Red Hot Chili Peppers

Retro Active: 1987, Here We Come

Highly Anticipated Albums of 2008

To Do: Tha Fucking Transmissions, Glass Candy and Farah at the MFAH

XM Nation: Catching Up and Moving On

Rotation

Been Caught Stealing

Crit Picks

Live Shots

Post-Christmas Clearance

John Frusciante and Hildegard von Bingen never went to Festus, Missouri

Decay Becomes Him

Ex-Chili Pepper John Frusciante sleepwalks through a rock and roll nightmare

Off the Wagon

Ex-Chili Pepper John Frusciante sleepwalks through a rock and roll nightmare

Lollapalooza, Year Four: The bloom is back

Ex-Chili Pepper John Frusciante sleepwalks through a rock and roll nightmare

Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker

Local filmmaker Raymond Gayle explores how the pioneers of rock became anomalies

Aged Peppers

Flea and company prove they can keep it together

Big Chris Gates and Gatesville

Big Chris Gates and Gatesville perform Friday, March 2, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899. James McMurtry also performs.

Cred Sheet

Stuff you need to know to avoid musical ostracism

Dixie Chicks

Taking the Long Way

The Black Album

A new film examines the darker side of rock

Sex, Drugs and Jeff Tweedy's National Geographic Collection

Rock memoirs take us behind the music

Pattern Recognition

Can defunct German bands become the sheezy in '05? Ja, they Can. We explore these and other of this year's trends.

Playbill

Can defunct German bands become the sheezy in '05? Ja, they Can. We explore these and other of this year's trends.

Don't Choke

Fishbone skanks into town

The Mars Volta

De-Loused in the Comatorium (Gold Standard Labs/Strummer Recordings/ Universal )

New Bands from Old

Or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Ignore Audioslave"

Best CD by Local Musicians

Simpleton's What Do You Want to Do

Faceplant

Saturday, February 23

Dready Metal

Unlike their North American counterparts, Jamaican rappers are incorporating heavy metal into their material, with some amazing results

Defending The Buzz: Does 94.5 FM Really Suck That Bad?

What with Creed reuniting, BuzzFest coming up in a couple of weeks and, hell, maybe even the swine-flu scare - As in: What's worse than coming down with swine flu? A Houston radio that only tunes in 94.5 FM - Rocks Off sure has been thinking a lot about The Buzz lately. Probably too much. I mean, it ... More >>

Boy, Do We Feel Old: "Hot for Teacher" and Other Back-To-School Songs

Today is the first day of school for almost all the public school districts in the area. Children and teens from Alvin to Alief are trudging into polished halls and sterile classrooms for yet another year of romantic intrigue and bitter class struggle, and impromptu dance routines in the cafeteria, ... More >>

Jimi Hendrix Covers: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (P.S. John Mayer Still Sucks)

This week marks the 39th anniversary of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, which is famous for a couple of reasons. First, it was such a financial disaster it put the kibosh on any further Wight fesivals for the next 32 years. Second, and more importantly, it marked the penultimate performance of one ... More >>

A Few of Music's Biggest Tattoo Enthusiasts - Besides Rocks Off, Of Course

Don't act so surprised... As we can fatefully attest, rock and roll and tattoos go hand in hand. The first time Rocks Off saw a grizzled punk rocker walk by at Fitzgerald's back in the '90s with two sleeves full of tattoos and a chest full of nautical-themed art, we mentally pointed at him and said ... More >>

Self-Admitted Wanker John Mayer Is Far From Alone at the Musical Spank Bank

​ Photo illustration by John Seaborn GrayThe chicken is Photoshopped. The swimsuit, sadly, isn't.​Guess what you're missing if you haven't picked up the latest copy of Rolling Stone? Go on, guess. All right, we'll tell you: according to their website, you're missing the lowdown on John Mayer's " ... More >>

Top 10 Pop Songs With Children's Choruses

​On the way home from ACL this past Sunday night, Craig's Hlist had his Rdio account humming over the speakers playing one of his playlists (phlayhlist?), but not the sad-bastard mix we rocks whenever we are at work alone. It was the life-spanning one we have been making since we got on the mu ... 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 >>

Friday Night: Tim & Eric At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jim Bricker​ Tim & Eric, Neil Hamburger FItzgerald's November 12, 2010 It took Aftermath a while to "get" Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim's Awesome Show (Great Job). We were a fan of their original Adult Swim offering, Tom Goes to the Mayor, but at first unfairly lumped in their m ... More >>

Top 10 Musician Movie Cameos

Rocks Off has no idea why Mick Jagger might prefer Performance to Ned Kelly.​Over recent years, Rocks Off has been repeatedly surprised by the quality performances of musicians in films. Naturally, there are some duds in the mix; even Mick Jagger himself, who starred in 1970's Ned Kelly, disow ... 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 >>

Grandfather Child Finish Album, Resume Crushing Crowds

Mark C. Austin​There are two things you need to know about Grandfather Child: They're a super group made up of the best pieces of other bands. The lineup is Lucas Gorham, Ryan Chavez, Robert Ellis and Geoffrey Muller. In case you're not terribly familiar with the Houston independent music s ... More >>

Flogging Molly

Mark C. Austin​There are two things you need to know about Grandfather Child: They're a super group made up of the best pieces of other bands. The lineup is Lucas Gorham, Ryan Chavez, Robert Ellis and Geoffrey Muller. In case you're not terribly familiar with the Houston independent music s ... More >>

Bright Light Social Hour's Favorite Summertime Jams

Bright Lights, White House: Bright Light Social Hour in front of Obama's DC crib. ​With a sound influenced by Sly & The Family Stone, The Allman Brothers, Daft Punk and Muddy Waters, Austin's Bright Light Social Hour has become one of the city's most prominent party bands. Imagine Foxy Shazam ... More >>

The Eagle Flies Away With "Houston's Alternative Hits"

All that's left of The Zone's Web site.​Cox Communications has shuttered its fledgling "alternative hits" concept, 106.9 The Zone, and begun simulcasting The Eagle, The Zone's "classic hits" next-door neighbor, on that frequency as of 5:30 a.m. this morning. "The Eagle's Classic Hits forma ... More >>

The Best Summer Movie Soundtracks Of The '90s

This movie is old enough to drive.​Summer is officially here, even though it's been ball-dripping sweaty since at least early May. This is also about the time that we are already steeped in big-budget Hollywood summer would-be blockbusters, the kind of movies that have fast-food promotions and ... More >>

2 Sexy 4 Shirts: Video Boys Of Summer Frolic Au Naturel

​The only summer trend that matters this year - to us, anyway - is "Boys Gone Wild." So, what happened, H-town dudes? It's as if when Free Press Summer Fest wrapped up, none of you has wanted to strut around town sweaty and shirtless since. This is one of the reasons why we can't really see a ... More >>

G N' R, The Cure & Chili Peppers Could Be Hall Of Famers Next Year

Oh, this will be a fun induction ceremony...​This morning, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced the list of nominees for its Class of 2012: The Small Faces & The Faces, Freddie King, The Cure, Guns 'N Roses, Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Spinners, War, Joan Jett and the Bl ... More >>

The End is Nigh: 2012 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Edition

Mason Lankford said, "There will come a day when we forget the Rapture ever even happened," but Rocks Off is keeping an eye out for signs of our impending Armageddon. We were wrong last time, but we're totally right this time! Derek JensenThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame​Once again the time has ... More >>

The Simpsons' Top 11 Musical Guests

​When The Simpsons completes its last (contracted) season in 2014, it will have set staggering new broadcast records for longest running sitcom (over 550 episodes) and longest running prime time scripted TV series (25 seasons). These are all American records, of course, because the Japanese co ... More >>

Not Average Joe: Six Rock and Roll Joes on the Day "Hey Joe" Turns 45

​Despite the fact that he never really had a major "hit" (Electric Ladyland reached number one as an album but he never had a single go higher than 20 in the US) and was terribly under appreciated while he was still alive, Jimi Hendrix is one of the giants of rock and roll. His songs and his g ... More >>

Red Hot Chili Peppers Reschedule Houston Date Due To Anthony Kiedis Injury

​And just like that, to anyone who was fretting about missing the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Toyota Center to see ZZ Top on March 8 at RodeoHouston, your problems have been solved. And mine too, since I wanted to see both bands. RHCP have announced a new date for their show, this next Octobe ... More >>

Predicting Your Future Half Time Show Performers

Photo By Marco Torres​All of the Super Bowl talk this week has given me a chance to ponder one of my favorite pop culture questions: how big do you have to be to perform at the Super Bowl half time show? When you consider the acts that have performed since the 2005 move to one act performances ... More >>