Marvin Gaye

Musical Hurricane Preparedness Kit, Part 2: Hello Edouard (and Edward, and Ed, and Eddie...)

Soul Day at ACL: I Feel Good!

Billy Cook

Certified Platinum (Def Souf)

De La Soul

Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (Tommy Boy)

Digitalia: Microsoft Songsmith Corrects Artists' Glaring Oversights

Billy Idol, "White Wedding"... sort ofMicrosoft Songsmith, a music-making computer program, has already racked up plenty of Internet accolades based on its eerily terrible commercial, wherein normal, everyday people dealing with normal, everyday problems - such as being tasked to write an ad campa ... More >>

Sound Check

Billy Idol, "White Wedding"... sort ofMicrosoft Songsmith, a music-making computer program, has already racked up plenty of Internet accolades based on its eerily terrible commercial, wherein normal, everyday people dealing with normal, everyday problems - such as being tasked to write an ad campa ... More >>

Rotation

Billy Idol, "White Wedding"... sort ofMicrosoft Songsmith, a music-making computer program, has already racked up plenty of Internet accolades based on its eerily terrible commercial, wherein normal, everyday people dealing with normal, everyday problems - such as being tasked to write an ad campa ... More >>

Et tu, Lenny

Like every other rocker, Lenny Kravitz is headlining his own festival

Rotation

New Releases Reviewed

Redman

Red Gone Wild

Red Hog Saloon

When the jukebox is an art form

Everlasting Sounds

Ten of the year's most timeless records

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

What's Going On?

DMX

Year of the Dog...Again

Supreme Party

Year of the Dog...Again

Bring the Hookahs

Licor Lounge goes South Asian with "Moksa"

Playbill

Licor Lounge goes South Asian with "Moksa"

I Want My Old-School Hip-hop

How come there's no Pharcyde or De La Soul on the dial?

Van Hunt

Van Hunt (Capitol)

Dancin’ in the Streets…Motown & More Revue

Web exclusive!

He Said She Said: Songs for Getting It On

[Ed. Note: While we were off watching Night Ranger videos or something - which should tell you all you need to know about our own sex life at the moment - Rocks Off No. 2, Craig Hlavaty, and Web Editor Katharine Shilcutt started going back and forth about how men and women want to hear very differen ... More >>

He Said She Said: Breakup Songs to Help You Bawl, Part 2

Ever since men and women set eyes upon each other at the beginning of time, there have been break-ups, and painful dissolutions of romantic escapades have made the best art in the world. Hell, somewhere in the world there is a probably a cave painting of a pretty young Neanderthal girl with devil h ... More >>

A Bizarre, and Sometimes Electrifying, Tribute to Michael Jackson, Luther and Marvin at Miller Outdoor Theater

​Saturday Rocks Off and a friend attended Keeping the Music Alive, a free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The show was a tribute in honor of the late Michael Jackson, the later Bernie Mac, the even later Gerald Levert, the later still Luther Vandross, and the even yet later still Barry White - ... 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 >>

He Said, She Said: Gone Too Soon

A rash of recent musical deaths (Michael Jackson and DJ AM among others) have led us here at Rocks Off to do some speculating of our own: Which musicians do we feel were taken from us too soon? Obvious answers like the Famous Js (John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin) or the dual ... More >>

Kick 'em While They're Down: The Worst Songs Ever Recorded For Charity

Please take this thing away from me. Please.​ When Rocks Off received an email touting Sting's new MySpace charity video for the Prince of Wales' Rainforest Project, we almost chipped a fingernail hurriedly clicking on the link, which promised oodles of celebrities such as Olivia Newton-John, Rich ... 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 >>

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Or Cat): Singing This Song For You

Hair Balls was talking the other day with an acquaintance who has incredible luck with the ladies. Scratch that -- it's not luck, really, because "luck" suggests that a dude who looks like Quasimodo could get lucky some day and hook up with Heidi Klum.No, this dude's situation is based more on confi ... More >>

The Great Green Room In the Sky: The Grim Reaper's 2009 Musical Roll Call

​Thankfully, 2009 was a sorry year for the Greil Marcus Rock Death Meter. Aside from the not terribly unexpected (but still weird) demise of the King of Pop, few bona fide legends went on to the Great Green Room Beyond the Sky. The Rock Death Meter rates rock deaths on a ten-point scale in three c ... More >>

Soul Night 2

Get your fill of Marvin Gaye and Tina Turner at the Aurora Picture Show's funky flashback

Eyeballin: James Brown Cape-Walks Away With The T.A.M.I. Show

Often written about, mythologized, and showing up in clips on rock docs and YouTube, the 1964 concert movie The T.A.M.I. Show has amazingly never been released in uncut format until now. And though it was shot in black and white, the exuberance and energy of the concert overcomes any pigmentation pr ... More >>

Can't Forget The Motor City: Our Favorite Motown Jams, Part 2

​ Rocks Off - sorry, He Said; we're still getting used to this whole identity-shift thing - is sure some of our readers think we do nothing except sit around and listen to the Drive-By Truckers all day. To which we say: Have you heard Bettye LaVette's The Scene of the Crime or Booker T's Potato Ho ... More >>

The Rockets' Shane Battier: A Man Who Should Never, Ever Sing In Public

Among the tortures the U.S. has inflicted on Gitmo detainees and Panamanian dictators, an old favorite is blasting music. But usually it's something like AC/DC.You want to torture someone? Make them listen to Shane Battier sing. Battier took the mike at a charity auction and -- for some reason -- th ... More >>

Top 10 Last Words By Famous Musicians

​Musicians tend to be a mouthy lot. It takes a certain kind of soul to want and express your own inner world to the outer world at large. So when the time comes for them to shuffle off this mortal coil, they often have some very interesting exit lines... 10. Ludwig Van Beethoven, "Friends a ... More >>

Batusis Is No Throwback

Cheetah Chrome and Sylvain Sylvain make rock and roll new again.

Rel The Chosen Flows With Soul On Beautiful Music

​If Houston's Rel The Chosen was trying to make an impression, the single CD he handed us in a plain white cover at DJ Premier's show a few months ago at Numbers wasn't doing the job. The music on the CD, however, made a spectacular impression and certainly made up for any lack of marketing ... More >>

Christina Aguilera's National Anthem: Better Than Carl Lewis', Anyway

​Today, Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are presumably on their way to Disney World, the Pittsburgh Steelers are praying Ben Roethlisberger did not do anything in the many, many strip clubs of the greater Metroplex to bring on a repeat of his season-opening four-game sus ... More >>

Robin Thicke

​Today, Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are presumably on their way to Disney World, the Pittsburgh Steelers are praying Ben Roethlisberger did not do anything in the many, many strip clubs of the greater Metroplex to bring on a repeat of his season-opening four-game sus ... More >>

Gladys Knight

​Today, Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are presumably on their way to Disney World, the Pittsburgh Steelers are praying Ben Roethlisberger did not do anything in the many, many strip clubs of the greater Metroplex to bring on a repeat of his season-opening four-game sus ... More >>

Idol Beat: Detroit, Shlock City

​In spite of Idol Beat's absence last week (I was undergoing treatment for nose hemorrhoids), Fox's karaoke juggernaut steamrollered on, topping the ratings once again for Wednesday and Thursday night. Last week's casualty, MySpace's Karen Rodriguez, wasn't much of a surprise. I mean, the bili ... More >>

Last Night: Fitz & The Tantrums At House Of Blues

Photos by Jason Wolter​Fitz & the Tantrums House of Blues Bronze Peacock Room April 18, 2011 Soul music is about power, yoking that gospel id to the pursuit of more worldly affairs, but it's also about subtlety. Grunt all you want, but smooth and steady wins the race (and wins over the ladies ... More >>

Top 10 Songs To Leave Out Of Your Wedding Reception

​'Tis the summer season for tying the knot. But curse the occasion for creating the ultimate breeding ground for bad music - wedding receptions. It's one thing to unplug the jukebox in an act of defiance or flee a venue playing bad songs (I've done all of the above), but one doesn't exactly h ... More >>

Grant Haze: Guy Who Allegedly Dismembered Ex-Wife Talks of Being Inspired By Sting & Lionel Richie

Grant Haze wants to be an inspiration to his kids​Last week, Grant Haze was just another bland singer-songwriter with a tremendous ego and hoop earrings. Now he's charged with killing his ex-girlfriend, dismembering her corpse, stuffing the body parts in ice chests, and driving them from his N ... More >>

Full Swag For Das Racist, No Swag For Astros & Paul Wall

​Das Racist is Rocks Off's favorite joke-rap group, ever. It annoys most people we know -including our boss, who is like, "All right, no more Das Racist for everyone's sake, please." That's being nice - Ed. Earlier this year, we traveled to SXSW strictly to catch every show, and we're planning ... More >>

ACL Last Night: The One, The Only, Stevie Wonder

Photos by Marco Torres​Stevie Wonder Austin City Limits Music Festival Bud Light Stage, Zilker Park, Austin September 17, 2011 Stevie Wonder says we're all part of the same family. Saturday night at Austin City Limits, he had about 45,000 (we're guessing) Jesus children of America in the palm ... More >>

Touch the Sky

The 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival in exactly 12 paragraphs.

The X Factor: Mentoring, Mentoring & More Mentoring

Photo by Nino Munoz/Fox​Last night I was officially annoyed with The X Factor. To be fair, the show suffered from my having to wait until the Yankees lost, and my husband was done swearing and stomping around the living room, so I had to stay up really late (for me) to watch. And then I realiz ... More >>

Rap Round Table: If You Could Only Listen To One Musician For All Of Time, Who Would It Be?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Each week Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week's Panel: Killa Kyleon, Zavey, kyle Hubbard, Brad Gilmore, Mac, Doughbeezy, A.D.D., Medicine Girl, more. Not Invited: The guy at our sons' ... More >>

Last Night: Red Bull Skooled Tour at Warehouse Live

Photos by Marco TorresWorldwide​Check out our slideshow of last night's Red Bull Skooled Tour launch. "Excuse me while I get the turntables straight. Til then, let me help you get some pussy. This the "help you get some pussy hour"!" Before spinning a single record on the turntables, New Orl ... More >>