th ... More >>

Five Good Reasons to Start Backing Up Your Computer Now

Back in the late '90s when a young Justin Timberlake was touring the world with 'N Sync and people still hadn't abbreviated "electronic" mail, a funny thing happened to me -- and by funny, I really mean horrifying. I had just installed a software update on my Bondi Blue iMac and was restarting when. ... More >>

Boy Bands Are Back In Fashion, But Did They Ever Go Away?

One Direction, the newest UK pop import to make it to colonial shores, announced a full-scale summer tour Tuesday, including a Houston date on June 24 up at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Pretty big venue for a group that is just now breaking in America, and the Brit-Irish boy band just sold ... More >>

Remember Max Headroom?: Creepy And Stupid Christmas Videos From Holidays Past And Present

​Yeah! It's almost Christmas! With each minute we are all one step closer to the day when we can stop posting lists about things pertaining to the holiday. Seriously, by the second week in December you almost type "Christmas" instead of your own name sometimes, and your brain atrophies wheneve ... More >>

Xmas Type Thing: Scott Weiland's Holiday Album Doesn't Suck

​One of the most unwholesome things Rocks Off can think of is a Scott Weiland Christmas album, so when it was announced a few months back with the promo photo of a dapper Weiland - skull ring, tattoos, blue eyes, roguish grin - we were worried. Today, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year droppe ... More >>

Iggy Pop, the Bordeaux Connoisseur: The Funniest Food Requests on Riders

ITO EN, you're all that I wanted in a tea.​The next time someone calls you a picky eater, direct them to Weezer's backstage rider for their 2010 tour. Weezer demands that both regular and Canadian bacon be available for breakfast, that there be almond butter but no peanut butter, that there m ... More >>

Who Are You? Songs Commonly Attributed To The Wrong Artists

​Last week, after the tragic, alcohol-fueled passing of Jackass hero Ryan Dunn, Rocks Off at Taco Cabana wearing a promotional shirt for The Hangover II that we stole borrowed from the office here at the Press. As we were loading our hands with condiment containers, a guy came up to us and sai ... More >>

Top 20 Despised, Yet Wildly Popular, Bands And Musicians

Scott Stapp, lead singer of Creed (above), stops at House of Blues tonight on his current acoustic tour. More than likely you have already clicked off this blog, or at least already gone on auto-pilot to call him a fuck-ass in the comments section. We'll wait a sec for you to come back. OK, the ... More >>

The Ultimate Musical Space Shuttle Crew

​The first man to ever leave the Earth and venture into space was a Russian cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin, who, if he hadn't died at the young age of 34 in a plane crash he would be 77 years old today. Garagrin was launched into space on April 12, 1961, and orbited once around the planet in 108 ... More >>

Diddy's Top Five WTF Videos

​Sean Combs Sean "Puffy" Combs Puffy Puff Daddy P. Diddy Diddy is coming to Warehouse Live on May 12 on his "Diddy Dirty Money Tour," behind his newest album, Last Train To Paris. The prolific businessman, producer, and rapper is embarking on one of his very, very scarce tours. We aren't too ... More >>

Top 10 Super Bowl Halftime Shows

idontlikeyouinthatway.com​This Sunday, Rocks Off will be live-blogging and tweeting this year's Super Bowl halftime show, which will feature noted scholars The Black Eyed Peas. We are diligently studying the entire BEP canon and that of all of their solo members, like the dedicated pop histori ... More >>

The Ten Worst Songs About Cowboys

​Sunday at noon, the Dallas Cowboys and our own Houston Texans face off at Reliant Stadium. The Texans are 2-0 and the Cowboys have not won one game at all this year. The Texans have won two games, and the Cowboys do not have any wins. At all. Understandably, spirits are high this week on bo ... More >>

FAIL: Creed, Ice-T, Liam Gallagher

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Creed Doesn't Get It, Guys: You know how some people just never seem to get the message, no matter how obvious you're being? Even if that message is "I hate your guts"? Not surprisingly, Creed are those guys. You remember Creed: four tribal-tattooed pu ... More >>

KISS Off

The makeup-clad rockers may be hilarious, but they're hardly metal.

Rocks Off's Brother Once Stepped in Human Shit at a U2 Show... Got a Better Astrodome Story?

Smash Mouth had just finished playing, and not coincidentally, Rocks Off's brother John had just returned from a trip to the bathroom. It was November 1997, and we were watching the stagehands putting the finishing touches on U2's ginormous set in the Astrodome. The Irish rockers were touring behin ... More >>

Crash Into Me: Predicting the Economy's Impact on the Music Biz

GWAR more important than you might expect.

Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers

The hidden agenda of Hannah Montana

Lance Bass’s Gay Odyssey

Marilyn Manson and Justin Timberlake

Is Manson a Justin fan?

Double Vision

Jess and Lisa Origliasso give teen pop a harmonic jolt as the Veronicas

Paper Chase

Can't Touch the MMMBop

A new boxed set excavates the '90s

Windows of the Seoul

Getting to know South Korea through music videos

Playbill

The Right Stuff

Theater LaB Houston strings up boy bands in Boy Groove

Basement Jaxx

Kish Kash (Astralwerks)

Filling the Blue-Eyed-Soul Hole

Justin Timberlake leads the charge of new melanin-challenged soul brothers

Dinner and Darts

The Rivendell Bar & Grille

New Bands from Old

Or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ignore Audioslave"

Clipse

Lord Willin' (Star Trak/Arista)

Brace for Impact

Risky, dangerous and difficult, We Have Some Planes soars

Money Mark

Change Is Coming (Emperor Norton Records)

Small World

Radio Disney provides a safe haven for little ears, and guilty pleasures for the rest of us

Best Place to Rent Anime

Planet Anime

Salman Fury

Salman Rushdie lashes out at his favorite targets in Fury

Playbill

Lucky Boys Confusion

Hitting the Charts

Better read the fine print when the Chronicle does a chart

Tall Poppy

Bob Schneider goes nationwide without the - gasp! - approval of Austin's hipsters

Shelf Life

Long after Britney Oops her way to obscurity, these releases will continue to sing

Spin Control

Rice University's slow, systematic makeover of KTRU is just the latest example of a college determined to pattern itself after corporate America

Rave Rules

No one over 25 should be in attendance, but if you are, here's the game plan

A Newer, Hipper Gospel

Yolanda Adams gives us gospel with R&B grooves

Rotation

Mudhoney March to Fuzz

Fresh Princess

Tatyana Ali's back, all right, along with more face stars than you can shake a booty at

Night & Day

February 18 - 24, 1999