Cheap Trick

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 >>

Dave Grohl Doc Sound City Screens at River Oaks January 31

For one night only, Dave Grohl's Sound City flick will screen at the Landmark River Oaks on January 31. Tickets should be available for pre-sale on the Landmark site very soon. Rewind: Dave Grohl Releases Trailer for Nerd-Boner Doc Sound City Rocks Off has been tracking the film since it was ann ... More >>

5 Movies That Used the Power of Rock to Slay Demons

I have it on very good and not at all fruitcaked authority that rock and roll is the devil's music. It corrupts the minds of young people, turning them all into savages that breed and destroy in an orgy of murder-boinking that caused the end of the America we all remember so well. Or, you know, not ... More >>

Last Night: Aerosmith & Cheap Trick at Toyota Center

Aerosmith, Cheap Trick Toyota Center July 30, 2012 It always happens. I go into an Aerosmith show full of hate and distrust of laser-lips Steven Tyler and the Aero Posse and end up half-enjoying myself despite all the reservations that the rest of the world pumps into my head. It's like when you a ... More >>

Aerosmith & Cheap Trick Rock Toyota Center July 30

This morning Aerosmith, the band that wouldn't die (or refuses to go away), announced a Houston stop on this summer's "Global Warming" tour at Toyota Center Monday, July 30. Taking a break from the casino/state-fair circuit, Illinois power-pop heroes Cheap Trick open. Aerosmith is still be rumored ... More >>

Kick It Out: 9 Other Great Songs by Heart

Heart is one of the most enduring, influential, and underrated rock bands of all time. They aren't afraid to tell you how they feel -- even if they are in a pissed-off mood as they seem to be a good portion of the time with classics like "Barracuda," "Heartless," and "Even It Up." For those of use ... More >>

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush...Again

Photo by Jeff Balke​A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch at the Continental Club talking music with a fairly well known music writer who seemed to believe that anything with a big hook or the slightest inkling of musicianship beyond the garage band aesthetic was utter garbage. I ... More >>

Vince Neil

Cheap Trick Escape Collapsing Stage, But Not Armageddon

Mason Lankford said, "There will come a day when we forget the Rapture ever even happened," but Rocks Off is keeping an eye out for signs of our impending Armageddon. We were wrong last time, but we're totally right this time! Monday morning, Rocks Off got up and prepared lunches, fed dogs, pants ... More >>

Idol Beat: I Do Not Like That will.i.am

​Only nine hopefuls remain in this, the 10th season of American Idol (AKA the Greatest Talent Competition Since the Battle of the Bands at San Dimas High School). It's time to separare the wheat from the chaff, the post-adolescents from the mere adolescents, those who are "in it to win it" fro ... More >>

SXSW With LOM: Gourds Kill, Grandfather Child Wins, Candy Golde Shines

Donica ChristensenWhat the Gourds saw from the stage at Friday's Vanguard Records party​Day Two found Lonesome Onry and Mean at the Vanguard Records day party, where the label was intent on showcasing several of its newest acts. While Viva Voce may not be the best band name ever, the Pixies-is ... More >>

SXSW: Bun E. Carlos Chills At Club De Ville

Photos by Chris GrayBun E. Carlos warms up for Candy Golde's live debut at Club de Ville Friday.​When someone offers you a chance to talk to the hands behind the driving rhythms of "Surrender" and steady swing of "I Want You to Want Me," you take it. So Friday night, Rocks Off found ourselves ... More >>

SXSW Last Night: Men Without Hats Dance If They Want To

PPhotos by Chris Gray​Men Without Hats Club de Ville March 18, 2011 Every year at SXSW, Aftermath scans the schedule of hundreds and hundreds of bands and always has the same reaction: "They're still around?" This year it was Canadian synth-pop safety dancers Men Without Hats. Since Aftermat ... More >>

Candy Golde Set To Kick In Some Faces At SXSW Debut

​If there is a must-not-miss show for Lonesome Onry and Mean at Austin's annual springtime musical clusterfuck next week, it's Candy Golde at Club Deville, 11 p.m. Friday night. A scary-good Chicago lineup of grizzled veterans - Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, Wilco's John Stiratt, and gui ... More >>

The Adolescents: Still Punk Rock Kids From The Black Hole

"We were little pricks, but bored out of our minds..." The Adolescents on the 2007 Warped Tour​For 30 years, seminal Orange County punk band the Adolescents has unleashed anthemic teen angst, since mutated into wise adult aggravation, in intermittent bursts. Sure, members come and go at revol ... More >>

Old 97's: What's So Good About A Good-Time Band?

Photos by Jason Wolter​When Rocks Off was talking to Old 97's front man Rhett Miller last week, we told him it was going to be nice to see them at the Continental Club. He chuckled and said, "Yeah, it kind of feels like we're going backwards." It may feel like that for the band - who played H ... More >>

Last Night: Mates Of State And Free Energy At Warehouse Live

Photos by Marc Brubaker / Click here for a slideshowFree Energy​Mates of State, Free Energy Warehouse Live July 8, 2010 There's nothing like getting ripped from your lemon grass tofu because there's a magician opening a Mates of State show. Aftermath was sitting down like a real, live human b ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Roll Call At Saturday Night's Alex Chilton Tribute

Philippe Brizard/ WikipediaAlex Chilton in France, 2004​Which big names played the Big Star tribute? In the wake of turmoil of the death of Alex Chilton, local media bandied names including Cheap Trick, fresh off a sterling SXSW show at Auditorium Shores, and Paul Westerberg - who had his say-so i ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Alex Chilton Haunts A Festival Full Of His Musical Children

Dan OkoThe line for the Black Keys outside the Mohawk Saturday afternoon... we have no idea about the pinata truck, either​ After the mega-shows last SXSW with Metallica and Kanye West, the 2010 version of SXSW launched struck your humble badgeholder as busier than last year, just on a smaller ... More >>

Rocks Off Succumbs to That Evil Facebook "Bands I've Seen" List

Chris GrayWilco's Jeff Tweedy at Verizon Wireless Theater, March 2008​If you're reading this at all, Rocks Off will just assume you're fairly familiar with the Internet, and therefore that you more than likely also have a Facebook page. Congratulations - don't you feel special? Rocks Off was recen ... More >>

Defending the Jonas Brothers: You Got a Problem With That?

​We have spent days wrestling throw pillows and chain-smoking cigarettes in the sun, sweatily contemplating why it is that we can't hate the Jonas Brothers. We can honestly say this isn't some crass devil's advocate playing rock journalist devilry. We can't find a reasonable flaw in the wares they ... More >>

Cheap Trick, Def Leppard, Poison

Hello, Houston!

Noise breaks down the months of live music ahead

25 Random Facts About The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

Logo courtesy HLS&RThe Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is coming to town this week, the sign that spring can't be far behind.We've promised ourselves for weeks that we would never, ever succumb to the "25 Random Things" meme, or phenomenon, or whatever it is, but we have received in the ... More >>

Something Fierce: There Are No Answers

Local Rotation: Something Fierce's There Are No Answers

Something Fierce There Are No Answers www.somethingfiercemusic.com Open letter to the Warped Tour: If you don't include Something Fierce on your 2009 80-something band docket, you deserve to have Andy Macdonald or Kyle Loza do one of their extreme-sports stunts right into your figurat ... More >>

New Health Department HQ Delayed

Who Stole the Roll?

Tonight: Fitzgerald's Anniversary, Western Civilization, Two Star Symphony, Foreigner and Bryan Adams

Reverberations: Bellrays, Power-Pop and Chevelles

Truckee Brothers: Double Happiness

Last Night: Against Me! at the Meridian

Confessions of a Classic Rock Whore, or One Man’s Journey

Elephant's Memory

New releases from the Apples In Stereo and Of Montreal pick up the thread of a legendary collective

Encore Performance

Don't fret. Guitar Hero II kills the opening act

Frank Black

Fast Man Raider Man

A Revolting Show

South By Southwest

Funtime Is Over

It's the end of the road for AstroWorld

Christmas in July

Six dozen of Houston's finest bands for a mere $7

Best Place to Buy a Musical Instrument

Playbill

The Mavericks

Saturday, December 6

They Want You to Want Them

Shine up your old brown shoes, put on a brand-new shirt, Cheap Trick's in town

Born in the USO

Created by the folks who provide "entertainment" to military bases, VQ Live hopes to keep the non-GI Joes happy

Static

Sound Check

Rotation

We All Scream for Thora-Zine

And: The Ramones on a lofty mission, and Celts belt it out