Rick James

Is David Guetta's "Play Hard" the Best (and Most Racist) Video On YouTube?!

Earlier this week, as I was working/editing/writing/procrastinating after a long weekend on the road, I came across the new video for "Play Hard" by David Guetta. Now, I'm not much of a Guetta fan, but I don't dislike him either. He makes radio-friendly pop songs disguised as house music (or is it ... More >>

Top 20 Songs Dedicated to Drank, Part 2

Friday we brought you the first installment of songs passionately devoted to syrup. So far we've confirmed that Houston is indeed the only City of Syrup. It's also safe to say that the late Screwed Up Click legend Big Moe sang about sipping more than anyone ever could, as he dominates this list with ... More >>

Jailhouse Rock: When Artists Face Hard Time

Nothing earns an musician instant street cred quite like a night or two in the pokey. It's basically a rite of passage -- a guarantee that if you sign up for the public eye, you will, indeed, screw it up at least once in order to delight us with your antics. From the likes of good ol' boys like Mer ... More >>

Ask Willie D: My Grown Pothead Son Won't Move Out

Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off's advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, "funny, serious or unpredictable." Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! GUILTY OF RAISING A DEADBEAT Willie D, my son is a complete and utter deadbeat. Since he gra ... More >>

Unscripted: Top 10 Actor/Musician Collaborations

Johnny Depp and Marilyn Manson have been hanging out a lot lately. The actor joined the antichrist onstage a couple of weeks ago at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards show in L.A., and played guitar on "Sweet Dreams" and "Beautiful People." Depp also collaborated with Manson on a cover of Carly Simon' ... More >>

Rick Perry's Top 10 "Oh Faces": A Soundtrack

mysanantonio.comGig 'em!​Once again, Texas is front and center on the national political stage, our spokesman an almost cartoon-like embodiment of every Lone Star stereotype: Fast-talkin', gun-lovin', bible-thumpin', boot-wearin', oil-worshipping, death penalty happy, larger-than-life right-wi ... More >>

30 Seconds With Chromeo

​Rocks Off sat down with Dave1 and P-Thugg of one of the best bands around, Chromeo, to see what we could learn from their royal smoothnesses in just 30 seconds. Note: They wished to be credited for their answers collectively, because My Little Pony is right and friendship really is magic. Ro ... More >>

Chromeo

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 >>

Scott Stewart: Front Porch Fracas Over Crack Cash Lands Lufkin Man in Jail

Scott Stewart: The pepper balls did him in​While Scott Stewart might not charge much in rent, the 38-year-old East Texas landlord definitely does prove that adage that you get what you pay for. And there's another old chestnut his alleged actions would seem to buttress, one first uttered by fu ... More >>

Third World: Never Making Music For Other People

Each Wednesday (or Thursday), 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 sheaserrano@gmail.com. ​Typically ... More >>

Top 10 Musical Wikileaks We'd Like To See

Bigger than Bowie and Bing, we tell you.​Ever since WikiLeaks began the publication of what is claimed to be over a quarter-million United States embassy cables last week, we've been pondering what secrets, phenomenon and other ephemera could be lingering out there in the music world, awaiting ... More >>

Common Leaves Us Hanging At Warehouse Live

Photos by Marco Torres​8:00 p.m.: There is a female behind the decks onstage. Aftermath loves seeing females who can hold it down on the 1s and 2s. She has a bedazzled Macbook and goes by the name of DJ Superstar. Go on with your bad self, girl. 8:10 p.m.: The audience is a bona fide rainbow ... More >>

Songs We Play When We Play With Guns

​After almost 27 years, Craig's Hlist has found himself immersed in gun culture. It's not so much a masculine phallic thing (believe us, we have questioned it), as much as it is a family bonding experience. It's easier to go to a gun range with our family out in Pearland on a Sunday afternoon than ... More >>

A Jury Of Billy Joe Shaver's Peers

Jury selection began this morning in the aggravated assault trial of country legend Billy Joe Shaver, who was charged after he shot a man in the face outside of a Lorena bar in 2007. Shaver's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, maintains Shaver shot Billy Bryant Coker in self-defense. All Hair Balls knows is, ... More >>

Can't Forget The Motor City: Our Favorite Motown Jams, Part 2

​ Rocks Off - sorry, He Said; we're still getting used to this whole identity-shift thing - is sure some of our readers think we do nothing except sit around and listen to the Drive-By Truckers all day. To which we say: Have you heard Bettye LaVette's The Scene of the Crime or Booker T's Potato Ho ... More >>

How To Get A Rush In The Piney Woods Without Using Meth

​You know what's boring? Babysitting two kids while schlepping around your own two kids, that's what's boring.A gal with joie de vivre needs a little excitement at such times. What to do? Duh -- You leave the kids in the pick-up truck (engine running, of course), head into the Walmart and do a lit ... More >>

The Great Green Room In the Sky: The Grim Reaper's 2009 Musical Roll Call

​Thankfully, 2009 was a sorry year for the Greil Marcus Rock Death Meter. Aside from the not terribly unexpected (but still weird) demise of the King of Pop, few bona fide legends went on to the Great Green Room Beyond the Sky. The Rock Death Meter rates rock deaths on a ten-point scale in three c ... More >>

For Your Entertainment? Nice Try, Adam Lambert, But These Music-Awards Moments Were Even Creepier

​The best news that Jennifer Lopez could possibly have heard this morning was that America is still more interested in clucking about public displays of gayness than in pointing and laughing when a diva falls on her ass. We imagine there's already one of those jumbo-sized Harry & David fruit b ... More >>

This Week's No Reservations: Rust Belt

Photo by CaDeltaFotoBaltimore's skyline: Much nicer than one would anticipate​This week Anthony Bourdain headed to Baltimore, Buffalo and Detroit, or, as he called them, "fucked up cities I kinda love." The episode was light on snark and heavy on pathos and snowscapes of abandoned structures. ... More >>

Burnin' for You

The Best Wrestler Theme Songs of All Time

With Wrestlemania in town for its 25th anniversary, Rocks Off thought we could take a little stroll down memory lane and relive some of the WWE's best wrestling theme songs. Nowadays, the WWE can afford to purchase the rights to slick, well-produced songs by popular music acts such as Saliva, O ... More >>

Top Ten Pop Songs of 2008

Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The following ten singles ... More >>

Charlie Murphy

A top Chappelle’s Show comedian stops off in Houston

Get Lit: The Pitchfork 500

Happy Birthday, Shakey

Musical Hurricane Preparedness Kit, Part 2: Hello Edouard (and Edward, and Ed, and Eddie...)

The Most Demanding Songs in Rock History

Classic Rock Corner: Mudcrutch, Golliwogs, Mynah Birds, Moving Sidewalks and More

Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker

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

Ike Turner, 1931-2007

Drenched In Blog: Superbad Tracks

Another Bump

Ten of the best coke anthems, plus a shortlist for the Cocaine Hall of Fame

Cred Sheet

Stuff you need to know to avoid musical ostracism

Michael Richards: Call Him Ku Klux Kramer?

Chromeo and the Cajun

Charlie in Charge

Dave to the Rescue!

Dave Chappelle

The O.G. of Love

Johnny "Guitar" Watson gets his due with a terrific two disc set

The Black Album

A new film examines the darker side of rock

Dance, Dance, Revolution

Hip-hop, clowns and war dances meet on the street in Rize

Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza

Here are a bunch of hilarious misheard lyrics. Now send us more.

Benny Blanko

8 Ft. in the Air (Playhouse)

Rick James RIP, Bitch

Houston DJs pay homage to the funky one

Strange Heights

Bobbindoctrin offers up a lighthearted look at tyranny

BET's Reason to Keep Smiley

Tavis Smiley

Rotation

Rotation

Super Squeak

Rick James comes clean on the past, the present -- and the CD he hopes will revive his career

Rotation