Nirvana (Band)

Kings of the Stone Age

Dave Grohl and other rockers toast L.A.'s Sound City.

6 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Dinosaur Jr., Some Stones, Big K.R.I.T., Optimo Radio, etc.

Dinosaur Jr. Friday, Fitzgerald's Dinosaur Jr. may be one of the most underrated indie-rock acts of the past 25 years. They weren't as sexy as Pearl Jam or as populist as Nirvana, but the music dripping from the instruments of the criminally-unsung J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph has ... More >>

Understanding the Rock Hall's 2013 Nominees: Chic? Kraftwerk? Butterfield?

Wednesday night The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced their 2013 nominees for induction next year. These names will be voted on by a committee of guys in bad weaves, rich people who know the right people, and tenured music writers with axes to grind. The names are as follows: The Pa ... More >>

Last Night: Scarface & Digital Underground's Shock G at Warehouse Live

Arts, Beats & Lyrics feat. Scarface, Shock G, DJ Lord, Clyde "The Funky Drummer" Stubblefield & Mansions on the Moon Warehouse Live September 27, 2012 How to guarantee a successful event: Step 1: Select an appropriate venue to accommodate your guests. Step 2: Diversify your guest list to include ... More >>

Web Extra: The Rebirth of Underground Rock

I remember the first big boom in underground rock, because I was definitely not part of it. Instead, I was one of those kids for whom Nirvana's Nevermind (and their January 1992 Saturday Night Live appearance, in my case) kicked open the door to a much cooler musical world than the one I had been li ... More >>

Happy Birthday, John Peel: Our 10 Favorite Sessions

Today would have been the 73rd birthday of John Peel, one of the planet's most legendary, eclectic and flat-out best radio disc jockeys of all time. He died in 2004, but the nearly 40 years of outrageously good music that he helped bring to the masses at BBC Radio 1 beginning in 1967 form a pretty d ... More >>

The Last VJ's Guide to Making a Good Music Video

It appears -- and every record label, manager, and publicist that I ask agrees -- that I am petty much the only mainstream journalist who dedicates himself to covering music videos as a regular, in-depth beat. I try to focus on at least one a week, though it obviously depends on what kind of product ... More >>

The 8 Most Bro-Tastic Bands of All Time

"Hipster." The word is older than you think: it pops up in an old Seinfeld episode where Jerry refers to Kramer as a "hipster doofus." It even predates that by many years. A few years ago, it was convenient shorthand to refer to someone who overcompensates, who tries too hard to be unique and inter ... More >>

50 Rad Things Now on the Sig's Lagoon Walls

Within the past month, the walls of Sig's Lagoon have been transformed into a sprawling pop-culture collage of posters, photos, newspaper clippings, magazine covers, picture discs and cardboard cutouts courtesy of former Sundance Records owner Bobby Barnard. Since the longtime San Marcos music stor ... More >>

10 Things That Have Happened To Rock Stars' Ashes

Recently, I explored some of the strange things that musicians have been buried with. In the course of researching that article, I came across a lot of tales about the cremated remains of rock stars. Some very odd things have occurred with famous ashes, so being the resident morbid person on staff, ... More >>

RIP Jim Marshall: Twitter Honors The Man Who Redefined Loud

Jim Marshall, who created an amplifier known as much for its sleek, slightly ominous-looking design as its ear-splitting volume, died in London Thursday morning at age 88. He had cancer and had suffered several strokes, his son Terry told the Associated Press. Marshall's hefty amplifier was introdu ... More >>

SXSW: World's Youngest DJ, BabyChino, On Sixth Street

When I was nine years old, I was taping Nirvana and Soundgarden songs off the radio from a tiny boombox and learning to pee at a urinal without pulling my pants down to my ankles, but DJ BabyChino is gigging around the world. I caught him on Friday night close to midnight on Sixth Street at Status, ... More >>

Cloud Nothings

Tori, Tool, TLC And The Other Musical Debuts Of 1992

1992 was a pretty heady year for music in general, with the masses gobbling up all the gangsta rap, grunge, and pop-country they could. That year would see the release of not only R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People, Peter Gabriel's Us, Pantera's Vulgar Display Of Power, but also what is arguably The ... More >>

Fly To The Angels: A Hair Metal Tribute To Kim Jong-il

Metal Bad Boy Kim Jong-il ​Kim Jong-il and '80s hair metal were almost synonymous, and last night when the world found out that the North Korean leader passed on to the big rock show in the sky, all I could listen to was hair ballads, driving through the city in tears. Looking at things he wou ... More >>

14 Notable Female Rock Drummers

girlscantwhat.com​Last week, we rounded up a list of our favorite female rock bassists. We'd like to continue the trend of honoring rock's finest females, by next recognizing 14 notable female rock drummers. As usual, we will focus on the live-performing, touring drummers over time, rather tha ... More >>

10 Things You May Not Know About G N' R's Use Your Illusion Albums

For the past few weeks, the music world has been firmly entrenched in Nirvana nostalgia. Hell, even Rocks Off took a crack at it, looking up all the expensive memorabilia on eBay related to the band. But in September 1991, another album hit the store shelves that had a lot of impact too, for better ... More >>

Hail, Hail: 10 Things You Should Know About Pearl Jam

Mark C. AustinPearl Jam at ACL '09​Amongst all the Nevermind love running rampant this week, people seem to forget that Nirvana contemporaries Pearl Jam are also celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Obviously the Nirvana tributes are different since one member is not living and the we ... More >>

Weird Al Yankovic

The 20 Best Tribute Albums Of All Time

Hootie covered Zeppelin!? '90s U So Crazy!​This year alone has seen a multitude of tribute albums, from two Buddy Holly lovefests to the upcoming ZZ Top tribute set from a very motley crew of artists, including Nickelback, Daughtry, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (yum), and Wyclef Jean. Let t ... More >>

No Love, No Hope: Converge's Jane Doe Turns 10

​This next week is full of big musical anniversaries. Saturday marks 20 years since the release of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single, Genesis' ABACABturns 30, and System Of a Down's Toxicityand Bob Dylan's "Love and Theft" all hit the decade mark. And one of the most significant cultu ... More >>

The Best Episodes Of MTV's Unplugged

​MTV Unplugged was like health food for your soul during its heyday on the music channel, which was full of junk food. When artists stuck to the template and went untethered to electronic instruments and really dug into their music with new eyes it was amazing. Debuting in 1989 with Squeeze ... More >>

Forrest Gump & Other "Generation-Defining" Soundtracks

​The Forrest Gump soundtrack debuted on June 28, 1994, a week ahead of the film itself, which would go on to smash box-office records, win numerous awards and become one of the most beloved movies of the past 20 years. It is still endlessly quotable, emotional, and entertaining, and the soundt ... More >>

Take Your Dog To Work Day: 11 Oh-So-Cute Photos Of Dogs Dressed For The Job

Tomorrow is Take Your Dog to Work Day, which also could be called Annoy Your Co-Workers Day, but we're sure it's fun for the pets and their owners. Some people don't just take their dogs to work; they dress them for the job. And take pictures of them. And post them on the internet, which is where w ... More >>

Sgt. Pepper & Three Other Bum Albums By Rock Icons

​It was 40 (four) years ago today - in the UK, and tomorrow in the U.S. - that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play, history stopped, the Summer of Love began, and critics freaked the fuck out. When the Beatles released their LSD-soaked counterpunch to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in June 1967, K ... More >>

Rockin' In Plain Sight: Our Favorite Hidden Album Tracks

​In the days when compact discs and tapes ruled the world, hidden tracks on albums were like secret gifts from your favorite bands. Off the liner notes, not in the original track listings, and totally unassuming, sometimes tucked away after minutes and minutes of silence on a disc. With the ... 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 >>

Doolittle

The Pixies la la love you.

Five Easy Steps To Beer Pairing Nirvana

SamuelAdams.comAnd you thought only wine could be paired with food.​No, we're not talking about the way the subtle notes of ice-cold rocky mountain air in that Coors Light accentuate the cool ranch flavor in Doritos, not here at least. The knowledge that different varieties of beer compliment ... More >>

FAIL: Courtney Love, Joe Jackson, Gravity

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Courtney Love Is Not Having an Easy Time of It: First, the lawsuit involving Courtney's share of Nirvana's musical rights was settled, most likely for less than she wanted. We have a hard time mustering up any sympathy there, but even we get uncomfortab ... More >>

Dead Confederate

Friday Night Noise: The 10 Best Noise Records of the 2000s

​ Here are Friday Night Noise's favorite ten 00s noise albums, in no particular order. Was this an easy list to make? Fuck no. 1. Various Artists, Women Take Back The Noise (UBUIBI) Roughly 10,000 noise compilations were issued in the 00s, but how many came with a noise-making device? How many cam ... More >>

Does Anyone Care About Super Tuesdays Anymore? Besides Us?

​Time was that Tuesdays used to be the best day of the week for your average recorded-music consumer. Since Rocks Off was just a wee music nerd, Tuesdays were his favorite days of the week because it was always the universal day for all new releases to hit the stores. It started with begging our p ... More >>

Aftermath: Them Crooked Vultures at Stubb's in Austin

Photos By Craig Hlavaty​Just a few short hours ago Aftermath saw the rock world's newest supergroup in action as Queens of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, ex-Nirvana drummer/current Foo Fighters helmer Dave Grohl, and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones took the stage at Stubb's in Austin for a warm- ... More >>

Houston 101: The Lesbian Bar That Shut Up HPD

​The 1960s weren't a very pleasant time to be gay or lesbian for most people, but especially in Houston. Somehow the Bayou City wasn't as accepting of alternative lifestyles as it is today (and we're not saying it's Nirvana today.)Police raids of gay bars were common. Common but bizarre, in the ca ... More >>

Aftermath: We Were Wolves and Satin Hooks, Born to Be Wild at the Mink

Photos by Chris Gray​ It's been false-starting for a couple of years, but that grunge revival may be right around the corner - if it ever went anywhere in the first place. Beaumont's We Were Wolves plugged into the Mudhoney machine at the Mink Tuesday night, crafting sludgy sheets of guitar noise ... More >>

Maybe Miley Would Be Better Off Dead Like Selena, Kurt and These Others...

In case you missed it - and if you value your immortal soul, we're sure you did - Hannah Montana star/future tell-all memoir author Miley Cyrus unveiled a newer, more "mature" look last weekend at the only venue appropriate for such things: the Teen Choice Awards. Nothing says "successful transitio ... More >>

Moulin Rouge

Actors Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor camp it up in this musical fantasy

Liars

Liars

HARD ROCK CAFE'S

ROCK N' ROLL PUNCH

Glaude Be with You

On the Right Track

Dizzy Does It

Rotation

Rotation

Out of Zion

The Lame and the Great

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

Live Shots

Puke Sick

Thoughts of Sonic Youth, kid's shows and animal testing with sick body and warped mind

Famous Amos

Bad girl Tori becomes more than a Kate Bush manque