Dead Kennedys

SXSW's 2013 Panels: EDM, Nashville, and Tony Bennett's Headphones

Since 2010 or so, while I am at SXSW in Austin I have started to make the panels during the day a priority for my time at the conference. The trick is waking up by 10 a.m. most days. They are usually filled with industry celebs I can geek out on (like singer-songwriter Paul Williams) and almost al ... More >>

Island Reunion

Cancer Bats: "A Total B-Horror Movie Type Plot"

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. The meme goes, "Some men just want to watch the world burn." I couldn't agree more, so when you name a song "Hail Destroyer" I am ready to listen ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: T.S.O.L., Girl In a Coma, Etc.

The true sounds of liberty since 1978, whether those sounds are Black Flag-ish hardcore or Danzig-like mook-rock, the decidedly gothic T.S.O.L. sprang from the surfer's paradise of Huntington Beach, Calif., and palled around with the Damned and Dead Kennedys before helping their younger SoCal siblin ... More >>

Explaining Classic Rock Bands to Kids

This past Sunday, The New York Times ran a piece by Paul Greenberg where the author explained how important the Beatles were to music and pop culture to his five-year old son. The child didn't know that the band had albums, but only knew the Fab Four from iTunes playlists. "When the Beatles record ... More >>

It's World Radio Day. La-Di-Freakin'-Da.

Normally, Rocks Off gets all giddy when we get to put together a playlist to celebrate an obscure holiday. However, today is World Radio Day, as declared by last year by the United Nations (the best source of obscure holidays), and it's put us in a foul mood. The reason is that recent automotive mi ... More >>

Say My Name: Bands Named After Actual, Real People

Punk Rock Elite​This Friday would have been Z.Z. Hill's 76th birthday, but the popular Texas bluesman passed away in 1984 from a heart attack. Most people only know who the late soul crooner is through his connection to ZZ Top. The moniker of that little ol' band from where we are sitting righ ... More >>

10 American Anthems That Tell It Like It Is

​Captain America, Marvel's newest superhero movie, comes out today. We'll pause until the excitement passes. ... Rocks Off likes Captain America. The three comic books we read with any regularity as a scupper were Cap, Batman (Detective Comics), and Spider-Man. But we love America. The land ... More >>

10 Sexy Pulp Magazine Covers; 10 Very Boring Headlines

If you go looking for vintage pulp magazine covers, it's easy to end up thinking your father's or grandfather's generation was an S&M-obsessed orgy of kink. Either men are tied up or being dominated by women in the illustrations, or vice versa. "Orgy of Kink!!!!!" would probably be a good headline ... More >>

The Best Tony Hawk Video Game Soundtracks

​It sounds like heresy to most older folks, this writer included, but for about the past decade, a lot of younger gamers have been discovering punk rock, ska, and classic and indie hip-hop through the Tony Hawk series of skateboarding video games. The idea may be repellent to those of us who r ... More >>

Movin' Out: Songs That Will Scare Off Bad Roommates

​Often times in our young adult lives, we come across a roommate who initially seems like a good match. They're capable of paying their rent on time and seem nice enough, so the possibility of your living arrangements blossoming into a sitcom looks fair. Then in a month's time, the Friends r ... More >>

30 Seconds With Cradle Of Filth's Dani Filth

James Sharrock​Rocks Off sat down with Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth to see we could find out about the front man and founder of the British goth-metal band, which formed in 1991, in 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Dani Filth: The Scissor Sisters' "I Can't Decide." ... More >>

Last Night: Agent Orange At Fitzgerald's

Photos by David Ensminger​Agent Orange Fitzgerald's January 9, 2010 In the 1987 21 Jump Street episode "Mean Streets and Pastel Houses," fresh-faced Johnny Depp goes undercover as a punk to root out vicious gangland teenage thugs lurking in the inner city. He ends up at a rowdy punk concert r ... More >>

Agent Orange

The Best Concert Movies Of All Time

​A quick note before CHL starts this hlist. We define a concert movie as a flick that documents one or more shows on a tour. More narrative-oriented rock flicks like D.A. Pennebaker's Bob Dylan mash note Don't Look Back, Charles Peterson's grunge chronicle Hype!, and of course the lighthearted ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest: A Pocket Guide To Rocks Off's Picks

All photos courtesy funfunfunfest.comCall us crazy, but we think we may not be seeing Craig after this weekend.​Tonight Rocks Off heads to Austin to cover our third festival this year in the capitol city, Fun Fun Fun Fest. This is also our second trip to the festival in Waterloo Park. Think AC ... More >>

Inanimate Objects

Skate & Rock No. 3

Church for Thugs

50 Cent decides to be a little more selfish on upcoming LP Black Magic.

11 Songs Sean Hannity Won't Be Listening To Today

​Today Americans celebrate Memorial Day, honoring the military servicemen and women that have passed while serving our country. The holiday is definitely not as flashy or as popular as Independence Day in July, seeing that there are no Memorial Day fireworks or picnics. It's not stuck in November ... More >>

MDC

Punk Rock Karaoke Returns Tonight At Notsuoh

www.notsuoh.com​ If you have ever dreamed of being in a punk band, or at least dreamed of embarrassing yourself in front of people you may be trying to sleep with, Notsuoh has you covered tonight, hosting the resurrection of live-band Punk Rock Karaoke. About six years ago, PRK was in full-swing b ... More >>

Spermy Night In Georgia: Sexed-Up Songs To Set The Mood For Blowfly

Let's get one thing perfectly clear: Blowfly is the original dirty rapper. Before anyone in 2 Live Crew was old enough to set foot into a peepshow stall or buy a pack of cigarettes, Clarence "Blowfly" Reid was spewing forth raucous raps like "Spermy Night In Georgia" and "What a Difference a Lay Mak ... More >>

Back To The Future: The Dirty Rotten Imbeciles That Meet In D.R.I.

metal-archives.comA hometown D.R.I. gig, 1982​Tonight at Wired Live, formerly the Meridian - or still the Meridian, just not for much longer; we don't even know at this point - you can watch part of punk and hardcore history duke it out with some of the new wave. Legendary crossover thrash band an ... More >>

Road Trip, Anyone? If You Want To See Nouvelle Vague, You'll Have To

​ One more sign that Houston don't count for jack: Nouvelle Vague is playing Dallas (Feb. 12) and Austin (13th), but no Houston date. Hmmm...where have I heard this story before? NV have been wildly popular in Europe since their eponymous 2004 debut. We first stumbled upon them when we heard t ... More >>

King Cry Baby: A Team Leno Playlist

​If you've been keeping up with the business going on between Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno, odds are you've already picked a side. Every team needs its fight songs, and although Team Leno looks a lot smaller than Team Conan - in fact, Rocks Off isn't sure if we've even met anyone on Team Leno - they ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs from the Year We Were Born That We Still Listen To

Yes, we are older than MTV. Shut up.​The thing that struck She Said most when researching this list of songs that came out the year we were born (May 1980) was just how much of this music we regularly listen to now. 1980 marked the end of disco, the middle of New Wave and punk, and a damn good tim ... More >>

Werewolves Got Fingered: The 5 Worst Movies (Besides Twilight: New Moon) With the Best Soundtracks

​Good news, all you fans of condensed screen versions of self-indulgent Mormon vampire pseudo-erotic clit-tease fantasies: Twilight: New Moon is being released in only eight days. Rocks Off, accustomed to scorn from literary snobs for his steadfast support of the Harry Potter series, actually pick ... More >>

For Teddy: Our Favorite Dead Kennedys Songs

​That's right, we went there. Longtime Massachussetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, better known as Teddy, passed away late Tuesday night at age 77. News media sites have already gone to Defcon 2 - "A Famous Person Not Named Michael Jackson Has Died" - so Rocks Off thought we'd take a different appro ... More >>

Know Your Enemy

Green Day follows their Bush-bashing smash American Idiot with the even more epic 21st Century Breakdown.

Free 7" from Room 101

Local/Chicago one-man noisenik Room 101 isn't letting a silly thing like the economic crisis stop him from releasing music - he's just decided to give it away. Email him at robface1@hotmail.com and he'll send you a copy of his brand-new four-song 7", complete with artwork by Winston Smith, who ... More >>

Butthole Surfers Pt. 1: Ex-Manager Tom Bunch on BHS' First Houston Show, "Gibby Used to Drop His Pants a Lot," His Punk Rock Video Archives, Explaining the Music Business and More

Akimbo

"Seattle's last hair band" takes on The Mink

Tonight: The Melvins and Big Business at Warehouse Live

The Thermals

The Thermals appear Tuesday, October 10, at Proletariat, 903 Richmond. Call 713-523-1199 for more info.

Various Artists

Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly

Be Your Own Pet

Wednesday, June 21, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington Avenue, 713-862-2513.

Throw Rag, with Los Skarnales, Sean Reefer & the Resin Valley Boys and Hell City Kings

Tuesday, August 30, at Mary Jane's Fat Cat, 4216 Washington Avenue, 713-869-5263.

Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague

MDC

Sunday, April 17, at the Engine Room, 1515 Pease, 713-654-7846.

I'll Drink to That

Fuel your New Year's Eve with these boozy sing-along tunes

Anarchy in da USA

Looking for the true spirit of the Ramones? Try going to an underground hip-hop show.

Various Artists

Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 (Fat Wreck Chords)

Pop-Punk Penance

A cool kid seeks heavenly redemption

X Marks the Spot

Legendary L.A. punks survey the scene they helped spawn 25 years ago

Highway to Heck

Though Christian on the inside, MxPx is pure punk on the outside

Buff Boys

Rotation

Roots Rockabilly