Johnny Thunders

Reverberations: Born Liars and The Heys

Songs and Sickness

That's what it's about with D Generation, man

Happy Birthday, "Louie Louie"

Forty-six years ago today, a group of teenagers gathered in a Portland, Oregon, studio to record a ridiculously simple anthem that would go on to become one of the most influential - and most misunderstood - songs in rock history. The group was the Kingsmen - none of whom was over age 17 - and the ... More >>

Rock and Roll Swirlie

Manhattan's Toilet Boys keep '80s hair metal and '70s glam rock from circling the drain

Rocket Redux

Cleveland legends come roaring full-throttle out of the tombs

Oh, Say Can You See

The Star Spangles regurgitate the best of a punky rock stew

Time Trial

After nine months in a body cast and years of neglect in his home country, aging rocker Ed Hamell still aims to conquer America

Racket

Great moments at the Press's Music Awards Showcase

Faux Strummer, Bogus Buzzcocks and Phony Ramones

Never mind the bollocks, here's Rudyard's punk karaoke night

Super Mario Brother

The youngest Escovedo rides his sin-breathing Dragons into town

Glamorous Youth

Sharon Osbourne put the local kids of Pure Rubbish in front of millions on MTV. Then things fell apart.

Golden Gate Garage

Reliving the seamy underbelly of the 1970s with the young Richmond Sluts

Aftermath: New York Dolls & Black Joe Lewis at the House Of Blues

Photos by Daniel Kramer Aftermath is not going to purport to know what the New York Dolls were like live, in their Thundered and Killer-ed heyday of kitsch and campy kiss-offs. We weren't even in Pre-K when Buster Poindexter was singing "Hot Hot Hot" on Saturday Night Live. But for chrissakes ... More >>

Local 7-Inches of the Week: A Ditchwater Double Dip

Dead Roses "Sleep Dep."/ "Liar" Ditchwater RecordsRalf Armin, Houston punk/glam pioneer and sometime Balaclavas sax-man could be the city's most underrated musicians. Between his works with Truth Decay, the late lamented Swarm Of Angels, and his seminal work with The Pain Teens and Really Red, Armin ... More >>

Going Platinum: Artists We'd Pay $10,000 To See - And When

​It started one night on the patio of Big Star Bar in the Heights; over Lone Star and cigarettes, a handful of Houston music wags debated the shows they would pay top dollar to see from lartists, iving or dead. We argued the aspects of an At the Drive-In reformation, seeing Sam Cooke in 1963, ... More >>

Bankrobbers: The Clash Family Tree

​Rocks Off cried the night he heard Joe Strummer died. It was December 2002, and we sat on our family couch and let it all out. That fabled Clash reunion that seemed just months away would never happen. Strummer died of a heart attack at 50, just three days before Christmas, leaving behind a w ... More >>

Walk on the Wild Side

One tour unites three very different faces of glam-rock.

Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx: The Rocks Off Interview

"I'm dying for rock and roll to become exciting again" ​Tonight, the grand rock and roll triumvirate of Motley Crue, Poison, and the New York Dolls pulls into the Toyota Center. Each band comes armed with decades of experience, great songs, and a boatload of modern influence, including the Do ... More >>

Friday Night: Motley Crue & Poison At Toyota Center

Photos by Jay Lee​Motley Crue, Poison, New York Dolls Toyota Center June 10, 2011 "This drink tastes like rank hooker ass," says the man in the club-level bar, clad in an oversized Motley Crue shirt from one of the last Crue Fest jaunts in Houston. It must be a bad batch of Bud Light coming f ... More >>

10 Things You May Not Know About G N' R's Use Your Illusion Albums

​For the past few weeks, the music world has been firmly entrenched in Nirvana nostalgia. Hell, even Rocks Off took a crack at it, looking up all the expensive memorabilia on eBay related to the band. But in September 1991, another album hit the store shelves that had a lot of impact too, for ... More >>

Gene Kurtz, "Treat Her Right" Co-Writer, Passes Away

Photo by Winker​Bassist Gene Kurtz, who co-wrote Roy Head's 1965 hit "Treat Her Right" and went on to play with a wide range of artists across rock, R&B, jazz and country, passed away Sunday night, according to a post on his Facebook page. Kurtz had just celebrated his 69th birthday last week. ... More >>