Liz Phair

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 >>

The Case Against Change: Five Acts Whose Sound Evolved for the Worse

If you're one of the many Muse fans around the world or you checked out Nathan's excellent post last week, then you've probably seen the teaser the band put out for their new album, The 2nd Law. To say it's been controversial with a certain segment of their fanbase is putting it lightly. Some people ... More >>

Rest Of The Best: Houston's Top 8 Jukeboxes

Along with pickled pig's feet and a steady supply of Slim Jims, a good jukebox is a prime element for any great bar. But, like dinosaurs, jukeboxes are a vanishing breed. Unlike digital jukes, iPods or DJs, jukeboxes require love, care and maintenance, as well as -- among the truly great ones -- som ... More >>

#1 Crushes: Our Favorite '90s Rock Vixens

Tonight House of Blues welcomes Garbage back to Houston after a seven-year hiatus. The group, lead by fearsome Scottish redhead Shirley Manson, has been sorely missed from the music scene. They are currently touring behind their upcoming album Not Your Kind of People, which hits stores May 14. Rock ... More >>

The 25 Most Influential Bands Of The '90s

Trent Reznor, you know, before the Oscar and all the weightlifting. ​As a music writer, we are asked constantly to compare the new with the old, to decipher the periphery where modern bands' influences come from to understand where we are going and what we are seeing. We can hear everything Ke ... More >>

Rocks Off's Must-See Music Picks For SXSW '11

​As you may have heard, there's a teeny-tiny little music festival going on in Austin later this week. Some of the early birds on team Rocks Off are either already there or well on their way, as a matter of fact. With more than 2,000 artists playing the official part of SXSW alone, trying to ... More >>

Who Was The Best Female Artist Of The '90s?

The album that started the whole thing.​Rocks Off Sr. was straightening up our office a few days ago, something that happens like clockwork every time Middle Eastern governments start toppling like dominos. In one of the piles and piles of al fresco CDs, we ran across two of our favorite album ... More >>

Slutwave: Pop Phenomenon Or Feminist Scourge?

"Every generation needs a new revolution." - Thomas Jefferson Marc BrubakerKe(Dollar Sign)ha at House of Blues, July 2010​As one of the few women on the Rocks Off writing team, we were fervently proud to take an introspective stab at the new, curiously named micro-genre that 2010 bestowed upo ... More >>

Sleigh Bells: Not Just For Christmas Anymore

​Christmastime: A time for family, for giving, and much to the displeasure of many, a time for incessantly grating holiday music. Christmas spirit frozen in cheesy songs monopolizes radio stations and relentlessly stalks our every step. A key component of much holiday music is often the percu ... More >>

Saturday Night: Best Coast At Fitzgerald's

Neph Basedow​Best Coast Fitzgerald's November 6, 2010 Considering our prior exposure to Best Coast was at this summer's massive Pitchfork Festival, we were eager to check them out on Saturday, in the considerably cozier confines of Fitzgerald's. It seems much of Houston shared similar enthus ... More >>

Ten Rock-Star Crushes We Still Haven't Outgrown

​Artists like Elvis Presley, Madonna, and Mick Jagger undoubtedly helped define the consumate rock star crush. But there have been a handful of worthy others along the way - armed with that certain je ne se quoi - who haven't left our radar. Years later, turns out we're still smitten with thi ... More >>

Taylor Swift's Ten Best Disses On Speak Now

​Taylor Swift has just released her third, and angriest, album, Speak Now. It's an alternately aggressive and poppy turn for the country girl, who is quickly shedding any previous genre trappings and very much becoming one of the pop industry's biggest stars. She combines female conviction wit ... More >>

Wine Me Up: Houston's Top 5 Cougar Dens

​There are few things in this life that young Rocks Off loves more than a gang of cougars on the town spilling wine on the ground and trying to light the wrong end of a borrowed cigarette whilst slurring in our direction that she likes our tattoos before drunkenly pawing at us. We think it's a men ... More >>

Bronzing the Garbage: Good Reviews of This Decade's Worst Albums

​You've no doubt surmised this from previous articles, but poking around Metacritic is one of Rocks Off's favorite ways to kill time. Recently, we had a look at their list of all-time lowest scores, and were surprised. We like to call music critics assholes, but we use the term "asshole" in a pret ... More >>

9 Musicians Tiger Woods Should Have Cheated With Instead of the Women He Did

Lily Allen: "Here, kitty, kitty..."​When initial word of millionaire golfer Tiger Woods' car accident in front of his home hit the news wires and Twitter the morning of November 27, the world waited with bated breath. None of us quite knew what his condition was or how extensive his injuries were. ... More >>

The Music of HBO's True Blood, Episode 1.6: Making the Two-Backed Beast to Cat Power

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. With Season 2 just completed, Rocks Off is now working our way backw ... More >>

He Said She Said: Our Top Ten Girl-Crushes

Ask any musician: there is something basically and viscerally masculine about the industry itself, and that masculinity can seep into the most feminine of rocker chicks and indie music queens. That swagger, that attitude, that confidence coupled with soft hair, a pair of soft lips and a softly lilti ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs Guaranteed to Offend the Opposite Sex, Part 2

It's been 25 years since Tipper Gore and the ladies of the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) self-righteously rode the the rescue of delicate ears across America, claiming that rock music was "infecting the youth of the world with messages they cannot handle." It was the 1950s all over again. Th ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Navigating the Economic Crisis

Down Payment Blues

5ingles: The Breeders, Mariah Carey, Lupe Fiasco, Madonna, Hannah Montana

John Royal's Astros Recap. In Song.

HARD ROCK CAFE'S

ROCK N' ROLL PUNCH

Black-Ass Fleas

Are they sellouts -- or just really bad rappers?

Heapin' Helpin' of Homicide

Mystery Cafe serves up dinner with a side of death

The Kings of Queens

The Kinsey Sicks quartet busts into Houston

Boobs Versus Prudes

Only Prince can walk the tightrope between sensuality and artistry

Hilary Duff

Metamorphosis (Buena Vista/Hollywood)

Letters

Letters

Exile in Whinerville

The hostility flung at Liz Phair's new record is senseless, sexist and abominably stupid

Downie Fresh

Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles travel down to Houston

Ms. Deal

When it comes to movies for Mandy, Moore isn't better

Liz Phair; Michelle Branch

Liz Phair (Capitol); Hotel Paper (Maverick/Reprise)

Stalker Fiction

Camden Joy turned Cracker's David Lowery into fiction. Too bad he's real - and really angry.

Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!

Merge and Matador reach ten years of indie success

We're Number One

Rotation

Rotation

Good Girl, Bad Girl

Dandy Affair

Rotation

Regular Treat

Sound Check

Rotation

The Future of Rock and Roll

We've seen it in a crystal ball and the pictures aren't pretty

Rotation

Sound Check

The Lame and the Great

Lists you've been waiting all year for, in no particular order

A Uniquely Pervis Perspective

Rotation