Jello Biafra

Remembering Phil Ochs, the "Singing Journalist"

Phil Ochs was never Bob Dylan. Oh, he wanted to be Dylan, but ol' Zimmy booted that bastard right out of his limo. "You're not a folksinger, you're a journalist." If only Phil had accepted himself as "the singing journalist." After failing to find the commercial success he so desired, Ochs turned ... More >>

Coachella 2013 Takes It Back to the '90s

Coachella, the Only Music Festival That Matters (or so we're told), announced its 2013 lineup late Thursday night, no holograms or Rolling Stones included. Instead, two beloved '90s UK acts whose popularity in the U.S. is spotty at best, Blur and the Stone Roses, headline the first night of the tw ... More >>

Readers Poll: Album Titles As Your Legal Name?

Two weeks ago, Led Zeppelin II of Bethalto, Ill., passed away after suffering a heart attack at the age of 64. No, the Zep album didn't die. We all know that that album will last forever because it's damned awesome and loud, and the cover rules. The former George Blackburn legally changed his name ... More >>

Y'all, We Have All Been Doing "Punk" Wrong

When you think of punk rock, images of a bloodied Sid Vicious in a leather jacket may come to mind. Skinheads flipping off a camera. Henry Rollins and Black Flag destroying a crowd in a basement. Jello Biafra jumping into a surging pit of people after screaming about holidays in Cambodia. The Clash ... More >>

Ezra Pound: Songs To Celebrate Leaving The Loony Bin

Ezra Pound remains one of America's most genius and most controversial writers. His poetry has gone on to inspire countless artists, and as a literary editor and critic he was responsible for shaping the styles of T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Robert Frost, and Ernest Hemingway. He was by most accounts ... More >>

Keep It Up: 5 Songs For Viagra

It was on this day in 1998 that your email inbox was changed forever when the FDA OK-ed the use of Viagra for use in treating erectile dysfunction, the first pill in the United States approved to do so. The drug was originally researched as a treatment for angina, but doctors noticed that while it w ... More >>

Small Dog Syndrome: Is There A Doggy Hell? Probably.

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. ​It's been a while since your nomenclature specialist had a good name to tackle a juicy band name. We've been up in the Himalayans learning ... More >>

Rick Perry Campaign Songs You May Hear Soon

Bryan Williams"Hey man, is that Freedom Rock? Turn it up!"​In news that surprised absolutely no one, Rick Perry - governor of the great state of Texas for 11 years running - announced his candidacy for Presidency of the United States last weekend. The news of Perry throwing his hat in the ring ... More >>

10 American Anthems That Tell It Like It Is

​Captain America, Marvel's newest superhero movie, comes out today. We'll pause until the excitement passes. ... Rocks Off likes Captain America. The three comic books we read with any regularity as a scupper were Cap, Batman (Detective Comics), and Spider-Man. But we love America. The land ... More >>

The Best Songs From 1958

​This Saturday is Craig's Hlist's father's birthday, and the man turns 53. Sorry to out your age, Dad, but it's for science. This week while doing other research, we found that most people whose art we enjoy were actually born in 1958. People like Alec Baldwin, Prince, Jello Biafra, Jools Holl ... More >>

Narduwar The Human Serviette's 11 Best Interviews

exclaim.caNarduwar (left) and the patron saint of 4/20​Nardwuar The Human Serviette from "Vancouver BC Canada" knows all of your favorite bands, artists, and rappers better than you, and better than they know themselves. At first glance, he kind of resembles a Canadian Matthew Lesko (the free- ... More >>

Idol Beat: Still In Hollywood

​While I was avoiding er, preparing this entry, I found myself watching a bunch of punk rock videos as sort of a palate cleanser. It got me wondering if Idol could ever do a punk/alt-rock show. Would the show attract a new demographic if they trotted out the elder statesmen and women of hardc ... More >>

Ronald Reagan: Biggest Punk Icon Of The '80s

​Forget names like Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra, Joe Strummer, Sid Vicious or even Joey Ramone. The most iconic figure of the '80s punk and hardcore scenes wasn't a dude with liberty spikes or a three-inch gash in his forehead. It was the retired film actor, father of five, former governor of C ... More >>

11 Songs Sean Hannity Won't Be Listening To Today

​Today Americans celebrate Memorial Day, honoring the military servicemen and women that have passed while serving our country. The holiday is definitely not as flashy or as popular as Independence Day in July, seeing that there are no Memorial Day fireworks or picnics. It's not stuck in November ... More >>

B L A C K I E Wants Glenn Beck Off His Knob

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. myspace.com/blackieblackieblacki ... More >>

Should Houston Increase Its SXSW Footprint?

www.visithoustontexas.com​ What can the City of Houston do to promote H-town as a musical, cultural and artsy-fartsy tourist destination to the thousands of people who attend SXSW in Austin each year? That's the question posed by Jim Moran, a multi-decade veteran of the music/film/interactive fest ... More >>

Brujeria: Dammit, We Should Have Paid More Attention In Spanish Class

www.myspace.com/brujeriaA rare piece of Brujeria artwork that does not involve a severed head.​ Have you ever noticed how extreme music with vocals in another language sound way more menacing than they do in boring old English? The English version of Rammstein's single "Du Hast" pales compared to ... More >>

Spermy Night In Georgia: Sexed-Up Songs To Set The Mood For Blowfly

Let's get one thing perfectly clear: Blowfly is the original dirty rapper. Before anyone in 2 Live Crew was old enough to set foot into a peepshow stall or buy a pack of cigarettes, Clarence "Blowfly" Reid was spewing forth raucous raps like "Spermy Night In Georgia" and "What a Difference a Lay Mak ... More >>

They Were Kinky Before Kinky Was Kinky: Musicians Who Have Held Public Office

From Ted Nugent to Bruce Springsteen to those adorable Dixie Chicks, "Masters of War" to "George Bush doesn't care about black people," musicians have never been shy about voicing their political opinions. But when it comes to putting their money where their mouths are and filing the necessary pape ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs from the Year We Were Born That We Still Listen To

Yes, we are older than MTV. Shut up.​The thing that struck She Said most when researching this list of songs that came out the year we were born (May 1980) was just how much of this music we regularly listen to now. 1980 marked the end of disco, the middle of New Wave and punk, and a damn good tim ... More >>

For Teddy: Our Favorite Dead Kennedys Songs

​That's right, we went there. Longtime Massachussetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, better known as Teddy, passed away late Tuesday night at age 77. News media sites have already gone to Defcon 2 - "A Famous Person Not Named Michael Jackson Has Died" - so Rocks Off thought we'd take a different appro ... More >>

Know Your Enemy

Green Day follows their Bush-bashing smash American Idiot with the even more epic 21st Century Breakdown.

Blowfly

Industrial Icon Martin Atkins Knows From Touring

Road Warrior

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 >>

Think Buckcherry Has Mellowed? Crazy Bitch...

All Lit Up Again

Akimbo

"Seattle's last hair band" takes on The Mink

Tonight: The Melvins and Big Business at Warehouse Live

Happy Birthday Igor Stravinsky

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On

Dash Rip Rock

The Melvins

The Melvins perform Wednesday, November 15, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483.

Band on the Run

A murder confession puts the Jonbenét in the news

Keith Sweat, with K-Ci and Jojo and Elvis White

Friday, September 9, at Reliant Arena, One Reliant Park, 832-667-1400.

Down Is Up

System of a Down is rock's least likely success story

I'll Drink to That

Fuel your New Year's Eve with these boozy sing-along tunes

Various Artists

Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 (Fat Wreck Chords)

Ronald Reagan's Army

In your heart, you know the Yuppie Prick$ are right

Carnie Death Explosion

If the Phantom Limbs were a boy band, they'd all be the greasy one in rehab

The Sexual Revolution Will Not Be Televised

For the (International) Noise Conspiracy, the very personal is political

Playbill

Sepultura

Best Music Store

Soundwaves

Street Scene

Sex, drugs, rock & roll, and the ballad of 2100 Lexington

Playbill

Elvis Incarnate: Mojo Nixon

Punks, Jocks and Justice

There was a killing and now a conviction. Even those can't stop the fierce war raging between the Panhandle punks and athletes of Amarillo.

Talking Revolution

Michael Franti and Spearhead are into change, if not the Internet

Rotation

Rotation

Whole New Posture

Press Picks