George Michael

Fitz Navidad's Bands Lay Out Their Favorite Christmas Tunes

Thursday night, a heavenly host of Houston's brightest and best musicians will spend a night playing Christmas music to celebrate the holiday season at Fitzgerald's. We decided to catch up with some of the musicians and find out what their favorite Christmas songs are, and why? Austin Smith (A Sea ... More >>

Top 10 Heartbreaking Holiday Covers

Last week we took a look at some of the most holiday spirit-dampeningly awful songs ever recorded. We aren't quite done ruining your holiday spirit just yet however, as this week we have compiled ten of the saddest holiday cover songs ever recorded. Rewind: The 10 Worst Holiday Cover Songs Ever ... More >>

Danger Zone: 5 Great Tony Scott Film Soundtracks

Tony Scott, one of the greatest action directors of all time, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge near Los Angeles this past Sunday. He was 69 and thought to have an inoperable brain tumor. Many of Scott's films also had great soundtracks, due in part to Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer. S ... More >>

Bedtime Stories: The Naughtiest Madonna Videos Ever (Semi-NSFW)

This weekend, the grand dame of American pop music, Madonna, will grace the halftime stage at Super Bowl XLVI. This is a major improvement from last year's more-inhuman-than-human Black Eyed Peas performance, which tested the resolve our country, and even the world. But we all survived. Who won the ... More >>

Enjoy Your Lunar New Year With Some Of Music's Greatest Butts

According to Chinese reckoning, today marks the lunar new year. It's the Year of the Dragon. Specifically, the Year of the Water Dragon, which I'm told will bestow a peaceful energy on the coming year, favoring the ideals of negotiation and forward thinking. I know, right? BOOORING. We Americans kn ... More >>

Remember Max Headroom?: Creepy And Stupid Christmas Videos From Holidays Past And Present

​Yeah! It's almost Christmas! With each minute we are all one step closer to the day when we can stop posting lists about things pertaining to the holiday. Seriously, by the second week in December you almost type "Christmas" instead of your own name sometimes, and your brain atrophies wheneve ... More >>

Houston's thelastplaceyoulook Gets Into The Christmas Spirit With "Do You Hear?"

Photo by Groovehouse​Rocks Off is getting into the Christmas spirit, slowly but surely, and now that it's finally December, all your Facebook posts concerning your holiday plans have become much more tolerable. The music, classic though it may be, has needed an update for quite some time. In ... More >>

John Lennon's Imagine Turns 40: Ten Facts About The Album

​Forty years ago this past week, John Lennon's second solo LP away from the Beatles, Imagine, hit number one on the UK album charts. The album was released on October 8, 1971 in England and September 9, 1971 here in the States. The album was seen as a commercial answer to his previous outing ... More >>

The X Factor: Learning To Let Go

Photo by FOX​Wednesday night The X Factor extended its two-hour format to two and a half hours, allowing us to see each team - Boys, Girls, Over 30s, and Groups - perform, as well as the judges' elimination decisions. While 2.5 hours is quite long, the fact that the show didn't get crazy and m ... More >>

Father Figures: 100 Famous Musicians' Paternal Professions

If you're a Texan of a certain age, this week you've probably spent some time mourning the death of Jerry Haynes, the children's TV host better known as Mr. Peppermint. Haynes' show on WFAA-TV in Dallas, Peppermint Place, ran from the '60s to the '90s and was widely syndicated across the state, incl ... More >>

9 Musical Costumes Couples Should Avoid This Halloween

Norman See/last.fmNice threads, but... yeah. Don't go there.​The other day, a friend of ours asked us for our opinion on some ideas for "couple costumes," as in Halloween, including Han Solo and Princess Leia. Ugh. Do you happy couples really start this early in September? Rocks Off thinks ... More >>

Top Eight Freedom Songs For MLK Day

​Rocks Off sincerely prays that those of you with today off are at least peripherally aware of why you have today off. For our annual MLK Day reflection this year, we thought we'd leave the songs about Dr. King to Bono, and instead share a few of our favorite songs that set his dream to music ... More >>

"Careless Stripper" Introduces Phootlong To The World

Rocks Off just found the video for the debut single by Houston duo Phootlong, for their song "Careless Stripper," directed by Maurice Edward, the pseudonym of rapper Cornbreadd. We just got off the phone with the director and did a sort of play-by-play of the video over the line, like a director's ... More >>

11 Songs You Shouldn't Sing At The Office Holiday Party

​'Tis the season for office Christmas holiday parties. No doubt you have already had yours at work, or are getting ready for one. They all include copious drinking, great food, stolen glances, slurry conversations, "Can ah bum ah cigarette?" and intentional accidental groping. No bonus this ... More >>

Freddie Mercury's Musical Stepchildren, Darlings

​Today marks 19 years that the world has been without Queen front man Freddie Mercury, who was taken from us on November 24, 1991. He died of AIDS complications, a disease he kept hidden from the world until just a day or so before his death. He was the first major, epic rock star to be kill ... More >>

The Top Five Saturday Night Live Musician Impressions

​In the wake of the recent news that feted comedian/actor/YouTube sensation Jay Pharoah - above, known for his spoofs of A-list bait like Drake, Chris Tucker, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Eddie Murphy, and President Obama - will join the cast of Saturday Night Live when its 36th season premieres September ... More >>

Happy Anniversary, Appetite For Destruction

​July 21, 1987 began as a day like any other. The Reagan Administration told The New York Times that any discussion of presidential pardons in the Iran-Contra affair were "inappropriate at this time." Iran announced it would ignore the cease-fire with Iraq unanimously approved by the United Na ... More >>

FAIL: "American Idols Live," Montreal Jazz Festival, George Michael, Suge Knight

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Jazz Festival Audience Somehow Unprepared to Enjoy Aimless, Self-Indulgent Noodling: Lou Reed, John Zorn, and Reed's wife Laurie Anderson performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival recently, and treated the audience to improvisational jazz which the linked ... More >>

Five Songs We Don't Want To Hear At Buzzfest

​This Sunday, Craig's Hlist embarks on one of the most dangerous adventures of his music-journalism career, covering BuzzFest XXIV out at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. It will be our first go-round at the bi-annual modern-rock radio festival. This year's line-up was the first one that made ... More >>

Album Covers You'll Never, Ever See on Any UK Stamps

​ The UK's Royal Mail recently unveiled a series of stamps based on classic British album covers, including the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed and The Clash's London Calling. Rumor has it Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here was rejected due to the burning man on the cover, with the Royal Mail electing t ... More >>

George Michael: Live in London

Yeah, you gotta have faith

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 >>

Ghostland Observatory

Idol Beat: The Top Five

That Jamie Foxx, right? A Rennaisance man if there ever was one: the guy's a comedic genius (see In Living Color; tons of flicks), a big-screen leading man, credible action star, R&B champion - plus, as it turns out, he's a natural at mentoring American Idol hopefuls. I wouldn't have figured on ... More >>

Akon: Freedom

An Hour in Sunny 99.1's Holiday Hell

Band Aid: Do they know it's Christmastime at all? Most people I know hate Sunny 99.1, but not me. And I should really hate it. Any radio station supported by the American Dental Association has to suck. But every time I listen to it, I either hear something so corny and half-baked that I can't tur ... More >>

Todd Snider: Peace Queer

Aftermath: George Michael at Toyota Center

Tonight: George Michael at Toyota Center

Q&A: Michelle Shocked Talks About God, Texas, Slavery, Mercury Records and the Lomax Family

Houston Chronicle, Virginia Tech massacre, HISD, George Michael

The Chron's blog obsession leaves taste behind

What's in Your Favorite Singer's Backseat?

John Popper, Chingo Bling and John Mayer

Low Note

Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore do not make sweet, sweet music

The Handsomes

The Handsomes

Guilty Pleasures, Part II

More music figures confess their deep, dark secrets

Downtown Cubs

Tilman's tigers are on the prowl

Capsule Reviews

Our critic weighs in on local theater

Capsule Reviews

Our critics weigh in on local theater

Capsule Reviews

Our critics weigh in on local theater

Queer Eye for the Country Guy

Have today's C&W stars been consulting with the Fab Five?

The Spirit of the Scabs

Houstonians the Handsomes get the booties shaking Austin-style

War on War Songs

Iraq and roll don't go together well when rockers protest

Popera

Rotation

Rotation

Rotation

Rotation

Static

Rotation

Lady Sings the Pinks

Self-created disco-diva Pinque: If this is camp, it's camp with a guilelessly straight face