Duran Duran

Saturday Night: Cafe Tacuba at House of Blues

Cafe Tacuba House of Blues August 18, 2012 Imagine for just a second that Fishbone, the raucous L.A. band that threw all sorts of music into a blender with minor success in the late '80s and early '90s, grew to an award-winning, arena-size act that could draw tens or even hundreds of thousands of p ... More >>

8 Musical Activities That Should Be Olympic Sports

After years of preparation, unprecedented security, and a Mitt Romney gaffe or two, the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London get underway about 3 p.m. Houston time. At the same time, multitudes will gather in nearby Hyde Park for a free concert with Duran Duran, Snow Patrol, ... More >>

Join Us for Cocktails & Covers at House Of Blues Fridays This Summer

The other day, Rocks Off was researching another blog, and we stumbled across Duran Duran's 1995 all-covers LP Thank You on Spotify. Then we listened to it all the way through, on purpose. Recorded when the Birmingham-born band was at a post-"Ordinary World" fork in the road, Thank You wasn't the D ... More >>

Bang A Gong: Duran Duran Guitarist Turned Rocker Andy Taylor Is 51

In the summer of 1987, the day before driving to Austin for freshmen orientation at the University of Texas, I went to see Andy Taylor at Fitzgerald's. The former Duran Duran guitarist had done a near-180 in his career, opting for T. Rex-inspired hard rock over the glamorous Britpop of Rio. After ... More >>

Pop Rocks: So Who's Going to Perform at Next Year's Super Bowl Halftime Show?

If Janet Jackson's nip slip in 2004 threw ice water on the practice of using current entertainers for Super Bowl halftimes, M.I.A.'s middle finger salute dumped it in the Bering Sea. Finally, after eight years of K. Billy's Sounds of the '70s and Pete Townshend's belly (which somehow didn't draw *an ... More >>

Travelin' Band: What Do The Features Listen To On The Road?

So The Twilight Saga has exactly two things that keep the films from being absolute torture. The first is Ashley Greene in all her pixie-hotness, and the second is that there really are some excellent bands that end up on the soundtracks. Case in point, the Features were featured recently in Break ... More >>

Top 007 James Bond Musical Title Sequences

59 years ago today, United Artists released Dr. No, the first film adaptation of Ian Feming's James Bond novels. There have since been 21 more movies with another one on the way, and the series is the second-highest grossing film series ever after Harry Potter. One of the things that continue to d ... More >>

Top 10 Songs About Other Musicians

When you make music your life, it's only natural that you'd look at the people around you doing the same and find someone who just moistens the muse's panties. What we've tried to put together here is a list of those best efforts. Bear in mind, with one notable exception we've steered clear of fell ... More >>

Pop Rocks: New Clear Days

Explains a lot.​I was discussing career choices (don't ask) with an acquaintance of mine, and in the course of talking about how we got where we were, I mentioned that I'd never really planned for life beyond college when I was in my teens. The decision wasn't a "non-decision" or anything lik ... 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 >>

The 25 Most Influential Music Videos Of All Time

​It's hard to fathom a time before music videos, and it's even sadder to remember when channels like MTV and VH1 were wall-to-wall music videos. In between there was a golden age, when with every clip that you watched could spark a revolution in you, or at least change your fashion sense. It's ... More >>

Save Ferris: Pop-Culture Origins Of 16 Famous Band Names

Groovehouse​This one's for the pop-culture junkies. For those who, like us, are tickled by all forms of pop media, whether it be literature, film or music... this list encompasses them all. A surprisingly high quantity of bands have named themselves after books, songs, and films; some are obvi ... More >>

The Black Lips

The Black Lips' Favorite Garage Albums & Bands

Zach Wolfe​In the Black Lips' recent video for "Go Out and Get It," the Atlanta garage boys are seen on a cruise ship and on some tropical beach surrounded by vacationing bikini-clad hipster gals, all messy hair and sunglasses, sipping drinks like some endless Sunday Funday. The band will be ... More >>

Last Night: Duran Duran at Warehouse Live

Photos by groovehouse​Duran Duran Warehouse Live April 6, 2011 Check out our slideshow from the show. The Duran Duran frenzy began last night before the band even took the stage. Droves of women indiscreetly huddled around the band's tour bus before the show, anticipating a mere glimpse of t ... More >>

Top 5 Albums: Duran Duran

​It's Duran Duran Day in Houston, everybody. Word has it that fans are already lining up at Warehouse Live for the band's sold-out club show, and you can bet that it will be a hot evening inside the venue until the last strains of "Rio" echo out onto the street after the lights come up. We h ... More >>

Duran Duran Through the Eyes of David Lynch

​Better start off by telling you that Duran Duran is huge in the House With One F. The wife has an immense collection of rare singles on vinyl and CD, and bassist John Taylor is referred to only as "Happy Birthday Sweetheart" after wishing her just that when they met at the Four Seasons in Aus ... More >>

Duran Duran

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2011

​NATIONAL White Lies, Ritual: They killed at festivals in 2008 and 2009, but do London's Interpol-styled lads have longevity? Dr. Dre, Detox: It's been on hold or gestating since at least Clinton was in office. Will it continue to be hip-hop's Chinese Democracy? R.E.M., Collapse Into No ... More >>

Top 10 Rap Covers By Non-Rap Artists

​Artists have many ways of expressing admiration for their peers. Name-dropping those who inspire them in liner notes and offering them groupies on the tour bus are just a couple of ways of showing respect. Covering one of their popular songs? Now that's the ultimate tip of the hat. That's an ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs That Make Us Feel Like a Man, Baby!

Mad Men's Christina Hendricks makes us feel like a man in the best possible way...​He Said's view of manhood wasn't built on sweat and labor the way most guys would probably say. Early on in our musical journey, we always equated music to being sleazy and slithery, or just dancing. It makes sense ... More >>

(Don't) Book 'Em, Dano: 42 Artists Who Have Absolutely No Business Touring Together

​ When Rocks Off received word last week that indie duo The Big Pink was embarking on a 2010 tour with NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers, our initial thought was, "Cool," followed closely by, "Ew." For once, there's a promo poster we really have no desire to see. But then our next thought was, "Coul ... More >>

Material World: Five High-Life Holiday Videos for Your Broke, Unemployed Ass

​ Only 29 shopping days until Christmas. More to the point, it's less than a month until we don't have to hear that goddamned barking dogs version of "Jingle Bells" and can stop forcing ourselves to be nice to each other for another year. We at Rocks Off know times are tough. Unemployment is still ... More >>

Slide Show: Albums Almost as Old as We Are

The other day, the Rocks Off brain trust was sitting around talking, and one of us happened to mention whatever album it was we were talking about - it might have been Duran Duran's Rio - came out the year one of us was born. That got us thinking, "How much have albums released within 12 months aft ... More >>

Freddie Krc

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 9

[Note: This is the final installment of Aftermath's survey of memorable 2008 concerts - the ones he attended and reviewed (mostly, but not always, by him) anyway; kudos to Valient Thorr, Ice Cube, Dr. Dog, Son Volt, Journey/Heart, Wilderness, the HPMA showcase and many other ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Dickens, BMX and 610 Blvd.

Quick not-so-random tip: If you haven't already had your office holiday party yet, we definitely suggest you don't show up too early. The food probably won't be ready, but the drinks just might. Anyway... Dickens on the Strand For the past 35 years, Dickens on the Strand has been celebrated on G ... More >>

Aftermath: Duran Duran at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Chris Gray Alone among its pretty-boy peers in the early and mid-'80s, Duran Duran was the blackest band to regularly hit the pop charts from either side of the pond. Only the Aussies in INXS had anywhere near the same level of interest in funk and disco, and the chops to pull it off. ... More >>

Duran Duran

Duran Duran Still On... for Now

Although Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor is battling a pernicious ear infection that makes travel impossible, forcing the '80s icons to cancel last night's show in San Antonio and tonight's in Dallas, the band's publicist says Friday's show at Verizon Wireless Theater is still on. For ... More >>

Single File

Mechanical Boy: Play Along

Jason Ward's Matagorda Island Discs

Duran Duran: Red Carpet Massacre

Drenched In Blog: Broing Down with the Hives

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

Last Night: Midlake at Numbers

M.I.A.

Kala

Honor Bound

A fictional look at the future of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Show Some Pride

Year of the Concept

Green Day opens the Idiot-ic floodgates

Oh No! I Left It in My Other Suit!

Gang of Four rematerializes to show the kiddies how it's done

Playbill

Pattern Recognition

Can defunct German bands become the sheezy in '05? Ja, they Can. We explore these and other of this year's trends.

Merry Mayhem Tour

Friday, November 9

RodeoHouston: Some 'Splainin to Do

Secret correspondence from the rodeo

The American Scream

A hysterical Tamarie Cooper rescues herself from suburbia in the free-association comedy Tamalalia 2000

Lab Work

Duran, Again

The pretty boys return from the '80s, and insist they've never been away

Rotation