Prince (Musician)

Get Lit: Prince: A Thief in the Temple, by Brian Morton

Prince Fielder Sued in Houston Federal Court for Allegedly Helping Pops Hide Assets

Beck at ACL Fest

Artist of the Week: Prince AJ

Playbill

Five Spot: Prince Drives Us to Distraction

Welcome back to The Five Spot, another new Rocks Off recurrent. Every Friday (but sometimes Monday), we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. So we were all pumped about the songs that the enig ... More >>

Ball of Confusion

Welcome back to The Five Spot, another new Rocks Off recurrent. Every Friday (but sometimes Monday), we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. So we were all pumped about the songs that the enig ... More >>

Recent Super Bowl Halftime Highlights and Lowlights

Backfield in Motion

The Geto Boys Reunite

Backfield in Motion

Her Prince Will Come

Catch a rising star with a purple legend

The Music Critics Dictionary

Translating critic-speak

Silk

Always and Forever

Forecast: Reign

This is what it sounds like when local artists pay tribute to Prince

Prince

Musicology (Columbia)

Boobs Versus Prudes

Only Prince can walk the tightrope between sensuality and artistry

This Town Needs an Enema: Rocks Off Movie Night at the Mink with Batman

Note: The date on the above poster should say September 1.​This week's film selection for Rocks Off Movie Nite at the Mink - that's right, we're now officially co-sponsoring this thing - is Tim Burton's 1989 reboot of Batman, starring the third-coolest man to step into the cowl and cape - "Mr. Mom ... More >>

Werewolves Got Fingered: The 5 Worst Movies (Besides Twilight: New Moon) With the Best Soundtracks

​Good news, all you fans of condensed screen versions of self-indulgent Mormon vampire pseudo-erotic clit-tease fantasies: Twilight: New Moon is being released in only eight days. Rocks Off, accustomed to scorn from literary snobs for his steadfast support of the Harry Potter series, actually pick ... More >>

He Said She Said: Our Christmas Musical Wishlists, Part 2 - LPs Nobody Can Buy

​When He Said was four years old, all he wanted for Christmas was big brown tape recorder that Play Skool put out so he could record his own imaginary radio shows and crazed ramblings about He-Man. Santa Claus brought it that year, and He Said wore that thing out over the next few months. For Chri ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs for Your New Year's Eve Party

You know when you're at a bar or a party and everything seems über-subdued, then suddenly someone pops a dollar in the jukebox or a CD in the player and it's just the right song for the moment? And then everyone hops up and does this synchronized line -ance perfectly choreographed for the song just ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Proud Member of the "Overeducated Underclass" The Cocker Spaniels

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. ​ The three coolest guys ... More >>

He Said She Said: "Dear Penis" And Other Country Comedy Classics

​ Aside from all the epic cheating, drinking and fighting songs country music has given us, one of the best things it does is make us laugh. Apart from all the crying and cussing, there is a whole deal of laughing going on. This year at RodeoHouston, there aren't many performers on the humorous si ... More >>

Spermy Night In Georgia: Sexed-Up Songs To Set The Mood For Blowfly

Let's get one thing perfectly clear: Blowfly is the original dirty rapper. Before anyone in 2 Live Crew was old enough to set foot into a peepshow stall or buy a pack of cigarettes, Clarence "Blowfly" Reid was spewing forth raucous raps like "Spermy Night In Georgia" and "What a Difference a Lay Mak ... More >>

Mavis Staples Will Take You There - Conroe - Friday Night

​Apparently there are still plenty of tickets for Mavis Staples in Conroe Friday night. Part of the Sounds of Texas Music Series at the Crighton Theater, the show also includes gospel-rocker Mike Farris. Staples, a recent Best Contemporary Blues Grammy nominee for her Live: Hope At The Hideout, is ... More >>

Musicians Do More In Bed Than Just... Sleep

​Today is the anniversary of one of the most unusual events in a most unusual decade. On May 26, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their "Bed-In for Peace" at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. It was the second of such boudoir-bound protests (or, if you prefer, media stunts); the couple folded ... More >>

I Would Tweet 4 U: What If Prince Were On Twitter?

Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray/ Click image to enlarge (trust us)​Sadly, Prince will not be releasing his next album online, despite being one of the first artists to release music exclusively on the Internet. He recently pronounced the Internet as "over," remarking, "All these comput ... More >>

Crystal Sierra: Galveston Woman Jumps Gun On Birthday, Ends Up In Jail

Photo courtesy GCSOCrystal Sierra​Another week, and another Crystal gets in trouble in a kind of awesome way.This time it's now-23-year-old Crystal Angelita Sierra's turn.Seems last Sunday was her 23rd birthday, and apparently Sierra found the very prospect of that occasion so exciting she started ... More >>

Start Wearing Purple: No Bullies Allowed

​Bullies suck. Growing up, Craig's Hlist watched a lot of kids in school getting the brunt of the, quote-unquote, "cooler" people giving them hell for being big, gay, handicapped or just smart. They would start fights, make up songs or stories about them, or find ways to embarrass them in fr ... More >>

Ten Rock-Star Crushes We Still Haven't Outgrown

​Artists like Elvis Presley, Madonna, and Mick Jagger undoubtedly helped define the consumate rock star crush. But there have been a handful of worthy others along the way - armed with that certain je ne se quoi - who haven't left our radar. Years later, turns out we're still smitten with thi ... More >>

Top Eight Worst Musician Vanity Film Projects

​Rocks Off won't speak for everyone, but if we ever found ourselves a platinum-selling artist, we kinda doubt we'd press our luck by veering off into the world of acting. We mean, it hardly ever works from the opposite direction (right, Don Johnson?), so what good can possibly come from assumi ... More >>

11 Songs You Shouldn't Sing At The Office Holiday Party

​'Tis the season for office Christmas holiday parties. No doubt you have already had yours at work, or are getting ready for one. They all include copious drinking, great food, stolen glances, slurry conversations, "Can ah bum ah cigarette?" and intentional accidental groping. No bonus this ... More >>

"Auld Lang Syne," In All Its Many Colors

​Harry: What does this song mean? My whole life, I don't know what this song means. "Should old acquaintance be forgot" - does that mean we should forget old acquaintances, or if we happen to forget them, that we should remember them, which is not possible because we've already forgotten them? ... More >>

1991: Best Music Year Ever?

Rocks Off Sr.'s choice for 1991's best album.​1991 was one of the biggest years in modern music. It was when metal went pop, radio country ruled, grunge went mainstream, and rap began its climb to chart dominance, even if it was spearheaded by a white candy rapper from Dallas. There were man ... More >>

Top 10 Super Bowl Halftime Shows

idontlikeyouinthatway.com​This Sunday, Rocks Off will be live-blogging and tweeting this year's Super Bowl halftime show, which will feature noted scholars The Black Eyed Peas. We are diligently studying the entire BEP canon and that of all of their solo members, like the dedicated pop histori ... More >>

Beyonce's 4 & 11 Other Numerical Album Titles

​Beyonce is not the first artist to title her album after a number. Here are 11 more - one of which B may have to unseat from the top of the charts when her fourth solo album, 4, is released next month. Chicago, Chicago III-Twenty 1 (1971-91): Chicago had a simple formula for naming albums: ... More >>

The Best & Weirdest Pictures Of Prince 4 U

The symbol for "scrumptious"...​Today is Prince's 53rd birthday, making him just 4 days older than Rocks Off's dad, which puts things in perspective. When Prince was wearing an assless catsuit on televsion and writing "slave" on his face, Craig Sr. was teaching his son how 2 throw a baseball. ... More >>

The Best Fourth Songs On History's Greatest Albums

Sorry, Manowar, maybe next year...​As we come up on the July 4th weekend, Rocks Off considered a myriad of blog ideas to commemorate the holiday. Most patriotic songs, album covers, artists? Sorry, Lee Greenwood, Richard Pryor, and Ted Nugent, but it's all been covered. On this weekend of inde ... 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 >>

Purple Rain: How The Songs Look In The Script

​On this day in 1984, the film that elevated Prince in the pop-culture firmament from above-average R&B singer-songwriter to, well, Prince, premiered in Hollywood. Purple Rain was a box-office hit, while the soundtrack went on to win an Oscar for Original Song Score and become one of the bigge ... More >>

Purple, Possessed & Pervy: Rock's Top 10 Houses

harleyslist.blogspot.comJohn Lennon and Yoko Ono in a happy pose in front of their home (and future site of Lennon's assassination).​Celebrity homes will always be a source of fascination, offering a glimpse at the intimate, private side of those who live their lives in the public eye. And it' ... More >>

Nothing's Shocking: Thank You, Iggy Pop

singinglamb.caA young Iggy Pop has his way with a microphone stand c. 1968​Cyberspace was all abuzz on Monday, thanks to Lady Gaga's "shocking" VMA performance of "You and I" dressed as a young Ralph Macchio, or at least that's what it looked like from here. It was creative and bold, and defin ... More >>

"Change Your Name To A Symbol" & Other Dumb Ways To Derail Your Music Career

brightestyoungthings.comThe sign officially known as "Love Symbol #2"​Sunday marked the 18th anniversary of the date Prince changed his name to that confounded "Love Symbol", and we can't help but wonder if he would have had more success had he waited a decade or two. Like it or not, in toda ... More >>

7 Musician Exes (Or Daughters) Who Should Write Tell-All Books

Photo by Groovehouse​7. Dita Von Teese (Marilyn Manson): Famed burlesque performer Dita Von Teese (above) met Marilyn Manson in 2001. He proposed in 2004, and the couple wed a year later. Von Teese filed for divorce when she couldn't deal with Manson's alcohol abuse and his extramarital affair ... 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 >>

Jeremiah Clarke: Why You Shouldn't Play "Trumpet Voluntary" at Your Wedding

​Today is the 337th birthday of composer and organist Jeremiah Clarke. You have heard his most famous work dozens of times in your life and never really thought about it. Clarke composed the "Prince of Denmark March," which is usually called "Trumpet Voluntary." Due to a mix up in a famous son ... More >>

Overlooked and Underrated: Finding Bonnie's in South Houston

​It spent nearly 25 years in the hands of a woman who started as a bar owner when she was only a few years short of senior discounts, and upon her death, it was passed on to her beautician because she didn't have any blood family, though she seemed to have the other kind in spades. Bonnie's ha ... More >>

No-Fun Number Ones: The Worst Chart Toppers Since Tiffany

Denim never dies.​It's no secret that chart success is no real guarantor of musical quality. Hell, "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" went number one way back in 1952, pissing kids off so badly that they had to invent rock 'n roll. Twenty-five years ago this week, however, Billboard ... More >>

5 Musicians Who Changed Their Names to Inspire Jim Crane and the Astros

​This week, the new owner of the Houston Astros Jim Crane opened Pandora's Box of Hearty Suggestions For A Struggling Franchise and discussed changes to the team. Cheap beer (yay!), cheaper seats (double yay!) should be one of the first things but Crane suggested that the Astros do the unthink ... More >>

Decoding Newt Gingrich Based on His Known Musical Tastes

"I know it sounds crazy, Ronnie, but Kesha's cover of Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' is one of the greatest things ever recorded"​The digital revolution is slowly killing our favorite form of amateur psychoanalysis. We've all gone through someone's CD collection at some point when th ... More >>

Five Great Middle Finger Moments In Music History

Photo via Idolator​Monday morning, the Internet was awash in consternation and jpegs after M.I.A. flashed her middle finger during Madonna's Super Bowl halftime performance Sunday, meaning Janet Jackson is finally off the hook after all these years. To be honest, Rocks Off watched the entire h ... More >>