Subject: Husker Du

• Retro Active: 1987, Here We Come

  August 2, 2007

• Miss Pop Rocks: Pop Culture Dealbreakers

  September 14, 2007

• Grunge Puppy

  December 9, 1993

• Sons of Sahm

  Missouri's Bottle Rockets resurrect the Texas Tornado and rediscover themselves

  May 30, 2002

• Cry Uncle

  For Uncle Tupelo fans, there's No Depression in reissue heaven

  April 24, 2003

• Rotation

  June 23, 1994

• Rotation

  September 15, 1994

• Ecstatic Static

  November 17, 1994

• Lesson in Survival

  May 30, 1996

• Grunge Schmunge

  September 26, 1996

• Mr. Loud and Sensitive

  November 7, 1996

• Texas Punk Music Is Gay

  April 9, 2009

• Totally Fucked Up

  January 29, 2009

• Parts & Labor: Receivers

  November 6, 2008

• The Hold Steady: Stay Positive

  August 28, 2008

• The BellRays and Architects, with Vice and Deadbird

  May 29, 2008

• Plastic Idols : Singles, Demos & Live: Houston Punk '78-'80

  March 6, 2008

• Che Arthur

  December 27, 2007

• 2007 Music Year in Review

  December 13, 2007

• Another Look at a Legend

  October 6, 2005

• Young Gun

  Collin Herring hits somewhere between Merle Haggard and Hüsker Dü -- and that's a good place to be

  August 4, 2005

• Bob Mould

  Body of Song

  July 28, 2005

• Marrying the Mainstream

  White men learned to dance, and the emoting was as thick as the eyeliner on the year's best pop-rock records

  December 23, 2004

• Boxing the Rock

  Six of the year's best multi-disc sets (and one of the worst)

  November 25, 2004

• How to Dismantle an Atomic Mom

  A critic debates the merits of U2's latest with his mother

  November 25, 2004

• Playbill

  October 21, 2004

• Feel This

  Enema of the Mental State: Notes from the Battle on Irritable Blink-182 Syndrome

  June 17, 2004

• Rock You like a Hurricane

  The Press Music Awards Showcase brings a category-five storm of tunes

  July 24, 2003

• The Fire Next Time

  Nobody knows what AFI's next album will sound like, least of all the band members

  July 17, 2003

• The Gulf Between

  When these soldiers became writers, the pen becomes very mighty indeed

  April 17, 2003

• All His Life

  The Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl is always between rock and a hard place

  April 17, 2003

• Identity Crisis

  Mary Cutrufello's leaving makes us wonder: Is your band a Krogers, Randalls or a Fiesta?

  September 5, 2002

• Hot Tunes, Summer in the City

  Houston Press Music Awards Showcase 2002

  July 18, 2002

• Flannel File: Swervedriver's Raise and Mezcal Head

  In my last Flannel File entry, I talked about March's big reissue of Pearl Jam's Ten. This time, I want to look at a "little" reissue set from January: Swervedriver's Raise and Mezcal Head.Like Jawbox or Sloan, Swervedriver had a pretty low profile among suburban youth of the early '90s, despite having (at least theoretical) major-label backing. I was familiar with them in name only when they played in Austin last June, an state of affairs that the concert itself did nothing to rectify since I

  May 12, 2009

• Flannel File: Quicksand

  Speaking of the early days of the Warped Tour, let's talk about Quicksand. Along with Helmet, Quicksand developed and popularized a particular type of post-hardcore that took the metal-influenced hardcore punk of 1980s New York, cut the tempo in half and filled up the resulting space with melody and atmosphere. Quicksand frontman Walter Schreifels had previously been the creative force behind Gorilla Biscuits, one of the most important bands of the NYC youth crew scene (he also played bass for a

  June 10, 2009

• Lost Tuneage: The Jayhawks

  Who 'Dat?The Jayhawks circa 1992Emerging from "The City of Lakes" in 1985, the Jayhawks showed that Minneapolis could produce a band at the forefront of another genre besides pioneering alt-rock (The Replacements, Hüsker Dü) and funk (the Purple One); namely, the nascent alt-country/"No Depression" movement. Named as a nod to the Band's original moniker - the Hawks - and not the bird, the original lineup included Mark Olson (vocals/acoustic guitar), Gary Louris (vocals/electric guitar), Marc

  July 15, 2009

• Want to Levitate the Pentagon? These Songs Might Help

  ​On this date in 1967, some 50,000 protesters marched on the Pentagon with the intention of levitating it and exorcising any "evil spirits" within. The effort was led by Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman, poet Allen Ginberg, and Ed Sanders and satirically-minded rockers the Fugs. As we all know, the exorcism worked, the Vietnam War ended the next day, and peace and love have reigned supreme for over 30 years. Ha ha, no. But Rocks Off isn't all about sarcasm and laughing at hippies, we're here t

  October 21, 2009

• What's In a Name? Hey, Look, It's 10th Gräde Cütie Again!

  It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off, we're trying hard to decode Houston's oddest monikers in order to find a little meaning. We mean this with affection and sincerity: 10th Gräde Cütie destroys everything they touch and should be booked only with the utmost caution. They've been banned from Super Happy Fun Land (recently lifted), Dan Electro's Guitar Bar and especially White Swan for a legendary physical altercation with the staff.

  October 29, 2009

• Google's New Music-Search Engine Will Be the Death of Us All

  ​ This past week, Internet search-engine giant Google introduced a new music-search tool that immediately opens a pop-up window for people searching for a song, where either the entire song or a snippet will play for them. It's still in the beginning stages, so not all songs are available. We started off trying our current fave, Husker Du's Flip Your Wig track "Makes No Sense At All" and we heard 30 seconds of the song, almost instantaneously. For Rocks Off, this will undoubtedly be a very use

  November 2, 2009

• Aftermath: Fun Fun Fun Fest In Austin Day 1 - Death, Young Widows, Melt Banana, The Sword, Jesus Lizard

  Photos by Marc Brubaker/ Click here for a slideshowDeath, reborn​This year's Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin was the exact thing Aftermath needed in the midst of his fall concert schedule, even though the last day was marred by mud and constant rain. But after last month's dillo-dirtied Austin City Limits Festival, a little slop on the boots is nothing to cry over anymore. At least this time around we only dealt with one day of grit and wet, rather than two days of comic pratfalls and soaked clothe

  November 9, 2009