Jeff Beck

10 Great Versions of "Wild Thing"

"Wild Thing" may not be most-recorded song in history, but it's got to be up there. (It's not even in the Top 10, though, according to the UK's The Independent.) But when the version by the Troggs, whose singer Reg Presley died of cancer late Monday night, became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic ... More >>

Saturday Night: Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Christmas Rocks" at Arena Theatre

Brian Setzer Orchestra Arena Theatre December 15, 2012 Within the taxonomy of rock and roll, rockabilly (bless its hot rod heart) can get dismissed as a one-trick pony with a ducktail for a mane and flames painted on its haunches. At least it can by people who see only kitsch when they should be lo ... More >>

Shemekia Copeland: Never Count Out the Blues

She's never lived here, but Shemekia Copeland is Houston blues royalty all the same. Her late father Johnny Clyde Copeland was one of the guitar princes of the Third Ward scene from the '50s to the mid-'70s, lighting up clubs like Shady's Playhouse alongside Albert Collins, Joe "Guitar" Hughes, John ... 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 >>

Last Night: Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks at Toyota Center

Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks Toyota Center August 9, 2012 I really wish that Rod Stewart is recording the past few years of tours he's had under his belt, because he's in essence setting the bar for how to grow old in rock and roll without looking like a granny doofus or a stuttering clown. At 67 year ... More >>

Damn Right He's Got the Blues: Buddy Guy's Life Story

When I Left Home: My Story Buddy Guy with David Ritz Da Capo Press, 320 pp, $26 Once the young kid in a stable of blues giants, Buddy Guy is now an elder statesmen of the genre. And in this memoir, the story of his life is also the tale of the music itself of the past 50-plus years. Born in 1936 i ... More >>

Nicky Hopkins: Classic Rock's Go-To Piano Man

...and on piano... Nicky Hopkins: The Extraordinary Life of Rock's Greatest Session Man By Julian Dawson Though his name is known mostly to classic-rock liner note readers, even the casual fan has heard his piano work: The wistful opening of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful," the pumping keys on ... More >>

Verizon Wireless Theater Now Known As Bayou Music Center

Verizon Wireless Theater will no longer be known under that name, because owner Live Nation's sponsorship deal with the communication provider has expired. The venue, which holds about 3,000 people within downtown entertainment complex Bayou Place, will now be known as Bayou Music Center. Rocks Off ... 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 >>

We Tell You Who Will Win Grammys So You Don't Have To Watch Them

SPOILER ALERT​The best thing about the annual Grammy nominations and awards shows is the clamor of anger that rises up when the mere mention of the event even comes up. Immediately people begin calling it a travesty, trotting out all the people who have been snubbed -- Jethro Tull beats Metall ... More >>

Five on Five: Fender vs. Gibson, Who Had the Better Players?

​For guitar players, it's an age old question: are you a Fender guy or a Gibson guy? Over the years since both companies became popular in rock music, many other guitar manufacturers have made inroads, but none have been able to surpass the power and tradition of these two giants in the guitar ... More >>

Five Cool Songs Carmine Appice Drummed In Honor of His 65th Birthday

​Carmine Appice (pronounced "uh-pees" despite his brother Vinny claiming it is "a-puh-see" -- weird) is one of rock music's most recognized (and not just for the Fu Manchu 'stache) and longest tenured rock drummers. He also happens to be a somewhat polarizing figure. Despite being a contempora ... More >>

Top 20 Throwback TV Theme Songs Part 1

​We grew up on television. Whether it was Saturday morning cartoons, afternoon re-runs, Sunday Disney and Wild Kingdom or Thursday night "must see" TV, we saw it. We noticed that on November 2, 1985, the Miami Vice soundtrack went to number one on the Billboard charts where it would stay for ... More >>

Peter Frampton's Bassist "Comes Alive" Again

Stanley Sheldon​Classic Rock Corner was emailing recently with Andy Sharp (aka "Buffalo Speedway"), guitarist for the Austin-based Thin Lizzy tribute band Think Lizzy. He told us a story about talking music with his actual physician -- also a guitar nut -- who asked Sharp if he'd ever heard a ... More >>

14 Things You Didn't Know About Rick Springfield

2. Rick Springfield is a stone cold sex fiend... ​In recent years, many musicians have put down their instruments (at least temporarily) and picked up the computer keyboard to produce some pretty revelatory memoirs. And in one case, perhaps too revelatory - Billy Joel recently pulled the plug ... More >>

You Talkin' to Me? Seven Musical Moments in Martin Scorsese Films

​We scoured the Internet, like we do for at least nine hours a day, for an excuse to embed Scorsese clips into one, organized blog post. Lucky for us, we found that timeliness was applicable: the 35th anniversary edition of Taxi Driver is out on Blu-Ray! We'll probably stick to our used copy t ... More >>

Son of a Preacher Man

Paul Thorn's life is straight out of a Southern Gothic fairy tale.

The Woodlands, Arcade Fire Win Album Of The Year Grammy

city-data.com​ Congratulations to The Woodlands, that emotionally icy burb up I-45, for helping Arcade Fire when this year's Album Of The Year Grammy at Sunday night's awards show for their sprawling The Suburbs LP. The band, led by former Woodlands residents Win and William Butler, won over a hi ... More >>

Mobsters, Crime And Jazz: Danny Seraphine's Chicago Story

​Street Player: My Chicago Story By Danny Seraphine Wiley, 304 pp., $24.95. From their 1967 founding to his unceremonious ouster from the group in 1990, Danny Seraphine provided the pounding backbeat for Chicago, both for the early, raucous jazz/rock material and the later, mellow Top 40 hits ... More >>

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010

The greatest of guitar greats dazzle during a two-hour film documentary

FAIL: Jeff Beck, Jonas Brothers, Lilith Fair, ACL Fest

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

Jeff Beck, Speaking Without Words

Photos by Jason Wolter​ Aftermath supposes that, when it comes to music, poetry is where you find it. But unlike the evergreen Beatles vs. Stones debate, or the even more pronounced vinyl/CD/MP3 back-and-forth, the line between those who prefer their music with lyrics and those who can take it str ... More >>

The Musical Minds That Made Booker T The Soul Man He Is Today

​How good a musician is Booker T? Along with the rest of the MGs, the house band of seminal soul imprint Stax who had several instrumental hits of their own besides backing Stax's powerhouse roster (Rufus Thomas, Albert King, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding...) throughout the '60s, the Memphis-born m ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Batting Practice With George Thorogood, Bad As He Ever Was

​ George Thorogood is a funny, talkative fellow. In this week's print edition, he told us how the Rolling Stones turned him onto the blues, how playing in a strip club helped his band the Delaware Destroyers "claw our way to the middle" and his amusement at how often the familiar riff from 198 ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: The Dead Weather, Frightened Rabbit, Hockey, Jeff Beck, Moe Bandy, Michael Buble, etc.

​Dave Matthews Band, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears: Fri., Sept. 10. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The Dead Weather: Sat., May 1. House of Blues. Dillinger Escape Plan, Darkest Hour, Iwrestledabearonce, Animals As Leaders: Sun., March 21, 6:30 p.m. Meridian. Dollyrockers, Mooseknuckle, ... More >>

Moments the Grammy Awards Would Rather Forget

Soy Bombed

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Metallica, Run-DMC, Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson

Yesterday marked a tremendous day for rappers and thrashers across the world: Metallica and Run-DMC were announced as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's newest inductees, along with Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Bobby Womack, two members of Elvis Presley's backing band ... More >>

Lost Tuneage: Cactus

Introducing a new column in which Rocks Off delves into the music of short-lived or overlooked performers of the classic-rock era... Who Dat? Billed as "America's answer to Led Zeppelin," this quartet was formed in 1969 by Vanilla Fudge rhythm section Tim Bogert (bass) and Carmine Ap ... More >>

Buckcherry's Sweet Success

Drinking and drugging with crazy bitches sounds like more fun than the law will allow, but playing in a red-hot rock band is not always an all-you-can eat orgy. "I think people realize there's a lot more to this band than just fucking and partying," says Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson. That r ... More >>

B.B. King Sure Has a Lot of Friends

Is there anyone who doesn't love B.B. King? If you're talking about the 83-year-old bluesman's fellow musicians, the answer is a resounding "No!" King has probably sat in with with more players (and vice versa) than anybody else save perhaps Willie Nelson, with whom of course King has teamed up co ... More >>

R.I.P. Mitch Mitchell

The Jimi Hendrix Experience (l-r): Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell and Hendrix Drummer Mitch Mitchell, the last surviving member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was found dead Wednesday morning in his Portland, Oregon, hotel room, Billboard reported today. Mitchell, 62, most likely died of natural ca ... More >>

Bill Bentley Goes Online with Sonic Boomers

Native Houstonian creates Web site for boomer music fans

Classic Rock Corner: Mudcrutch, Golliwogs, Mynah Birds, Moving Sidewalks and More

We’re Getting the Band Back Together! Or Should We?

Identity Crisis

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

Mixing It Up

She just wanted her comfortable suburban life. But when a concrete company intruded on her paradise, the homemaker turned warrior.

Jeff Beck

You Had It Coming (Epic)

Bebopping Along

Former jazz guitar prodigy Scott Hardy finds he's also in tune with the acoustic bass

Houston Press Music Awards 2000

Your guide to the Music Awards Showcase

Six Strings Under

Unlike many of his rock guitar god peers, Joe Satriani has yet to flee to audiences overseas

Segovian Six-Stringer

Mind's Ear

Jimmie Vaughan is two albums into a solo career he didn't necessarily want

Static

Cry Tough

Essential bassist Tommy Shannon hangs in there

Rotation

Bass Boss

Lee Way

The Basics Aim to Cross the Border

But listen: These guys ain't a Tejano band!

Hendrix: Dead, Live and Unearthed

A spate of tributes and reissues that hit and miss