Billy Idol

Dust Never Sleeps: Lost '70s Power Rock Trio Reemerges with Reissues

When you think of classic rock power trios, names like Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad, and Mountain come to mind. But only hardcore music nerds may remember the short-lived Brooklyn-based Dust. Formed in 1969 the band - which included Richie Wise (vocals/guita ... More >>

10 Great Versions of "Wild Thing"

"Wild Thing" may not be most-recorded song in history, but it's got to be up there. (It's not even in the Top 10, though, according to the UK's The Independent.) But when the version by the Troggs, whose singer Reg Presley died of cancer late Monday night, became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic ... More >>

The Song is a Lie: Billy Idol, Cyberposeur

All week we've been exposing the song titles that don't check out when put against the test of truth. Thus far you've learned: 1. George Harrison's guitar did not gently weep. It was actually Eric Clapton's. 2. Kiss said we got the best when we wanted it, but mostly we got session musicians and ... More >>

Top 5 People Who Should Be Judging American Idol

Over the weekend American Idol, struggling to remain relevant in the face of the televised singing-competition series it spawned like The Voice and X Factor, announced its final judges' panel for the upcoming 12th season that begins in January. According to Entertainment Weekly, joining the previous ... More >>

9 Rock Stars & Their Favorite Books

Musicians like to read as much as the next person and being a creative lot they tend to draw inspiration from their favorite books. Which pieces of literature have struck a chord in the hearts of our favorite rock stars? 9. Billie Joe Armstrong, Catcher in the Rye: This probably isn't a surprise si ... More >>

The 10 Best Places To Get Married In Houston

June is the month for weddings, because if there's one situation you want to find yourself in, it's at an outdoor wedding in a Houston summer. With the closing of longtime wedding fave Vargo's, Houston has lost a go-to wedding destination. But there are plenty of other places that would make a good ... More >>

Y'all, We Have All Been Doing "Punk" Wrong

When you think of punk rock, images of a bloodied Sid Vicious in a leather jacket may come to mind. Skinheads flipping off a camera. Henry Rollins and Black Flag destroying a crowd in a basement. Jello Biafra jumping into a surging pit of people after screaming about holidays in Cambodia. The Clash ... More >>

The American Bandstand (Extended) Hot 100

Somehow it's hard to believe that Dick Clark was only 82 years old when he died after suffering a "massive heart attack" Wednesday morning in Santa Monica, Calif. (Since I managed to survive one myself, I've noticed that anytime someone dies of a heart attack, it's always "massive."). Despite his yo ... More >>

Speed Limit: 10 Songs About Fast Driving That Aren't By Sammy Haggar

​On this day in 1974 Richard Nixon signed into law that mandated lowering the speed limit to 55 mph. Now, the reason for this was to make the country preserve gasoline in the middle of an OPEC embargo (which it did), but they also sold the bill to us as a march towards safety. After all, speed ... More >>

Happy 30th, Britney! Maybe Now You Can Finally Put These Performances Behind You

The face that launched a thousand Bob Doles​Where were you in...'81? Rocks Off was in junior high, spending long, solitary afternoons in his bedroom listening to Moving Pictures and Dark Side of the Moon and wondering why no girls seemed to be interested in playing Squad Leader. But 1981 also ... More >>

Gothic Council Presents the Best Goth Music Videos

Gothtopia spent last weekend on a beach dressed in designer black looking sad at the waves... for a purpose, we swear. Despite having been a musician in Houston for quite a while, it was our first music-video shoot. Well, unless you count this one, which isn't so much a music video as a sign that th ... More >>

1986: Best Musical Year Ever?

​For almost two weeks now, Rocks Off has been obsessed with the year exactly 25 flips of the calendar backward from this one. It started when Steve Earle did one of his "Time Machine" shows, where the singer-songwriter who plays House of Blues Wednesday spotlights a dozen or so of his favorite ... More >>

Top 10 Songs To Leave Out Of Your Wedding Reception

​'Tis the summer season for tying the knot. But curse the occasion for creating the ultimate breeding ground for bad music - wedding receptions. It's one thing to unplug the jukebox in an act of defiance or flee a venue playing bad songs (I've done all of the above), but one doesn't exactly h ... More >>

Beyond "Thriller": Top 10 Zombie Music Videos

​One of Rocks Off's choice ambient/shoegaze artists, Grouper, has just released visuals for her song "Alien Observer" and it's full of (almost) everything that we hold dear: Blood, zombies buried beneath foliage, and girl-on-girl action. Oh, and Liz Harris' haunting voice. It's beautiful; whi ... More >>

And in the End: 20 Final Thoughts on the Final Four

John RoyalLeAnn all dressed up for a white wedding.​In an attempt to wipe that awful excuse for a basketball game on Monday night from my head, I thought I would purge a few things still running through from my mind about the whole Final Four weekend. So... 1. I like attractive women. And ... More >>

Top 10 Musician Movie Cameos

Rocks Off has no idea why Mick Jagger might prefer Performance to Ned Kelly.​Over recent years, Rocks Off has been repeatedly surprised by the quality performances of musicians in films. Naturally, there are some duds in the mix; even Mick Jagger himself, who starred in 1970's Ned Kelly, disow ... More >>

Merry Christmas From Rocks Off

Rocks Off polled our staff for their favorite Christmas songs to create a playlist for you to enjoy while you open presents, drink egg nog, or however else you celebrate. Enjoy. Ahh, the gift that keeps on giving...​Editor's Pick: U2, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)": Neph Basedow: Ped ... More >>

Shakira And Music's Eight Other Hottest Bellybuttons

​Shakira shimmies into town tonight at Toyota Center, and frankly, she's pretty much the only artist Rocks Off regrets having to miss while we're in Austin covering ACL. Say what you will about her caterwauling voice and her corny foreign-ness. There's something so playfully goofy about Shakir ... More >>

The Top Five Saturday Night Live Musician Impressions

​In the wake of the recent news that feted comedian/actor/YouTube sensation Jay Pharoah - above, known for his spoofs of A-list bait like Drake, Chris Tucker, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Eddie Murphy, and President Obama - will join the cast of Saturday Night Live when its 36th season premieres September ... More >>

Last Night: Billy Idol At House Of Blues

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Billy Idol House of Blues August 25, 2010 See a slideshow of snarls and sweat from last night's show. Hot in the city. Tonight. Billy Idol, that ever-grinning Dorian Gray of rock and roll, didn't really need to yell "Sweat! Sweat! Sweat!" during "Dancing With Myself" ... More >>

Mullets & More: 17 Signature Musical Hairstyles

​If you have hair, Craig's Hlist hates you. Not in a "you shot my whole family" or "you are the serial killer who dissolved my sibling in a vat of acid" way, more in a "you got the last sausage and cheese kolaches at the office" way. Our hair loss began sometime in high school, when we were ... More >>

Billy Idol, "Sweet Sixteen" And Wild Women of Wongo

​Before "Cradle of Love," the song that introduced Billy Idol to a generation of '80s babies (this writer included), the shock-haired singer already had one song about a heart-stealing young vixen under his belt. Since the moment we heard "Sweet Sixteen," it's been our favorite piece of Idol's ... More >>

Billy Idol

The Top 10 Coolest Music-Video Explosions

​We like fireworks and explosions, and with July 4th right around the corner, we are sure to get our fill. Things burning or blowing up are pretty cool, except of course if it's your house, car or business. In that case, it's an awful, horrible atrocity and God is a bastard for letting it happen t ... More >>

Possible Sponsors For 6 Summer Tours

​Sunday night, resurgent '90s nu-metaleers Korn stop by Verizon Wireless Theater as headliners of the annual Jagermeister Music Tour. Wonder if they've still got the gorilla suit. It seems like more and more artists are following the model of bands like U2, whose recently scratched 360 Tour was "p ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Billy Idol, Black Crowes, Carrie Underwood, Dax Riggs, Erykah Badu, Goatwhore, The Spits, Etc.

​Stardeath & White Dwarfs, The Besnard Lakes: Wed., May 19. Walter's on Washington. Billy Idol: Wed., Aug. 25. House of Blues. Black Crowes: Sun., Sept. 26. Verizon Wireless Theater. Candlebox, Another Day, Rowe: Sat., May 15. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Carrie Underwood, Billy Currington, Sons Of ... More >>

Never Mind Twilight, Here Are the Best Werewolf and Vampire Music Videos

​ Werewolves and vampires have been at each others' throats long before Twilight: New Moon (opening tomorrow) had them making pouty duck-faces at one another. Thankfully, the tradition of the vampire and the werewolf in the art of the music video is a much richer one than the antics of the crybaby ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs That Remind Us of Our Exes

​One thing that struck He Said while we were making this list was the lack of metal and/or punk rock associated with the women in our past. It's kind of odd that someone so dirty and haggard never dated anyone with a Crass patch on her denim jacket or Misfits tramp stamp. By looking at us, you wou ... More >>

Got Your Goat

We don't mean to sound paranoid, but: Did aliens abduct George Clooney's sense of humor?

No Exit

Blondie casts a wide net indeed on the band's Last.fm station.

That's the Spot

The self-proclaimed best live music venue in North Houston just might live up to the billing.

WTF Island: Jackson Five, Kid Rock, Glenn Danzig, Rock Camp and Assteroids

Even as our economy continued to go up in flames like the Toyota Center, the carnival of WTF kept trolling along this week. It seemed that every day we saw something so asinine and foolish that we couldn't keep up. Jackson Family slavery museums, rock and roll fantasy camps, Kid Rock's new beer, "As ... More >>

Digitalia: Microsoft Songsmith Corrects Artists' Glaring Oversights

Billy Idol, "White Wedding"... sort ofMicrosoft Songsmith, a music-making computer program, has already racked up plenty of Internet accolades based on its eerily terrible commercial, wherein normal, everyday people dealing with normal, everyday problems - such as being tasked to write an ad campa ... More >>

Happy Birthday Screech

Rocks Off would like to say happy birthday to former Saved By the Bell actor, reality-show regular, stand-up comedian, mortgage-crisis harbinger and sometime musician Dustin "Screech" Diamond, who turns 28 today. Just be glad Rocks Off posted this video of the SBTB gang's "cover" of Billy Idol's "M ... More >>

The Kanye Is a "Sharp Dressed Man"

Rocks Off would like to thank Dallas Observer Music Editor Pete Freedman for hipping him to this little nugget: the White Folks Get Crunk blog has chosen DJ Shade's splice job welding Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" and ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" as one of 2008's top five mashups (it's No. 4). ... More >>

Give Us a Hand

Retro Active: A Nuclear Era, But I Have No Fear

Last Night: Against Me! at the Meridian

PICO'S

ACAPULCO

Low Note

Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore do not make sweet, sweet music

Pink / Damone

I'm Not Dead / Out Here All Night

Beat Cowboys, with Eric Hisaw

Friday, November 18, at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar, 1031 East 24th, 713-862-8707.

Sister Act

The Mineola Twins serves up social satire and sibling rivalry

Playbill

Opie Hendrix & The Texas Tallboys

San Jacinto (Def-Texan Records)

Playbill

The Cult

A Punk Looks at 50

Billy Idol's mind is still the devil's workshop

Playbill

Ozomatli, dc Talk, The New Morty Show

Hail to the '80s

A rash of new compilations makes a case for the Me Decade's place in rock history

Rotation