MTV Video Music Awards

Stevie Wonder: The Greatest Mother's Day Gift of All (Almost)

My dad and Stevie Wonder have a love/hate relationship. He's a year older than the soul singer, so it's rather weird hearing him talk about Stevie as if they were brothers, despite the fact that they have never met. Ever. But that's how it is with my family: we have beefs and issues with people we m ... More >>

Where Is Lil Wayne In the Lyrical Hot Water Hall of Fame?

Proving that it is almost never wise to compare the results of rough sex to Emmett Till's face, Lil Wayne was dropped from his Mountain Dew campaign last week. Emmett Till, for those of you who aren't familiar, was a 14-year-old boy who was beaten to death, shot, and dumped in the river for whistlin ... More >>

Has Tyler, the Creator Finally Gone Too Far?

Tyler, the Creator has never been known for being a sensitive man. Quite the opposite, he's known for unambiguous lyrics about controversial and disturbing subjects such as rape, murder, homophobia, and infanticide. One of his most infamous lyrics is from the song "Tron Cat," where he promises to "r ... More >>

Coming Soon to Houston: Tons of 2012 Critical Favorites

"No good bands ever come to Houston, I swear." Welp, you're wrong buddy. In the next few weeks and months, plenty of critical darlings are coming to Houston venues, and it's not even festival season. They are coming because they are actually on tours and not taking pity on us. OK, Houston crow ... More >>

MTV's Best Year: The Top 5 Videos of 1992

In 1992, the recording industry was riding high. The compact disc had become a major success, with music lovers purchasing new albums and old releases in astonishing numbers despite the format's comparatively steep price tags. And the music-video juggernaut known as MTV was helping major labels to b ... More >>

Top 10 Mark Romanek Videos

Today is the 53rd birthday of Mark Romanek. Though he's a perfectly legit Hollywood director of great films like One Hour Photo and Never Let Me Go, he is also responsible for some of the greatest music videos of all time. For 20 years he has worked with top-level performers, and today we celebrate ... More >>

Summing Up the 2012 VMAs In One Awkward Photo

By the time you finish this sentence, the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards will have been over for more than 12 hours (unless they're still killing you with that damn endless loop). Your brain will have turned to mush, your Twitter and dFacebook timelines slowly rebuilding themselves from ash and your co ... More >>

Sir Paul McCartney, Rihanna Houston Bound

Rewind: Dear Paul McCartney: Please Come Play Houston Two pretty big concert announcements this Friday morning. First, Rihanna, last seen missing most of her hair at Thursday night's VMAs, is bringing her just-announced Rihanna Diamonds World Tour to Toyota Center April 15, according to Live Nati ... More >>

The 10 Silliest Headlines In Rap News This Week

You are a human and you have eyeballs and you also have the Internet, so you've likely read some things. That's sort of what this is, except sort of not too. We went through a ton of headlines of hip-hop "stories" from the past week, picked out the ten most egregious one, pasted them below, then ad ... More >>

Fanning the Flames: The Top 10 Performances at Woodstock 99

This week marks the 13th anniversary of Woodstock 1999, the iconic festival's much-maligned third iteration that kinda dissolved into rape and looting towards the end. As 200,000-strong anarchic gatherings go, everything went off rather pleasantly for much of the festival, but the bonfires, looting ... More >>

Spike Jonze's Top 9 Music Videos

There's no doubt that Spike Jonze is an enigma of a director and artist. He's worked in all types of mediums: he filmed bullriders at the Astrodome, changed the world of skateboard videography, and visually recreated the brilliance of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. Plus, he's made us al ... More >>

A July 4 Playlist That Goes Boom!

July 4 is truly America's national holiday, because it combines two of the country's grandest traditions: Taking the day off work and blowing shit up. Because freedom isn't free, fireworks and other explosives are embedded in America's formative myths and our national character. Also, they're pretty ... More >>

Material Girl: Madonna's Top 10 TV Commercials

They don't call Madonna the Material Girl for nothing. She's definitely a self-promoter when it comes to her music. Better yet, when she does this, it's never the same advertised persona. Take, for example, when she first came onto MTV and performed "Like A Virgin" at the 1985 VMAs versus her perce ... More >>

Mo' Better Tunes: The Ultimate Spike Lee Soundtrack

​When Spike Lee puts out a new film, I always make a point to check it out, even if I hated his last one. He's directed more hits than misses, and even his duds have been quality duds. The first Spike Lee joint that I saw as a kid was Malcolm X, which I definitely did not understand at all beyond ... More >>

To Ke$ha, With Love: A Plea For Sanity At Age 25

Dear Ke$ha: Happy birthday. If 18 and 21 are the "good" birthdays, and 30 and 40 are the "bad" birthdays, what do we make of turning 25? I like to look at the positive side of things: You're old enough to have grown up responsibilities, but young enough to still party hard and get away with it. Fo ... More >>

Top 5 Most Awesomely Insane Things Done By Nick Cave

Nick Cave remains in a class by himself. On one hand, he's the most gothic person alive, but on the other he's so unique in his contributions that when we sat down to make a list of all the different eras of goth music, we simply had to leave him out because he doesn't fit anywhere. He's a statistic ... More >>

Bedtime Stories: The Naughtiest Madonna Videos Ever (Semi-NSFW)

This weekend, the grand dame of American pop music, Madonna, will grace the halftime stage at Super Bowl XLVI. This is a major improvement from last year's more-inhuman-than-human Black Eyed Peas performance, which tested the resolve our country, and even the world. But we all survived. Who won the ... More >>

Taylor Swift

Five Musical MILFs Who Rocked Pregnancy

Beyoncé's ever-changing baby bump.​In the world of prominent celebrities, it's headlining news even if that famous person sneezes. So in when Houston's own Beyoncé announced her pregnancy at the 2011 VMA's in August, the media and fans went into a frenzy of reactions. Some were elated, some ... More >>

10 Popular Rappers' Disney Alter Egos

Watch The Throne.​Were you ever mildly attracted to Jafar in the Disney movie Aladdin? We were, probably because he reminded us so much of Prince. So, needless to say, Rocks Off is pretty stoked that Disney is bringing back some of our beloved iconic villains-like Jafar and Scar-to 3-D. We' ... More >>

What's The Leading Cause Of Poor Record Sales?

​Last week, the music world laughed up a hiccup as Lil Wayne pranced around the VMA stage in nut-suffocating, Le Tigre-inspired jeggings. While that performance affirmed that Wayne is no fashion guru, his chart performance a week later reminded us that he's very good at something else-selling ... More >>

Pop Rocks: A (Not Really) Canonical List Of Wardrobe Malfunctions (NSFW)

Bad idea.​The "wardrobe malfunction" is a phenomenon I confess I wasn't really aware of until Super Bowl XXXVIII. Half of us at the party were watching the actual Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake halftime show, the other half were watching the South Park (or was it Family Guy?) episode running ... More >>

Pop Rocks: What's Your [Wardrobe] Malfunction? (NSFW)

Bad idea.​The "wardrobe malfunction" is a phenomenon I confess I wasn't really aware of until Super Bowl XXXVIII. Half of us at the party were watching the actual Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake halftime show, the other half were watching the South Park (or was it Family Guy?) episode running ... More >>

Boobylicious: Music's 20 Most Memorable Breasts (Semi-NSFW)

ztams.comWendy O. Williams, seen here with Motorhead front man Lemmy Kilmister​It may sound silly, but boobs are powerful things. Men are fascinated and entranced by them, while women constantly obsess over their size and shape. In a way, they're not unlike the ring in Lord of the Rings: Capab ... More >>

10 Music Stories We Wish We'd Ignored This Year

​We in the alternative media - not necessarily the Houston Press and/or Rocks Off, not all the time - enjoy calling out our mainstream brethren. Whether it's ten books that didn't make The New York Times' "Best of 2010" list, or "10 Stories Our Print Version Accidentally Overlooked," us "under ... More >>

Prince William: Who's Playing The Royal Wedding?

Now, if it were Prince Harry's wedding...​Sorry, ladies. Prince William is (almost!) officially off the market. When the future King of England officially announced his engagement to girlfriend Kate Middleton earlier today, Rocks Off instantly envisioned potential entertainers for the couple' ... More >>

Shock Therapy: Would Sinead O'Connor Still Cause An Uproar?

​Sunday night is a special night. It's the 18th anniversary of Sinead O'Connor's infamous Pope-a-ripping on Saturday Night Live. For the extremely small number of you who somehow have the Internet but not VH1, the facts are these: O'Connor, always the most peaceable and least controversial of ... More >>

The Five Most Bogus Rapper Apologies

​It's the unwritten rule in rap: never apologize. Offering apology in hip-hop is a sign of weakness and rappers simply can't appear weak, no matter what. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Yet, every now and then we'll see a rapper apologize for stepping out of line. Earlier this week, Paul Wa ... More >>

FAIL: Kanye And Taylor, Lupe Fiasco, Kings Of Leon

​Taylor and Kanye Need To Move the Hell On: The MTV Video Music Awards happened this past Sunday, so you had to know there was going to be at least one sizable fail in there somewhere, and of course they didn't disappoint. Taylor Swift took the stage and sang a melodramatic tune she'd written ... More >>

Lady Gaga's Meat Dress: Top 10 Kinds Of Food To Wear Other Than Beef

But did she have meat heels?​Among Lady Gaga's costume changes Sunday night at the MTV Video Music Awards, which numbered three or four by our count, one was a dress made of raw beef. Not unlike the meat suit she donned for her Terry Richardson-shot cover of the Japanese Vogue, this one allowe ... More >>

Lady Gaga: Other Foods To Wear Onstage Besides Raw Meat

​Rocks Off is pretty Lady Gaga-friendly, what with our covering July's concerts at Toyota Center like she was the goddamned Pope or something. For a few weeks there we managed to invoke her name at least once a day somehow. Maybe comparing her to Little Joe Washington was a stretch. Unfortun ... More >>

Top 5 WTF Music Award Acceptance Speeches

Dana DonovanLittle Joe Washington and a pair of enthusiastic fans at the 2007 HPMA ceremony​As we may have mentioned once or twice, tonight Rocks Off and the Houston Press reveal the winners of this year's 2010 Houston Press Music Awards over at Warehouse Live. It's a free show, with performan ... More >>

Happy Father's Day! Loser Kids of Rock Star Dads

We all aspire to honor our dads and hope that we've done right by them on Father's Day. Here's a list of offspring whose lives have served no useful purpose on earth other than churning out a never-ending source of disappointment for their rock star dads. ​Sean Lennon Yoko Ono is often credi ... More >>

The Kids Are All Right: Hip-Hop Finally Comes of Age, Part 1

​While year-end, catch-all wrap-ups are common to every musical genre, in no other style of music do they turn into the hand-wringing, "state of the game" examinations that hip-hop seems to provoke. We worry because we care, of course. But at some point, like a thirty-something parent, those of us ... More >>

For Your Entertainment? Nice Try, Adam Lambert, But These Music-Awards Moments Were Even Creepier

​The best news that Jennifer Lopez could possibly have heard this morning was that America is still more interested in clucking about public displays of gayness than in pointing and laughing when a diva falls on her ass. We imagine there's already one of those jumbo-sized Harry & David fruit b ... More >>

Pop Rocks: I'm Shocked, Shocked To Discover Britney Spears Was Lip-Synching

​To think, I almost found myself agreeing with John Mayer.His response to the simmering Britney Spears lip-synching scandal -- mocking those who expressed outrage at the fact Spears was faking it during her concert in Perth, Australia last weekend -- would appear to be dead-on. One could even take ... More >>

Fix Your Face

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is more hip-hop than most rappers.

MTV VMA Celebrities Ask The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat

​Dear Full-Custom Gospel Sounds,I am a multiplatinum rap artist and producer who has won several Grammy awards. You'd think this would be enough to satisfy me, but I am unable to allow other people to enjoy their time in the spotlight - I have often interrupted acceptance speeches, ranted and rave ... More >>

Bayou Beat: Three Fantastic on NPR, Beyonce Leads MTV Noms, Rocks Off Seeking Intern, More Live Nation Deals, etc.

Mark C. Austin​ Congratulations to Houston's Three Fantastic, whose "Hot Summer Day" was chosen as NPR's "Song of the Day" Wednesday. Comparing it to "one of those half-remembered Sugar Ray hits from a decade ago," NPR's David Browne is a little taken aback by the band's idea of a "glorious summer ... More >>

I Watched Eight Minutes of the VMAs Just To See What Brit Would Do

Master P Makes the KKK Say “Ugh!”

Amy Winehouse, Frank

Just released in the U.S., her first album reveals a less troubled Ms. Winehouse

Chris Brown

The fleet-footed teen idol's latest

Drenched In Blog: The Requisite Britney Spears Post

That Was the Year That Was

Looking back on the local scene in '06

Filling the Blue-Eyed-Soul Hole

Justin Timberlake leads the charge of new melanin-challenged soul brothers

Macy Gray

New Bands from Old

Or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ignore Audioslave"

This Thing On?

Jamie Foxx brings his Ugly Wanda shtick to town

Kid Stuff

He's just a bad boy from the burbs who never learned to play well with others