Nickelback

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Drenched in Blog: Nickelback DVD Collection! Yeah!!

Drenched in Blog: March Madness, Rock-Style

The Worst Lyrics of 2008: NCAA-Style Showdown

And now it's time for the "I love you like a fat kid loves cake" memorial Worst Lyrics of 2008, March Madness-style tournament, this year a terrifying mélange of appalling oral-sex requests, bargain-bin philosophies, grammatical atrocities, and cringe-inducing pillow talk. To elevate the drama, I p ... More >>

This Just In: Kings Of Leon To Hit Toyota Center In October

Mark C. AustinIn the course of five years, Kings of Leon has managed to go from playing a Camel-sponsored show at the Meridian to possibly selling out the Toyota Center. KOL was just in Houston this past fall for a sell-out at Verizon Wireless Theater, and we thought the show was middling to fair an ... More >>

Tonight: Broken Social Scene at Numbers

Poster by Mr. CastilloSince 1999, Canadian indie rockers Broken Social Scene have made consistently brilliant and always original experimental baroque-pop music, enlisting the help of a myriad of artists along the way: Metric's Emily Haines, Leslie "1,2,3,4" Feist, Jason Collett, Am ... More >>

Suckfest - Sorry, Buzzfest - XXII Lineup Announced

Hey, didn't Korn break up after this album? They didn't? Our bad.In the midst of getting our collective Rocks Off panties in a twist over SXSW next week and the impending sweat-stained Westheimer Block Party, it's easy for us to forget what it's like on the other side of the music-snob fence. ... More >>

Houston's Ten Worst Songs

…and we're still not as bad as Dallas

Is Nickelback Really Worth Hating So Much?

Jeromeoh2301Somewhere over the past five years, Nickelback was deemed the unofficial "worst band in the world," usurping Creed as the rock snob's go-to reference for "awful." How did this happen? To date, the British Columbian quartet has sold close to 20 million albums, sell out arenas ... More >>

Aftermath: Nickelback at Toyota Center

Photos by Craig HlavatyAftermath is of the mind that the best way to tackle something that is reviled or feared is to confront it head on. Like global terrorism, street gangs, or gingivitis, you must take it on at its source, even if doing so makes you feel insecure, vulnerable or wholly fooli ... More >>

Building a Mystery

Photos by Craig HlavatyAftermath is of the mind that the best way to tackle something that is reviled or feared is to confront it head on. Like global terrorism, street gangs, or gingivitis, you must take it on at its source, even if doing so makes you feel insecure, vulnerable or wholly fooli ... More >>

Song Title Scrabble

Mixed-up monikers

Hope Springs Eternal

A northern suburb tops our third installment of rating greater Houston's taste in music

Never Go to a Party in Friendswood

Where does your town rank in the Houston-area good-taste stakes?

Smells Like Indie Spirit

Music that made the world safe for the word "alternative" again

Nü-School Drool

Fresh out of rehab, Saliva's Chris D'abaldo hopes being on the Jägermeister tour won't make him Pavlov's dawg

Aftermath: Cake at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Craig HlavatyCake has never sounded like anyone else, and no one that came after has ever come close to sounding like the Sacramento band either. It's not like Nirvana or Green Day, with 1,000 copycat bands immediately coming out of the proverbial woodwork to shove out their own shingle. E ... More >>

Local Self-Described Rap Supergroup Admires... Nickelback?

Photo by Paul Knight Young Problemz, a self-described "supergroup" of local rap talent, joined Mike Jones Monday evening at the Arena Theatre, and the group's "Boi" was one of the high points, if not the high point of the night. The five Houston-bred performers - Chyco, Just-O, JM, J Yung and Star S ... More >>

When We Was Fab: Rocks Off's Beatles: Rock Band Night Was a Smashing Success

[Update: Click here for a slideshow.] The Pi Studios "blackshirts," sitting on a corn flake... Hate to quote Nickelback, but what the hell: We all wanna be big rock stars, live in hilltop houses and drive 15 cars. Rocks Off is still working on the hilltop house and 15 cars part, but we got a little ... More >>

Aftermath: Kings of Leon, and Their "Fans," Trying Our Patience at Toyota Center

Photos by Groovehouse/ Click here for a slideshow​ Aftermath has seen almost every single step on the road to fame Kings of Leon have taken since their debut album Youth and Young Manhood in 2003. We heard a track off that album in mid-2003, "California Waiting," on a radio show while living in Sa ... More >>

Next Time You're Bored at a Party, Amuse Yourself With Some "Musical Profiling"

​ Recently, Rocks Off found ourselves skulking around the edges of a birthday party wondering what the hell we were doing there. The week had brutally kicked our ass, and the only place we really wanted to be at that juncture was sitting on our couch watching the Syfy channel with a very strong dr ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, April: Springsteen, Jandek, Morrissey, The Faint, iFest, Cake... and Nickelback

Harley C. Pitts​ Kevin and Dustin Welch, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, April 2: "Dustin (son of Kevin) Welch stunned the sparse crowd at the Duck last night from the first note of "One False Move," the brilliant opener to his new album, Whisky Priest. While the graying crowd had mostly come to hear the ... More >>

He Said She Said: "Fergitrocious" and the Worst Songs of the Decade

In a perfect world, The Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps" would actually be called "My Bumps," and it would be an ode to Stacy Ferguson's rampant misadventures with meth addiction, because that would be the only thing that could make that horrible, horrible song bearable. You might think it's harsh for Sh ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs For A First (Perhaps Only) Date, Part 2

​He Said is going to admit right here and now that he has never been a master of the first date. True it is that we have dated some very awesome and artistic women, but we always lack when it comes to that first swing out of the box. He Said is way better at the weeks, months and years after that ... More >>

THE VELVET MELVIN'S GRAPEFRUIT DELIGHT

​He Said is going to admit right here and now that he has never been a master of the first date. True it is that we have dated some very awesome and artistic women, but we always lack when it comes to that first swing out of the box. He Said is way better at the weeks, months and years after that ... More >>

Pop Rocks: What We Learned From The Olympics

Another edition of the Winter Games has come and gone, and while the last two weeks have been marked by triumph (the first American medals in Nordic Combined) as well as tragedy (Nickelback's closing ceremony performance), it's time to contemplate the important lessons we'll take away from Vancouve ... More >>

Get In The Ring: How 7 Wrestlers Match Up With Their Rock-Star Lookalikes

​ While rock stars wrestle with their inner demons, the performers of the WWE wrestle with other people. A rock star may cut himself because he just needs to feel something; a wrestler will cut himself because it's the championship pay-per-view event and needs to look more intense. The rock stars ... More >>

American Idol: Idol Gives [Nickel]Back

​This is "Idol Gives Back" week, which means a curious mix of legitimate charity and Hollywood puffery: Money gets donated for worthy causes, but we also have to pretend like Fergie is an artist. So it made sense that the top seven contestants came down on both sides of the fence, with some gi ... More >>

American Idol: Idol Gives [Nickel]Back

​This is "Idol Gives Back" week, which means a curious mix of legitimate charity and Hollywood puffery: Money gets donated for worthy causes, but we also have to pretend like Fergie is an artist. So it made sense that the top seven contestants came down on both sides of the fence, with some gi ... More >>

Five Songs We Don't Want To Hear At Buzzfest

​This Sunday, Craig's Hlist embarks on one of the most dangerous adventures of his music-journalism career, covering BuzzFest XXIV out at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. It will be our first go-round at the bi-annual modern-rock radio festival. This year's line-up was the first one that made ... More >>

Top 10 Worst Music-Related Tattoos

​As the sole in-house bearer of the Rocks Off tattoo load (aside from Brandon K. Hernsberger and Brittanie Shey), we get asked to do a lot of tattoo-related musical blogs. It's cool, because worse things could happen. We aren't killing dogs at the pound nor are we the lead singer of Slightly Stoop ... More >>

Rocks Off Close To 2,000 Twitter Followers... And A New Tattoo

Allow us to step out of the usage of the royal "we" that we use at Rocks Off for a blog that will have a lasting impact for the rest of our lives. Not Rocks Off at large, but one member who made a promise on the Internet that he can never take back. Well, he probably could, but then he would look li ... More >>

Bare Bones

Lo-fi crushers Woven Bones would remake Pink Floyd's The Wall if they could.

Nickelback Coming Back Again; All We Can Do Is Shrug

Craig Hlavaty​Rocks Off would like to think we've pretty much inoculated himself to "bad music" to the point where nothing fazes us anymore. We can roll into an Insane Clown Posse show, no problem. Kenny G? We'll shake dude's hand and talk shop with him. But Nickelback is a different story. ... More >>

FAIL: Creed, Ice-T, Liam Gallagher

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Creed Doesn't Get It, Guys: You know how some people just never seem to get the message, no matter how obvious you're being? Even if that message is "I hate your guts"? Not surprisingly, Creed are those guys. You remember Creed: four tribal-tattooed pu ... 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 >>

Tubby Chubcakes: Destroy Nickelback With Lasers!

"Chad Kroeger rides a pony in his house when no one's home/ It's a fact! I hid cameras in his house." ​And thus begins the video for Tubby Chubcakes's "Destroy Nickelback With Laserbeams." When you first see the video, you really begin to question whether the Internet is a good thing. Certai ... More >>

The Lyrical Crimes Of Nickelback's Chad Kroeger

Photos by Craig HlavatyNickelback at Toyota Center, April 2009​Today is Chad Kroeger of Nickleback's birthday. Huzzah. For years, Nickelback has been like those Nigerian bank scams; Dangerous, annoying and, frankly, not something anyone can do just a whole lot about. However, anti-Nickelback ... 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 >>

Never Mind Arcade Fire: Bands Who Fit Other Houston 'Burbs

Gabriel Jones/Merge Records​Tonight's the night. Win and Will Butler of conquering indie heroes Arcade Fire finally return to the town that indirectly won them a Grammy, The Woodlands. On last year's The Suburbs, the Butlers and their Canadian compatriots reflected on the brothers' restless M ... 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 >>

30 Seconds With Laura Pleasants Of Kylesa

​Rocks off sat down with guitarist Laura Pleasants of Southern sludge-metal sensations Kylesa to see what we could learn form her metallic excellency in just 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Laura Pleasants: Any Nickelback song. I shouldn't need to explain why. ... More >>

Five Questionable Musical Tributes To Nelson Mandela

White House Photographic Office, Clinton Administration​As recognized by the United Nations, today is Mandela Day, honoring the birthday of the beloved South African president, humanitarian, and all-around badass Nelson Mandela, who turns 93. Mandela is a living legend, leader, hero and inspir ... More >>

New ZZ Top Tribute Disc Frightens, Titillates, And Confuses Us

Photo By Jim Bricker​If you don't know that Rocks Off is a ZZ Top-friendly place, then you have probably only been reading the blog for the past two or three hours. The two men who run this blog love Billy, Frank, and Dusty with the energy from one thousands suns, and their whole catalog runs ... More >>

If Nickelback's Studio Walls Could Talk...

Nickelback on TwitterClick image to enlarge​Late Wednesday night, Nickelback tweeted a picture of a dry-erase board in their studio, with the line "If these walls could talk..." alluding to the bedevilment that a party-hard platinum-selling Canadian rock band must get into while making new mus ... More >>

Sick of Nickelback? Remove Them with Nickelblock

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.​The holidays are a time for miracles and small gestures of goodwill by your fellow man. It's also a time of pushing and shoving and trampling to save 15 bucks on a flat screen that has the resolution of an iPhone. It's a complicated time of year. But, so ... More >>

Nickelback Fights Back With Funny Or Die Clip

"Is it because we're Canadian?"​Check out yesterday's superb Nickelblock blog.... Call me a contrarian asshole, but I like Nickelback for what they are, not for who they aren't. The blunt-force studio magick of their riffs, the stoopid lyrics, the robo-drums, the Chad Kroeger...I just don't c ... More >>

Rocks Off Resolutions: How We Hope to Improve in 2012

Basically, we resolve to be like this.​It seems like every year around this time, we start with the, "God, I need to lose weight" or "stop smoking" or "exercise more" or "stop murdering babies." It never seems to work and by March, we are back to our old, fat, smokey, lazy, baby murdering ways ... More >>

Happy 2012!: Nickelback, Bush, Seether Hitting Houston June 2

​Batten down the hatches, light a candle, make a voodoo doll out of human hair, and pray to whatever deity you subscribe to, because her comes the concert announcement of the year, one that may very well rip the space-time continuum in Houston into a million shreds. As you can see from the h ... More >>

The Value Of Being Important: How Much Would You Pay for VIP Tickets?

Photo By Daniel KramerHow much would you pay to be in front of all of those hands in the air?​Very. Important. Person. For music fans those three words conjure up images of skipping out on standing in line, being at the side of the stage while the show takes place, and partying with the band ... More >>