Danny Elfman

Five Punk Goes... Songs That Don't Suck

Last time in our "things that don't suck" series, we looked at some educational songs ( ) that our children could learn from without being bored to death. This week, we're looking at the Punk Goes... series, and some of the worthwhile tracks to grab from the series. Punk Goes... has long been the ... More >>

Oz the Great and Powerful

This Oz is neither great nor powerful.

Christmas Past: Top 10 Christmas Movie Soundtracks

While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 14, 2010. No doubt you have all been chin-deep in Christmas movies since you undid your b ... More >>

The Top 25 Music Videos of 2012, Nos. 5-1

Never before have I agonized so hard over the picks for best music video of the year because never before have I had the kind of selection that 2012 offered. The art form is alive and well like never before, and we are entering a new renaissance of cinemaudio. Today we reach the videos you simply ca ... More >>

Video Game Parody Song Battle: BioShock vs. Portal

This has been a very good year for the small, but awesome genre of video game parody songs, and today I thought we'd pit the best so far against each other to see which one is truly the better effort. They come from two series that I love completely equally, so there's no bias in that regards. Let's ... More >>

The 10 Greatest Summer Concerts I Never Saw

Well, kids, summer has arrived. If you have ever noticed, all the good concerts seem to come during the summer -- with May being more like a pre-show. My parents, when I was younger, took me to many concerts at some of these venues, mainly Contemporary Christian concerts. I myself had only been to ... More >>

Emerging Choreographers Showcase

Gothic Council: Is Batman Goth?

Yeah yeah yeah, The Avengers is awesome. Let's not forget that the Dark Knight Rises will soon be here! I have always been keen to claim Batman as a goth icon, but I thought I'd get clearance from the Gothic Council before I committed myself. Joining us this week is fashion designer Batty, webmistr ... More >>

Gothic Council Stages Tim Burton Intervention

Tim Burton has become something of a trial to the goths of the world. On the one hand, his contribution to the sub-culture simply cannot be overstated. Films like Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and The Nightmare Before Christmas served as the gateway into the spooky side for many of us, and for t ... More >>

The Revival of the Silent Film and 7 Movies We Would Like to See Without Words

In a big step forward, or step back, however you would like to think about it, the silent film The Artist was just named the best film by the New York Film Critics Circle. This comes on the heels of the stunning response it has already received from the festival circuit, including a best actor award ... More >>

Modern Holiday Classics Veer Off from Feelgood and into Cynicism

This week, as Christmas movies began their assault on cable and network television, it occurred to us that in the past decade or so, holiday film tastes have begun to veer from lighthearted feelgood affairs and straight into stress-filled, caustic celebrations of the things we will all hate for the ... More >>

The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along

More Labor Day Music: 5 Secret Anti-Labor Songs

​Work sucks. You know it, Rocks Off knows it, and just because your boss magnanimously decides to throw you one day off between July 4th and Thanksgiving doesn't change that fact. So you take your solace where you can, in the little things, like music. Musicians are hard workers like you, ri ... More >>

Danny Elfman's Ten Greatest Soundtracks

​Last Tuesday, Warner Bros. music released a 25th anniversary box set commemorating the orchestral soundtrack work Danny Elfman has done for Tim Burton. Elfman, the former front man for the wonderfully weird art-pop band Oingo Boingo, was first recruited by Burton to score his film Pee Wee's B ... More >>

Wangcaster Rules: Rocks Off's Top 10 Stories Of 2010

Insert "wanking" joke here.​It's been a wild and crazy year. And while we're still wrapping up some of our personal favorite stories of 2010, Rocks Off throughout we'd take a look at the Top 10 most-read stories of the most recent solar rotation. Relive the magic with our links below... 10. N ... More >>

Top 10 Christmas Movie Soundtracks

​No doubt you have all been chin-deep in Christmas movies since you undid your belt on Thanksgiving evening. Rocks Off made sure to steal a copy of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation from our folks' house before the calendar even hit December. Unlike other blogs, we don't hate all Christm ... More >>

The Top 10 Horror-Movie Scores Of All Time

Not on the list...ha-ha!​The art of the instrumental horror-film score is quickly being lost. All too often now, filmmakers are using heavy metal and pop music to soundtrack their films. Hearing Slipknot or HIM during a stabbing scene just doesn't hold the same weight to us as some tubular bel ... More >>

The Top 10 Rock-Musician Film Scores

​David Fincher's Facebook creation tale The Social Network has been the No. 1 film in America the past two weekends, and no doubt it will continue that streak this weekend, barring an assault by Jackass 3-D which comes out today. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone is already hailing Network as a ... More >>

Two Star Symphony Talks KTRU, Silent Films, Dr. Dre And Minor Threat

Two Star Symphony on Facebook​This week Rocks Off got a hot tip from our pal Jason that the venerable Two Star Symphony would be playing an evening gig out in Houston's western territories. It had been a good while since we'd seen the local string quartet, and with our Spidey Sense tingling ab ... More >>

Saturday Night: The Houston Symphony Does Final Fantasy At Jones Hall

Photos courtesy of Houston SymphonySaturday's cast (from left): Alan Halverson as Kefka , Rachel Smith as Yuffie, Amanda Ayr as Tifa​The Houston Symphony Jones Hall July 24, 2010 While everyone else in Houston was going gaga for Gaga, Aftermath headed down to Jones Hall to hear the Houston Sy ... More >>

Strip Clubs And Cramped Vans: Roky Moon & BOLT On The Road

We wanna go on tour in the worst way. We can't sing, play an instrument or even tap our feet in time, but after watching this tour video from Roky Moon & BOLT's recent national tour, we will learn to do something that can allow us to travel across the country with our best friends. Legally, if ... More >>

Mommy's Little Monster: Songs To Remind You That Children are Inherently Evil

​Like you, as Rocks Off grows older we have to come to terms with the fact that many of our friends are having children. Usually we can just scroll quickly past the offspring-related Facebook updates or send those 12-MB emails containing brood photos into the Trash folder unread. No harm, no foul. ... More >>

Songs for Naughty Children

As Rocks Off grows older we have to come to terms with the fact that many of our friends are having children. Usually we can just scroll quickly past the offspring-related Facebook updates or send those 12 MB emails containing brood photos into the Trash folder unread. No harm, no foul. But the hol ... More >>

This Town Needs an Enema: Rocks Off Movie Night at the Mink with Batman

Note: The date on the above poster should say September 1.​This week's film selection for Rocks Off Movie Nite at the Mink - that's right, we're now officially co-sponsoring this thing - is Tim Burton's 1989 reboot of Batman, starring the third-coolest man to step into the cowl and cape - "Mr. Mom ... More >>

Two Star Symphony

Get a dose of Danny Elfman flavor at Discovery Green’s Sundays in the Park

Ben Folds

Popular '90s man is back...with a keytar.

Yip-Yip

This synthefied duo brings musical chaos to The Mink

Creepshow: Halloween Party Music

Music to keep your soiree from sucking like Dracula

Forbidden Zone

Before Oingo Boingo there was The Mystics Nights

Aaron Loesch Vies to Become the Guitar Center King of the Blues

A dying Houston scene suddenly might have new life

Giant Squid

Concert preview

Like Star Trek with Worms

Love in Gloom

Tim Burton is dead-on again in the darkly delightful Corpse Bride

Chocolate Kisses

Thanks to Depp and Burton, Willy Wonka just got weirder

Playbill

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Flesh for Fantasy

Dreamy Red Dragon completes the Hannibal boxed set

World Wide Web

Spider-Man does whatever a spider can and much more

Aping an Icon

Tim Burton monkeys around with the original Planet of the Apes, but is it evolution?

Jug Ugly

Aaron Loesch and band find inspiration in life's throwaway objects

Horseman, Pass By

Sleepy Hollow looks great, but it's less filling than Washington Irving

Spirited

Animal Acts

The return of Hollywood's most famous dog and pony show