Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Hottest Censored Album Covers, 1981-Present (NSFW)

Longtime readers of Rocks Off might remember that back in 2009 we ran thorough look at censored album covers that spanned the years of 1966 to 1980, with two more recent covers at the end. Of course, album covers didn't stop being censored just as frequently after 1980, and the two examples in our f ... More >>

The 10 Greatest Rock Bassists in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Geddy Lee Edition

I could sit here and write paragraphs about my appreciation of Geddy Lee. He was the first true influence I had as a bass player when I was in high school. For years after, I admired not just his talent as a musician, but his ability to improve and grow. He is also underrated for how great a "rock" ... More >>

Scienter's Guide to the Houston Music Scene

Stop me if you've heard this one -- a lawyer, a doctor, and a writer walk into a bar... Yeah, I'm not exactly sure of the punchline, but that's exactly what happened when I met up with last Friday with the guys from Scienter, Houston's own self-described "melodic alt-rock" group. Led by frontman ... More >>

Five Rock Supergroups That Actually Worked

NOt long ago, we finally saw the release of the long-awaited album from Radiohead/Red Hot Chili Peppers supergroup Atoms for Peace and it got me thinking: supergroups are a tough trick to pull off. We all fantasize about our favorite musicians playing together, but when it actually comes to fruition ... More >>

Where Are They Now?: Emo's 10-Year High School Reunion

Mainstream emo in the early 2000s was a harsh mistress to keep. For those of us into the true underground form of it, it was an offensive burden to deal with, but at least some good bands were getting some mainstream success. Others? Well, we'd just have to deal with them. Of course, all that's ove ... More >>

UPDATED: ACL Last Night: Iggy & the Stooges at Zilker Park

UPDATED (11:40 a.m.) to correct "instrument" with "instrumental" Iggy & the Stooges Bud Light Stage Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park October 14, 2012 Rewind: SLIDESHOWS: The Girls of Austin City Limits Chili Peppers, Stooges, Die Antwoord: ACL 2012 Sunday The Fans: ACL 2012 Sunday ... More >>

6 More ACL Acts to Look Out For This Weekend

I'm what you can call a late bloomer when it comes to music festivals. Before coming to work for Rocks Off, my festival expertise was regulated to the Houston International Festival and that one SXSW that I spent bar hopping on Red River then somehow managing to sneak into Stubbs through the artist ... More >>

Top 10 Steampunk Songs

It's a big week for steampunk enthusiasts. First of all, today is the 287th birthday of Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, the man who built the first self-propelled, steam-powered vehicle. He invented his three-wheeled fardier à vapeur in 1769, and went on to build progressively more complex and better model ... More >>

6 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: John Prine, We Give a Jam, Twenty Mondays, etc.

If you had a dollar for every year it's been since John Prine has played in Houston - OK, maybe $2 or $3; the point is it's been a long time - you could easily afford a ticket to see the wise, sardonic master singer-songwriter at 8 p.m. tonight at U of H's Cullen Performance Hall (4800 Calhoun), so ... More >>

Supergroups: 10 Bands That Sprang From Other Bands

From the remnants of other great bands are often birthed more great bands. Oftentimes these little side projects go under the radar unless you are a hardcore fan, or the new band itself gains a lot of airplay or word of mouth. Either way, some of the greatest rock bands of all time have been birthe ... More >>

MEGAFORCE Turns "The Greeks" Into A Childhood Bloodbath

I don't know much about the London band Is Tropical beyond that they were founded in 2009. Even their members' names are kept secret, and they appear in press photos masked. Nonetheless, they're responsible for some fantastic lo-fi dance music that is highly infectious. Their debut album is Native T ... More >>

5 Songs For International Children's Literature Day

Founded in 1967 and meant to coincide with the April 2 birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, the legendary Danish author of classic children's tales like The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, and the Ugly Duckling, International Children's Literature Day is a celebration of books meant to encourage young p ... More >>

Texas Sons The Mars Volta Strip Down To Progress With New Album, Movie

El Paso natives Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta have long been known for their bombast and progressive-rock self-indulgence. Ever since they departed the seminal post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, they've spent their time making what can only be described as "epics." ... More >>

Crazy Times: 5 Festivals That Need DVD/Blu-Ray Box Sets

Music festivals have played an indefinite part of pop culture history. From the various Woodstock festivals, Us Festivals, and even Lollapalooza - they have played a part in defining their generations. Unfortunately some of these amazing festivals have only seen the light of day in the form of eit ... 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 >>

Tuesday Night at Memorial's Shakespeare Pub

​Although I drank enough in college, I never went to traditional college nights, at least not the kind with nearly-free booze and 21-year-olds shooting their way across a strip of bars. After reading about the worst of stereotypical college life, this sounds like a less harrowing assignment. ... More >>

2011 Rewind: Concert Tickets From An Alternate Universe

This originally ran on June 8, but seeing that the year is coming to an end, we are looking back at some of our favorite blogs we gave to you these past 12 months. One of the best dreams we ever had was of covering a Clash show for Rocks Off. Yeah, dreaming about work isn't something to brag about ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

What Is Classic Rock Today?

​What is classic rock in 2010? 15 years ago, it was was the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, anything Eric Clapton touched and every band your dad played in his car while he was making out with the girls he met before your mom. That's how we know classic rock: Big riffs, big voices, in ... More >>

Top 10 Double Albums That Should Have Stayed Single

​Not all double albums should have been double albums, just as some albums had to be double albums in order for their point to be made. Each case is different with each band or artist. The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia had to be double albums to tell their stories of teenage wastelands and po ... More >>

First SXSW 2011 Bands Announced: Uh Oh

A Place to Bury Strangers​It's here, folks. And not a moment too soon. Not even a month after ACL, and before Thanksgiving, the folks at from South by Southwest sent out there first missive detailing the 2011 event, scheduled for March 16-20. Rocks Off is shuddering already, but in a good way. ... 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 >>

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 >>

Acts We Think - OK, Hope - Are Playing ACL Fest This Year

​By this time Tuesday, we will all know who is playing the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October. Damn, it seems like we have speculating about the line-up since, well, we got the last of the "Dillo Dirt" out the middle of our toes after last year's muddy and rainy ACL weekend. Tuesday brig ... More >>

Fails Of The Week: BBC 6 Listeners, Whitney Houston, Rolling Stone And MGMT

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

Back To The Future: Ska Selecters Who Beat The English Beat

This Sunday, Valentine's Day if you nasty, Warehouse Live gets a two-tone shot of ska history when the English Beat and Fishbone hit the stage. The two bands tour together quite a bit and have become the sort of elder ambassadors of the genre while bands like the Specials mull over extensive tourin ... More >>

MTV VMA Celebrities Ask The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat

​Dear Full-Custom Gospel Sounds,I am a multiplatinum rap artist and producer who has won several Grammy awards. You'd think this would be enough to satisfy me, but I am unable to allow other people to enjoy their time in the spotlight - I have often interrupted acceptance speeches, ranted and rave ... 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 >>

The Night a Well-Aimed Shoe Ended Smashing Pumpkins' Houston Goodwill

Today Rocks Off is starting a recurring series of local music urban legends; not so much 'urban legends' in the sense of oft-repeated stories that turn out to be false - though those are fine too - but actual legends: events and incidents that get talked about so much they become a part of local lor ... More >>

Aftermath: Neon Collars at Rocbar

Photos by Chris GrayWith a heavy funk groove, guitar equally rooted in jazz and rock and soulful vocals as fierce as anything Sasha could belt out, Neon Collars makes you wonder - happily, for once - what they're teaching in the schools these days. The five-piece sometimes telegraphs its age in Fran ... More >>

Aftermath: Morrissey at Jones Hall

Craig HlavatyTropical Storm Morrissey blew through Jones Hall Saturday night, leaving a full house of hyperventilated fans - never more so than when, during "Let Me Kiss You," he removed his shirt to reveal an enviable set of abs - and more than a few moist eyes in its wake; after the sh ... More >>

Butthole Surfers Pt. 2: Ex-Manager Tom Bunch on Managing the Band (Officially and Otherwise), the "Ranch" in Dripping Springs, the Rough Trade Bankruptcy, pioughd and Steering BHS to the Majors

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

Gary Panter

The master comic book artist signs his two-volume retrospective

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On

Highly Anticipated Albums of 2008

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.

Musical Food Groups

If singers were cheese, what kind of cheese would they be?

Hip-hop as She Is Rapped

Translating the German Wikipedia entries of Houston's top MCs

Dixie Chicks

Taking the Long Way

How Long, Oh, Lord, How Long

Another outpost of crap plops onto the Houston dial, as this open letter reveals

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"

Booked Up

Selling his novel on the streets of Houston got Abram Himelstein in trouble. He's ready to give as good as he got.

Post-Christmas Clearance

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

Live Shots

Been Caught Stealing