Gene Simmons

The Disco Experiment: Why It Worked For Pink Floyd, But Not KISS

In 1979, disco was all the rage. For all the kids who had never bothered to pay attention when their parents would talk about it, it was sort of like dubstep. It was ubiquitous on the radio and even rock bands were vying to get in on the action so they didn't get left behind in the new revolution. S ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Lon Chaney! A Playlist For a Monster

As resident Houston Press astrolabe polisher, chirurgeon and goth expert, the world of old horror-movie actors falls under my purview. My heart is given most to Boris Karloff, because any man who can rock horror and narrate the Grinch is more badass than any of us will either be. That said I want to ... More >>

The NFL Experience Lands In New Orleans

On Wednesday, the The Super Bowl 47 NFL Experience opened to fans at the Morial Convention Center. Featuring a mind-boggling amount of merchandise, GMC automobiles, and chances to exercise your crazed fandom, the 850,000-square-foot fan fest is a feast for the eyes and a strain on the muscles. Seri ... 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 >>

Welcome Back: 5 "Retired" Artists Who Have Returned

Retirements in everyday life are often final, rewarding caps to distinguished careers so that the retirees can pursue lifelong hobbies and ambitions. Alternatively, they move to Florida and join a country club. In music, however, retirements are often little more than an excuse to sell concert tick ... More >>

Death Be Not, Uh... True: The 8 Most Asinine Musician Death Hoaxes

Why do people perpetrate death hoaxes? Why would someone deliberately set out to spread rumors of a famous person's demise that they know simply aren't true? Is it some kind of Munchausen-By-Proxy thing, where they hope to absorb some of the residual sympathy and outpouring of goodwill? Is it a mad ... More >>

Kiss, Mötley Crüe

Top 10 Weirdest Kiss Memorabilia Items Up For Sale

In rock n roll and pop music, merchandising has always been a somewhat lucrative ordeal. This especially rings true whenever an artist becomes extremely popular. It is a great marketing ploy, whether for teens, diehards, collectors or regular fans. Let's face it, when it comes to music merchandisi ... More >>

Sticky Fingers: 10 Musicians Who Deserve Their Own Ice Cream

Ice cream is good -- especially in the summer and of course today. With the advent of the deliciously yummy Ben and Jerry's ice cream, among others, ice-cream companies have been naming their flavors after artists for years. Ben and Jerry's especially has been at the forefront of naming their ice ... More >>

Who Should Induct Axl Rose And Guns N' Roses Into The Rock Hall?

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is coming up quick on April 14, and the presenters for the event have been announced, except for one artist. Just who will speak about and induct Guns N' Roses? Who is even qualified? Rapper Chuck D will induct the Beastie Boys, while funnyman Ch ... More >>

The Adicts

10 Rock Stars the GOP Should Nominate for President

As the 2012 presidential race begins to heat up in earnest, Rocks Off can't help but feel that the front-runners for the Republican nomination are lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Call it star power. Call it sex appeal. Whatever it is, these guys ain't got it. If the GOP is serious about wresti ... More >>

Ace Frehley's Wild Rocket Ride

No Regrets by Ace Frehley with Joe Layden and John Ostrosky 320 pp., $26, Gallery Books ​Even by standards of '70s hard rock excess, original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was out of this world. In this breezy, buzzy, and debauched memoir, The Spaceman takes readers on a rocket ride through his ... More >>

Awesomeness and Hearing Loss at the 2011 Texas BigBeat

How do a crapload of drums sound when playing in unison in an airplane hangar? Pretty freaking awesome. ​In the Cameron Crowe-directed documentary Pearl Jam Twenty, lead singer Eddie Vedder discusses the detrimental impact of the band's Spinal Tap-like replacement of drummers, equating each ch ... More >>

Texas Big Beat Drums for Charity This Sunday

Photo by groovehouseDrummers young and old.​Five years ago, drummer Donna Fisher noticed that Seattle had been doing a charity drum gathering each year called Woodstick, and it sparked an idea. "They got over 400 drummers and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, we have to do that in Houston,'" she told Ro ... More >>

All Eyez On Me: Rating The Best/Worst Rock & Rap Sex Tapes (NSFW)

This week, we found out that a sex tape featuring Tupac Shakur exists, made in 1991 just five years before his fatal shooting in Las Vegas. Shakur's estate is the only entity that can release an item with the late rapper's likeness involved, and his mother Afeni Shakur is unlikely to allow a video o ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Gene Simmons Is A Lucky Man -- Our Six Favorite Shannon Tweed VHS Covers (NSFW)

On behalf of all of us here at Art Attack, I'd like to congratulate Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed on the joyous occasion of their marriage. The pair lived together, "happily unmarried," for 28 years before finally deciding to take the plunge. I have no idea what prompted them to tie the knot (I'm ... More >>

Top Five Most Overpaid Musicians In The World

​Last month Forbes released their list of the 25 highest-earning musicians of 2010, and the list contains several talents Rocks Off is happy to see keeping the lights on. No. 1 on the list, U2, is still a favorite of ours after all these years, and it's always good to see Tom Petty, Jay-Z, and ... More >>

Solo Albums: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

​Tomorrow night, former Audioslave lead singer and (thankfully) current Soundgarden member Chris Cornell will be at House of Blues for a long-sold-out acoustic show. Recent set lists have included a number of Temple of the Dog songs, some solo work, the usual 'Garden and 'Slave tracks, plus a ... More >>

Last Night: KISS At RodeoHouston

Photos by Groovehouse​KISS Reliant Stadium March 15, 2011 We'll drive you wild with our photos from last night's show. In Tom Snyder's 1979 interview with the original members of KISS, only two of which remain, he asked bassist Gene Simmons, "What would happen if you went out on stage for a ... More >>

The Ten Most Spectacular Cyber Attacks of 2010

According to 4chan, Tea Party folks think cocaine is a helluva drug.​As the internet becomes a primary source for everything from news and entertainment to commerce and business, it makes sense that groups and hackers would be busier than ever. Websites are far more vulnerable to attack than, ... More >>

FAIL: Gene Simmons, Steve Albini, INXS, Danzig (Not)

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Gene Simmons Is Donald Trump In Makeup: Fails has never been a big KISS fan, but we can't imagine watching Gene Simmons' behavior makes being one any easier. If you're a die-hard KISS fan, watching his douchey whoring and cutthroat CEO tactics must be d ... More >>

Friday Night: KISS At The Woodlands

Photos by Groovehouse​KISS Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 17, 2010 For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. There are those who say that KISS is dying. Fans have heard this before. ​Even before WWII, fathers sternly told their children that comic-book superher ... More >>

Cage Match: KISS Vs. Fiskadoro

​Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow night a battle for your musical soul will be waged in our fair city. In this corner, wearing make-up, black leather, and underpants made of your money, the knights in Satan's service, KISS! And in this corner, weighing in at 600 lbs, the masters of the jungle c ... More >>

KISS Merchandise The Band Hasn't Thought Of... Yet

owensworld.com​KISS pulls back into Houston Friday night for a show over at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, less than a year after their last Bayou City stop at the Toyota Center. We aren't really sure if this show will be much different than the one we saw in December, save for this time yo ... More >>

Lady Gaga's Imaginary Penis: Music's Best Sex Urban Legend Ever?

Marco Torres​Well, milady has come and gone, leaving in her wake a trail of Christ's blood and broken hearts. And a lot of people who couldn't get into the show having to make do with Kesha. Rocks Off was not among the anointed allowed to cover the concert, and we couldn't buy our way in becau ... More >>

"Metal, Dude!": Ten Juicy Quotes From The Ultimate Metal Movie

​With hair-metal legends(?) Ratt playing Warehouse Live this evening, Rocks Off decided we'd take a look back at the definitive document of that era of metal in Los Angeles: Penelope Spheeris' rockumentary The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years. Ratt isn't featured in the fi ... More >>

Glee: Sir, You're No Vinnie Vincent

​Apparently you've forgotten our deal, Glee: I won't goof on the fact that you keep hitching yourself to trendy musical topics and awkwardly using old Top 40 sings to teach that week's life lesson, and you won't mess with any of my favorite bands. This time, it's personal. More on that later. ... More >>

Glee: You're No Vinnie Vincent

​Apparently you've forgotten our deal, Glee: I won't goof on the fact that you keep hitching yourself to trendy musical topics and awkwardly using old Top 40 sings to teach that week's life lesson, and you won't mess with any of my favorite bands. This time, it's personal. More on that later. ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Ten Musicians I Want to Have Sex With Less Than Lady Gaga

​I understand Lady Gaga's declaration of celibacy last month was something of a big deal, if only because most of us have a hard time believing everyone in the music business isn't vigorously fellating each other on those off days when they're not sacrificing puppies to Clear Channel or auto-tunin ... More >>

The Great Unmasking and Other Embarrassing Moments in KISS History

​ The Knights In Satan's Service are back, and they'll be rocking the Toyota Center Saturday night as ably as a couple of 50-somethings lumbering around on platform boots can reasonably be expected to. There will be blood, as Paul Thomas Anderson might say, and flames, and a couple of guys in "Spa ... More >>

KISS Off

The makeup-clad rockers may be hilarious, but they're hardly metal.

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Or Cat): Thanksgiving Edition

We all know the story of the first Thanksgiving -- the Penguins traveling to the New World in the rickety Mayday; Squinty the Indian teaching the clueless newcomers how to grow potatoes (the Penguins had left Ireland because of a famine); George Washington marrying Pocahantas on Plymouth Mount.These ... More >>

Labor Pains

With Extract, Mike Judge goes back to work.

Touring with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Get on the bus, it's a family affair.

Classic Rock Corner: The Greatest Band Logos of All Time, Part 2

An early example of rock art... We're back to reveal the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the cappo di tutti cappi of classic-rock band logos evah! And when we say "greatest," we look for a combination of things including memorability, longevity, graphic design, influence and appearances. ... More >>

Tonight: The Melvins and Big Business at Warehouse Live

The Blog of Lists: 20 Teetotaling Musicians other than Ian Mackaye

Drenched in Blog: Kisslature

America’s “Glamour Girl”

Impossibly Passable

Image of the Week

Baby giraffe

Vampires of Moscow

The Abattoir

Goring another of music's sacred cows

King Diamond

Early recruiter of headbangers

Listen In

KISS - The Suspects - Gestapo Pussy Ranch

Everyband

Though KISS is calling it quits, its legacy is only just beginning

KISS Off

Detroit Rock City wallows through teens and concert tickets

Rotation

Notes from the Front

Vamping down memory lane with members of the Kiss Army