New Kids on the Block

Wanna Dress Vintage Like a Rock Star? Ask One Yourself

By day four of a recent "staycation," my family and I had little to do and less money to do it with. My daughter suggested an afternoon of bargain-hunting in the thrift stores. Everyone piled into the family vehicle and off we went. She asked what I planned to buy, if anything. I told her, without ... More >>

10 Awesome '90s Boy Bands You Probably Forgot Existed

The '90's produced the best stuff known to man. I mean, who doesn't wax nostalgic over Girbaud jeans, color-blocked windbreakers, and old episodes of Saved By the Bell? That shit was so awesome. You know who else thinks '90's nostalgia is awesome? The boys -- rather, real live men -- from the lat ... More >>

The 5 Worst Trends Started By the Class of '99

Chris Gray's write-up of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Christmas Rocks" show at the Arena Theatre a couple of weeks ago got me thinking. These days, the swing maestro seems to be comfortably settled into his own little niche in the music industry, playing swingin' Christmas carols to grown folks. Bu ... More >>

10 Odd Musical Gift Ideas for the Last Christmas on Earth

Back in the day, Christmas shopping for music lovers couldn't have been simpler: just head on down to the record store, pick up the latest hot release or a rare collector's item, wrap it up with a Warehouse Music gift certificate and you were golden. Now that the music business has evolved into a ... More >>

The 10 Worst Holiday Cover Songs Ever

It's the thought that counts, right? Because they had the common decency to make original garbage, this list pardons holiday atrocities like New Kids on the Block's "Funky Funky Christmas" and "Last Christmas" by Wham! The ten "artists" on this list couldn't even be bothered to wrap their own turds ... More >>

Health Department Roundup: (Mostly) Upper Kirby Edition

We'll start this week with some nice news. Former owner Hank Wiggins died December 31, but things are still moving at Hank's Ice Cream (9291 S. Main). A recent inspection turned up zero violations. We tried to make ice cream once. It tasted like flavored gas-station coffee creamer and rock salt. Han ... More >>

4 Reasons Why Old Albums Are Now Outselling New Ones

So here's an interesting fact: according to Nielsen Soundscan, older catalog albums have officially overtaken brand-spanking-new albums in sales for the first time since Soundscan has been keeping track. That's only since 1991, but it's probably safe to say that this is the first time such a thing h ... More >>

Top 10 Musical Moments on The Arsenio Hall Show

One of the greatest late-night talk show hosts of all time was Arsenio Hall. He was the quintessential Ed Sullivan for the '80s and early '90s. He featured all kinds of musical artists, but most importantly, he helped introduce rap music into the mainstream. Hall, who won Donald Trump's most recent ... More >>

Corporate Rock Still Sucks

Rock of Ages posits Tom Cruise as a hair-metal god and hair metal as something un-awful.

Years of Refusal: 8 More '80s Icons Who Should Follow Morrissey Into Retirement

Morrissey announced this week that he plans to retire in two years. That's tragic news in some circles, but we think it's a good move. In 2014, he'll turn 55, and the Smiths thing is never happening. How much longer is he supposed to do this? Another ten years 'til he's 65? He's Morrissey, not a Chi ... More >>

Missed Opportunities: 10 Musicians Who Turned Down Big Hits

Have you ever had one of those moments where you thought to yourself, "Why did I do that?" or "Why did I turn that down?" Those kinds of moments happen to all of us. It's part of life, unfortunately. This happens all the time in the movie world, but you never seem to hear about it in the music worl ... More >>

Boy Bands Are Back In Fashion, But Did They Ever Go Away?

One Direction, the newest UK pop import to make it to colonial shores, announced a full-scale summer tour Tuesday, including a Houston date on June 24 up at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Pretty big venue for a group that is just now breaking in America, and the Brit-Irish boy band just sold ... More >>

Jordan Knight: NKOTB Singer Leaves Solo Career Unfinished

​Last summer, the Houston Press reported (with embarrassing yet unapologetic enthusiasm) on '80s pop sensations the New Kids on the Block. The '80s boy-band was co-headlining an arena tour with their '90s incarnates, the Backstreet Boys. This year, however, brings less boy-band baggage -- no ... More >>

Fa La La La La: Favorite Records Rocks Off Got for Christmas

​No matter what year it is or how old you are, if you love music, there is nothing like finding some new music tucked under the tree or crammed into your stocking. iTunes gift cards are easy. So are gift cards to Tiffany's, but we bet your girl would be a lot more receptive to the blue box. Th ... More >>

A Roundup of the 2011 Music Industry Based Strictly on Band Names

XL/Columbia​Theologians love saying things like "Man is created superior to animals" and "Animals can't be equal with humans." And then we go scouring philosophy books to see if animals have immortal spirits and if this means we'll someday meet our pets in heaven. That's a bunch of horse dung. ... More >>

We Caved: Join Rocks Off On Turntable.fm All Day

​If you are lucky enough to have already gotten a Turntable.fm invite, and you work somewhere that is down with your listening to streaming jams, then right now you could be listening to the Stone Roses and Stereo MC's in Rocks Off's new Houston Press Rocks Off Spin Off on the social DJ site. ... More >>

1986: Best Musical Year Ever?

​For almost two weeks now, Rocks Off has been obsessed with the year exactly 25 flips of the calendar backward from this one. It started when Steve Earle did one of his "Time Machine" shows, where the singer-songwriter who plays House of Blues Wednesday spotlights a dozen or so of his favorite ... More >>

Saturday Night: New Kids On The Block & Backstreet Boys At Toyota Center

Photos by Jim Bricker​New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys Toyota Center June 25, 2011 It's been 25 years since New Kids on the Block emerged on the pop scene, creating an entire generation of maniacally devoted fans overnight. Some girls fainted at the mere sight of the group; others creat ... More >>

Hangin' Tough

A New Kids on the Block crush leads to a lifelong obsession with music.

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 >>

15 Gets You 20: Rock & Roll Jailbait Through The Years

theprettyreckless.com​Friday night, The Pretty Reckless (above) pulls into town for a gig at House of Blues. The band, led by Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen, is known largely for the 17-year-old singer's penchant for wearing something resembling lingerie, chain-smoking and basically being a te ... More >>

Houston Music's People Of The Year

Craig Hlavaty​Editor's Pick: Grandfather Child. It was a good year for the blues all around - the Black Keys' well-deserved radio breakthrough with Brothers; Lightnin' Hopkins' long-overdue historical marker in Third Ward - but Lucas Gorham's crew is a razor-sharp reminder that the best blues ... More >>

Island Of Misfit Christmas Albums: Teen Pop Meltdown

​It happens like this: You are in charge of a major teen-pop act who can sell anything with their face or voice on it, be it training bras, shaving cream, or caskets. You have a week off in the summer from touring. Do you let the talent go home and sleep in their own beds or do you shove the ... More >>

FAIL: ABBA, Animal Collective, Diddy, Pete Doherty

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Hooray! Now Your Feet Are Boring, Too!: A clothing designer called Keep took a whole bunch of ecstasy (probably) and then invited Animal Collective's Avery Tare to design some shoes for them. By "design," we of course mean "scribble on some plain beige ... More >>

BREAKING & URGENT: Rapping Weatherman Will Not Rap At New SF Gig

Nick Kosir's rapping career is KIA​The day Kurt Cobain ended it all. The afternoon Paul McCartney sued his fellow Beatles. The first time NKOTB broke up.All of those could be called The Days The Music Died, but they pale in comparison to the news that comes from our sister paper SF Weekly: Beaumon ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Hope Justin Bieber Dies Before He Gets Old

​Oh, calm down. This isn't a call for the murder of American's favorite prepubescent pop idol. Sure, the former YouTube sensation from Stratford, Ontario who dresses and talks (and Tweets) like a diminutive Tupac Shakur has made more money in the last two years than you or I will see in ten li ... More >>

Honor Society

Texas Traveler: The South Rim and Emory Peak

Photos by Brittanie SheyThe Boot​Ed. Note: This is the fifth part of a series on traveling to Big Bend National Park. Saturday morning we wake up with a thin layer of frost on our tents. Texas Traveler's Christmas gift to herself was a mummy-style 10º sleeping bag from R.E.I. -- this first r ... More >>

Beasting Off the Riesling: The Most Ridiculous Lyrics of 2009, Part 2

New Kids on the Block, "Dirty Dancing" "It's so crazy/ She's like 'Baby'/ I'm like Swayze" One would think that the last thing the somewhat revitalized New Kids on the Block (or is that NKOTB?) would want to do is remind people that it's not 1987 anymore. Perhaps, however, we shouldn't think of "Di ... More >>

Miss Pop Rocks: Things I Learned From Television

Despite being a college graduate and having a wealth of useless knowledge stored away in my brain (Who is Kafka? What is Hegelism? Where is The Bering Strait? Blah blah blah)...anyway, despite my mind being littered with trivia from school days, I must admit that my biggest education has com ... More >>

Tonight: Crystal Stilts at Rudyard's

Crystal Stilts hails from Brooklyn, N.Y., and specializes in the sort of shoegaze-indebted garage rock that's so dangerously laid back it's just short of comatose. I've never caught 'em live, but my guess is that their shows are rapturous, daze-inducing events - religious drone-pop experiences, ... More >>

Recent Super Bowl Halftime Highlights and Lowlights

Backfield in Motion

Houston: Come for the Renovations, Stay for the Electric Cabs

While trolling the nether regions of the UK press, we came upon this, touting the wonders of Houston as a luxury vacation spot. It's all enough to make Hair Balls wish it didn't live here already so it could start making travel plans now!We cannot help but imagine how impressed our luxury-seeking Li ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Navigating the Economic Crisis

Down Payment Blues

I Saw the New Kids on the Block Last Night at Toyota Center OMG

The Not-So-New Kids on the Block

Still Hangin' Tough?

Check Out Our Chatter

Five Spot: New Kids Are Back, Bitches

Mail Call: What's in the Crate?

I Am Going to Buy New Kids on the Block Tickets

OMGNKOTB: The Return of the New Kids on the Block

Miss Pop Rocks: Crying for The Two Coreys

No More Pussy

Fabricated pop groups are nothing new, but these Dolls are more than bad -- they're a threat

Git'r Spun!

Countrified DJ Jester the Filipino Fist is the stand-up comedian of scratchers

Hanging Tough

Former New Kid on the Block Jordan Knight relives his glory days at the Sidecar Pub

Rock and Roll Dream Team

Forget the office-football draft, dude. Here's a far cooler way to waste your time and your employer's money.

The Right Stuff

Theater LaB Houston strings up boy bands in Boy Groove

Rotation

Night & Day

February 18 - 24, 1999

Spicy Proposition