Limp Bizkit

How Deftones Survived and Evolved Past Their Nu-Metal Brethren

While other bands at the time may have had more fans, sold more albums, or spent more time on television, time has proven what many of us suspected at the time: Deftones were the best band to come out of the nu-metal scene of the late '90s. They may not have played arenas like Korn, sold a million ... More >>

Top 10 Educated Guesses for Free Press Summer Fest

Tomorrow, we will know who will be playing the fifth annual Free Press Summer Fest June 1 and 2 in Eleanor Tinsley Park. We know this because Monday, our rivals over at the Houston Chronicle revealed that they will have an exclusive announcement of the FPSF lineup sometime Thursday, thanks to what w ... More >>

Top 10 Songs Inspired By Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is one of my personal religions. No really, I wrote an article about it and everything. Like all good religions, the classic series of role-playing video games has inspired musicians to pay tribute to it, and today we celebrate the Top 10 who have done so.

Happy Birthday Anne Rice! 6 Songs For a Horror Icon

Anne Rice, the author of horror classics like Interview With The Vampire and the Witching Hour, turns 71 today. She's a talented and complicated lady that all goths owe a debt to for recreating the vampire as a lonely, Miltonian figure that was at home in seats of elegance or on a rock and roll stag ... More >>

Going The Distance: The Hot 100's 10 Longest-Charting Songs

Let us hop in our time machine and head back to a magical place in the past known as Dec. 23, 2010. Here is a snapshot of things going on at the time: Rocks Off was making wishes for the year 2011; Kanye West was knee deep in Album of the Year wins for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; Eddie Vedder ... More >>

Saturday Night: Korn At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by James Bricker​Apparently, the members of Korn are of the mentality that if you can't beat 'em, you join 'em. And not in a sheepish, let's-get-in-line-behind-these-trendsetters way. No, no. They have the ability to see what's working for others and capitalize on it while stepping to t ... More >>

The Best & Worst Of All Possible Buzzfests

Photo by Marc BrubakerWe did it all for the nookie.​This weekend is Buzzfest XXVII in Houston, 94.5 The Buzz's bi-annual all-day throwdown at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Rocks Off has covered a few of the shows in the past few years, including the May 2010 edition where we took along ... More >>

Turn It On, Leave It On: MTV's 10 Best Music Series

"Henry Rollins asks Kevin Shields how much he can bench on the next 120 Minutes..."​This week marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of MTV, that loud, hyper-colored behemoth that changed pop culture and the music industry forever, endlessly providing viewers with visual and mental stimul ... More >>

Friday Night: Sublime at Discovery Green

Photos by groovehouse​Sublime Discovery Green April 1, 2011 Check out our slideshows from this weekend's Big Dance Concert Series: the bands and the fans. Aftermath has been listening to Sublime as long as we can remember. They helped define our childhood, but we never thought we would get ... More >>

Odd Pairs: Ten Upcoming Nights of Music Bring Wild Variations

Photo by groovehouseTry to guess who's playing the same night as Toadies.​Diversity is a big deal in H-Town. In fact, our cultural diversity creates such a wide variety of musical styles, it is hard to figure out just what kind of music town we are. In places like Memphis, Nashville, Seattle a ... More >>

Top 20 Despised, Yet Wildly Popular, Bands And Musicians

Scott Stapp, lead singer of Creed (above), stops at House of Blues tonight on his current acoustic tour. More than likely you have already clicked off this blog, or at least already gone on auto-pilot to call him a fuck-ass in the comments section. We'll wait a sec for you to come back. OK, the ... More >>

Movin' Out: Songs That Will Scare Off Bad Roommates

​Often times in our young adult lives, we come across a roommate who initially seems like a good match. They're capable of paying their rent on time and seem nice enough, so the possibility of your living arrangements blossoming into a sitcom looks fair. Then in a month's time, the Friends r ... More >>

Fred Durst & Austin's Solid Waste: A Match Made in Heaven

Fred Durst's recycle face​Austin is looking to rename its Solid Waste Department, because come on -- that's a name far too untrendy and icky for a forward-thinking burg like Austin. The city has opened up the name change to a vote, and residents have come through as only they can in that city ... More >>

Five Musicians More Embarrasing For Your Mother To Have An Affair With Than Bret Michaels

​Every thorn has its prick: The reason Miley Cyrus' parents are splitting after 17 years of marriage: Mom Tish had an affair with rocker Bret Michaels, reports the new Us Weekly. When Billy Ray learned of it - as well as at least one other fling - he filed for divorce Oct. 27, sources tell U ... More >>

Four Loko: We Investigate Just How Bad It Is (UPDATED With Morning-After Reflections)

Science!!!!​The latest bit of juvenile delinquency that has the authorities up in arms is Four Loko, a powerful caffeinated beer that's sending kids to hospitals.The "powerful" part -- 12 percent alcohol in a 24-ounce can -- gets you wasted, and the "caffeinated" part keeps you up instead of passi ... More >>

Last Night: Deftones At Verizon Wireless Theater

"Get away from the garbage can, bitch." Photos by Marc Brubaker​Deftones Verizon Wireless Theater October 20, 2010 For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. Not many bands have the longevity the Deftones do, and after 22 years and counting, they have their art down to a science ... More >>

Five Groups We'd Pay To Break Up

​Why do people support so much bad music? What if people paid awful bands to quit instead? Weezer fans are willing to try. Sick and tired of being let down by his favorite band, last week a fan jokingly offered Weezer $10 million to split up. Naturally, this had Rocks Off thinking of other ac ... More >>

Korn Was Not A F**king Emo Show At Sold-Out Verizon

Photos by Matthew Keever​ Seventeen years after its inception, Korn still managed to sell out the Verizon Wireless Theater on Sunday night for the 2010 Jagermeister Music Tour. Most bands could only dream of continuing to sell-out venues for two decades, but a look at Korn's fan base, which ranges ... More >>

Why Is The Buzz Still So Popular?

​The only other concert in recent months to sell out at a Gaga-like pace has been the perennial Buzzfest, the semi-annual schlock-rock festival organized since 1995 by Houston's "new rock alternative," 94.5 The Buzz. The concert sells out almost every time - like it is Saturday, but you can probab ... More >>

Great Moments In Douchebaggotry: Fred Durst, Porn Star

Great Moments in Douchebaggotry is brought to you by Rocks Off's upcoming "Washington Shore" party, Thursday, February 11 at the Washington Avenue Drinkery. All types of douchebags are encouraged to attend. Fred Durst's "O" face. We didn't want to show you his dick, but now we're worried this may be ... More >>

A Few of Music's Biggest Tattoo Enthusiasts - Besides Rocks Off, Of Course

Don't act so surprised... As we can fatefully attest, rock and roll and tattoos go hand in hand. The first time Rocks Off saw a grizzled punk rocker walk by at Fitzgerald's back in the '90s with two sleeves full of tattoos and a chest full of nautical-themed art, we mentally pointed at him and said ... More >>

"MMMBro": Hanson And Other Rock And Roll Bands Of Brothers

Back in the summer of1997, one couldn't walk out of their house without hearing someone humming, blaring, or damning to Hell that juicy nugget of pop rock that was Hanson's "MMMBop". Depending on your age and gender, you either understood the hooky genius of the song or you were just in love with t ... More >>

Ten Cover Songs So Bad They'll Shrivel Your Soul

Two nights ago, while carelessly patrolling the back alleys of the internet, Rocks Off stumbled across Hilary Duff's execrable cover of The Who's "My Generation". Well, what did you think, YouTube commenters? ​ You sure you're not being too harsh? ​ Yeah... ours too. Someday, when we ... More >>

Ghosts of Washington Avenue

Noise goes whistling through the scenester artery's music venue graveyard.

9/9/09: Songs With a Certain Number in the Title

​As Hair Balls pointed out, we've only got three more of these weird number/same number/same number days left this century after today. Such chronological repetition appeals to the hidden obsessive-compulsive in all of us, so join us as we wash our hands nine times, lock the door nine times, and l ... More >>

Dirty, Dirty Hippies Were the Least Odious of Woodstock's Many Shameful Legacies

This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, as if you needed us to remind you. Documentaries, feature films, tours and boxed CD sets have been rolling out all summer in order to wring still more cash from the corpses of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and - to a lesser extent - Country Joe McD ... More >>

The Best Wrestler Theme Songs of All Time

With Wrestlemania in town for its 25th anniversary, Rocks Off thought we could take a little stroll down memory lane and relive some of the WWE's best wrestling theme songs. Nowadays, the WWE can afford to purchase the rights to slick, well-produced songs by popular music acts such as Saliva, O ... More >>

Why All the Mexican Narco Hate?

A Blast From Calexico's Past Blasts Into Space

The Most Demanding Songs in Rock History

Maxim Magazine Readers: The Uncoolest Boys Around

Punk-o-Rama

Our intrepid reporters set out to experience the Vans Warped Tour -- so you don't have to

Can't Touch the MMMBop

A new boxed set excavates the '90s

How Low Can You Go?

Let's see with the last installment of our guilty-pleasures project

You're Fired

The Nightfly tries out an apprentice at Boys and Girls Club's new Montrose home

Monster Mash

Jackal and Hyde breed badass beats

Rock and Roll Never Forgets

Classic rock finds a new generation of fans and keeps on keepin' on into the new millennium

Woodlands Wonders

Meet Paris Green -- the newest entry in the next big thing from Houston sweepstakes

Korn Shuckers

The Deftones' headphone records elevate them out of the nü-metal pack

Up Close and Personal

Jamaican dancehall stars bring back the lovers' rock

Depp's of the Sea

In Johnny and the crew's slick and handsome Pirates of the Caribbean, more is somehow less

Crimson Tide

Straight from the vein of avant-hardcore, the Blood Brothers gush up a big mess

Hot Tunes, Summer in the City

Houston Press Music Awards Showcase 2002

Fight Club

When it comes to producing movies, it's a fine art (or Art Linson)

Free Fire Zone

The praise or blame lies with the diner at Fire + Ice

Rock This Town

Alternative dance mecca Numbers gets into the swing of things

Dude Raunch

All-girl quartet Kittie has more balls than the rest of Ozzfest 2000

Dready Metal

Unlike their North American counterparts, Jamaican rappers are incorporating heavy metal into their material, with some amazing results

Amplified

A Clean, Bic-Lighted Place

Rotation

Fu Manchu