Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

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 >>

An Animal Roars Again: The Eric Burdon Interview, Part 1

As lead vocalist for the '60s British Invasion band the Animals, Eric Burdon fronted what was perhaps the toughest R&B-influenced group from the era (sorry, Stones fans), and had a second incarnation exploring psychedelic music. In his collaborations with War, Burdon pushed the boundaries of impro ... More >>

5 Music-Themed Petitions For the White House

We now know definitively that the United States government will not be building a Death Star, at least not under the Obama administration. We know this because enough citizens signed an online petition on the subject that the administration had to respond. Like all good things on the Internet, We T ... More >>

For Once, the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Got It Right

Despite being sick and hacking up more different colors of phlegm than there are Power Rangers, I needed to certify that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wasn't completely mad for its incoming inductees. Rewind: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Set To Induct Rush, Heart, Donna Summer, and Public Enemy Y ... 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 >>

ZZ Top Sucks. There, I Said It.

ZZ Top Sucks. There, I Said It.

Today ZZ Top is releasing their 15th studio album and first in nine years, LA FUTURA. By all accounts is it much-anticipated. But I'm going to out myself here and now: I do not get why people love ZZ Top. If you are one of those people, can you explain it to me like I'm five years old? Chances are ... More >>

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators

The End of the Road: Digital Mourning in 2012

At the Houston Press office, I am usually the first person who finds out when a celebrity or musician dies, usually from a wire or, these days, the fine folks at TMZ. Hell, sometimes even when I am away from my desk I have to be the bearer of bad tidings, like when Adam Yauch passed on a few weeks a ... More >>

RIP Donald "Duck" Dunn: 5 Other Great Label Bassists

See Also: "Support Staff: 10 of Pop History's Greatest Backing Bands" Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bassist for Memphis soul band Booker T & the MGs - the house band at seminal '60s Stax Records - passed away in his sleep early Sunday morning, according to his friend and longtime bandmate Steve Cropper. ... More >>

Jane's Addiction & Other Big 1987 Debut Albums

Tonight Jane's Addiction comes to the Bayou Music Center, touring behind last year's The Great Escape Artist, only their fourth studio album in their nearly 27 years as a band. A few weeks back Rocks Off talked to lead singer and Lollapalooza honcho Perry Farrell about the band's future and what cou ... More >>

Last Night: Steel Panther At House Of Blues

Steel Panther House of Blues April 12, 2012 See more Steel Panther pictures in our slideshow. In a week that saw Axl Rose decline a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and the continuation of the foggying of hard rock, it's easy to forget that beyond all the human drama and stubbornness inherent ... More >>

Who Should Induct Axl Rose And Guns N' Roses Into The Rock Hall?

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is coming up quick on April 14, and the presenters for the event have been announced, except for one artist. Just who will speak about and induct Guns N' Roses? Who is even qualified? Rapper Chuck D will induct the Beastie Boys, while funnyman Ch ... More >>

Why The Monkees Should Be In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

The death of Davy Jones Wednesday isn't just the end of one man's life. For fans of the Monkees, it means the end of a lot of things. It means no more reunions. It means no more movie and TV cameo appearances. It means no more new music It means no performance to celebrate the Monkees' induction ... More >>

Which Metal Bands Should Reunite?: Revocation Tells Us

Tony Norkus/ www.facebook.com/Revocationn​The music industry has lit up with some pretty high-profile reunions in the past few months. At The Drive-In and Refused both announced comeback shows within days of one another, and even Black Sabbath decided to reconvene for a new album and a world t ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush...Again

Photo by Jeff Balke​A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch at the Continental Club talking music with a fairly well known music writer who seemed to believe that anything with a big hook or the slightest inkling of musicianship beyond the garage band aesthetic was utter garbage. I ... 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 >>

Succinct Stooges Bio Looks Beyond Iggy Pop

​The Stooges: Head On By Brett Callwood Wayne State University Press, 176 pp., $19.95. While there have been a number of books written about the Stooges and Iggy Pop, this slim but substantive volume is the first to really give the non-Iggy members their due both biographically and musically. ... More >>

Idol Beat: I Do Not Like That will.i.am

​Only nine hopefuls remain in this, the 10th season of American Idol (AKA the Greatest Talent Competition Since the Battle of the Bands at San Dimas High School). It's time to separare the wheat from the chaff, the post-adolescents from the mere adolescents, those who are "in it to win it" fro ... More >>

More Like "Hall Of Lame," Am I Right?

​Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is ready to admit a new class: Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love and Dr. John have all been inducted for 2011, the foundation announced Wednesday. With the exception of Wai ... More >>

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame: Puppet Wing

Photos via WikipediaTMBG​Ladies and gentlemen, Rocks Off is pleased as rum punch to announce that The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has (not) added an official puppet wing to that fine institution. What's even better, they have (not) given us the opportunity to nominate some of the finest felt fe ... More >>

Allen Toussaint

Bon Jovi, Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers? It Could Happen...

Stay classy, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...​This morning the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced this year's ballot of nominees, with the winners to be announced in December and inducted next March in New York. Fifteen names are on this year's ballot, ranging from hip-hoppers, proto-metal icons, ... 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 >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Stooges; Rocks Off Team Member Faints In Disbelief

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2010 inductees Tuesday. Somehow, Jann Wenner and his cronies even managed to induct an actual rock band this year: streetwalkin' Detroit cheetahs Iggy & the Stooges - who, according to RRHOF rules (25 years after an artist's first recording ... More >>

Eyeballin': Deep Purple: History, Hits and Highlights 1968-76

[Ed. Note: Throughout the holiday season, Rocks Off will be bringing you our picks for recent DVDs, CDs and other musical wares that might be just the ticket to help fill out that pesky shopping list. Enjoy.] ​Though they never achieved the popularity of Zeppelin or Sabbath, and are still not in t ... More >>

Jackson Browne

Hiding on the Backstreets: Remembering Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band In Houston

Daniel KramerThe Boss at Toyota Center, April 2009​This past weekend's show in Buffalo, N.Y., was the last date on a nearly two-year (and two-album-supporting) trek by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which found them criss-crossing the country and the globe several times to rapt audiences ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Last Men Standing

​Lonesome Onry and Mean vaguely remembers someone telling us a couple of years ago that Las Vegas bookies actually had a line on whether Chuck Berry would die that year (we think it was 2007). The macabre factor aside, remembering this Wednesday got LOM to pondering about the Godfathers of Rock an ... More >>

Cutout Bin: Novo Combo's Animation Generation

Novo Combo Animation Generation (Polydor, 1982) The 1980s: everything was changing. A new generation was taking over the musical and cultural landscape. Heavy Metal showed that even animated boobs could be a turn-on. Tron told us that even crappy, monochromatic animation made by crappy, low-p ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Metallica, Run-DMC, Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson

Yesterday marked a tremendous day for rappers and thrashers across the world: Metallica and Run-DMC were announced as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's newest inductees, along with Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Bobby Womack, two members of Elvis Presley's backing band ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Navigating the Economic Crisis

Down Payment Blues

Thom Bell and the Sound of Brotherly Love

While the ubiquitous songs of Detroit's Motown get anthologized and commercialized ad infinitum, and the critics salivate over the gritty southern soul of Memphis' Stax, the third great movement/label of '60s and '70s soul has always gotten short shrift. Until now, that is, with the release of the ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Fela Kuti, Jay-Z, Left Eye, Lil Wayne, Ed McMahon, Ciara, DMX and More

Soul and Blues Festival

Betty Wright, Bobby “Blue” Bland and Willie Clayton headline a mega-jam

Q&A: Little Steven Van Zandt

Moody Blues

Drenched In Blog: Um… Hallelujah?

Ring in the Holidays at Charles Brown Blues Fest

Mavis Staples

The Solid Blues show is solid gold

Drenched in Blog: Hall of Fame Nominations a Big Cleveland Steamer

Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Bleeding Through

concert preview

Honor Bound

A fictional look at the future of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Don't Fear the Reaper

The annual return of the Greil Marcus Rock Death Meter

U.K. Subs

Thursday, November 6

Best AM Radio Personality

Paul Berlin

He Ain't Ever Coming Back

Joe Strummer, a titan of the Clash

Night & Day

October 29 - November 4, 1998

Static