Billy Idol

Last Night: Against Me! at the Meridian

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

Give Us a Hand

Hail to the '80s

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

Playbill

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

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 >>

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 >>

Rotation

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 >>

Sound Check

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Beat Cowboys, with Eric Hisaw

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

Opie Hendrix & The Texas Tallboys

San Jacinto (Def-Texan Records)

Capsule Stage Reviews: Ashes to Africa, The Heiress, Time of My Life, The Wedding Singer, You Can't Take It With You

San Jacinto (Def-Texan Records)

Sister Act

The Mineola Twins serves up social satire and sibling rivalry

PICO'S

ACAPULCO

Houston Radio Still Sucks

David Sadof shares his dream station with Racket

Low Note

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

Pink / Damone

I'm Not Dead / Out Here All Night

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

That's the Spot

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

No Exit

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

Got Your Goat

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

Unmasked and Anonymous

Houston's Without a Face wins over crowds with songs about MySpace, lactose intolerance and stalking local TV anchors.

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 >>

Me, the Mob, and the Music by Tommy James with Martin Fitzpatrick

​Talk about a Cinderella story. At 17 years old, Tommy James of Michigan was a high-school senior, already married with a baby, working in a record store, and failing miserably to get his band, The Shondells, off the ground after a recording a single. Two years later, a Pittsburgh club promote ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Billy Idol

​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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

25 Essential Eponymous Albums

​Eponymous: (of a literary work, film, etc) named after its central character or creator: The Stooges' eponymous debut album. On this day in 1983, a young woman from Michigan who had recently given up on a career as a hard-rock singer released her first album of electronic dance-pop, an album ... More >>

Jack Daniel's If You Please: A Musical Sour Mash Salute

Q: What do musicians call a diminished fifth? A: An empty bottle of Jack Daniel's. ​Someone at Dirt Bar thinks today may be Jack Daniel's birthday. The Jack Daniel, inventor of the sour mash whiskey and favored rock and roll stage prop. Although they admit they can't be sure - "while he made ... 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 ... More >>

7 Musician Exes (Or Daughters) Who Should Write Tell-All Books

Photo by Groovehouse​7. Dita Von Teese (Marilyn Manson): Famed burlesque performer Dita Von Teese (above) met Marilyn Manson in 2001. He proposed in 2004, and the couple wed a year later. Von Teese filed for divorce when she couldn't deal with Manson's alcohol abuse and his extramarital affair ... 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 >>

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 >>