Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

Laura Nyro Is Worth Remembering

"I'm writing about Laura Nyro. What should I say?" "Who?" This was not the answer I wanted or expected from my mother. After all, I had spent my single-digit years rifling through my parents' old vinyl and found Nyro's pen to be behind many a childhood favorite. Laura Nyro was born into a forward- ... 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 >>

Fresh Cream and the Top 10 Power Trios of All Time

Forty-six years ago this week, British blues-rockers Cream unveiled their debut album, Fresh Cream, one of the most deeply influential rock and roll records of all time. The original supergroup, the band was intended to unite the "cream" of the late-'60s British blues scene, featuring Eric Clapton ... More >>

5 Guitarists Who Got Started on Christmas Presents

Odds are those of you reading this are music fans, and if not, congratulations on having been driven here by reading everything else online! It's also possible that you're musicians yourselves, and since any instrument besides your voice, hand claps, and armpit farts is generally a major purchase, I ... More >>

10 Songs Still Missing From Spotify & What You Can Listen to Instead

As recently mentioned, I'm a pretty big fan of Spotify. Speaking as someone who never got over getting burned by my purchase of Stroke 9's Nasty Little Thoughts I'm a big fan of having the chance to listen to a record all the way through before making a purchase. In their advertising the company i ... More >>

Saturday Night: ZZ Top at Constellation Field

ZZ Top Constellation Field October 20, 2012 ZZ Top has been writing and performing music for nearly 45 years. Now, granted, there are a handful of other artists that have been around that long too, but most of them have a lot of baggage, the stuff of VH1 documentaries and that Oprah loves to talk a ... More >>

Shape Shifter: A Conversation With Icon of Style Carlos Santana

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed annually between September 15t and October 15 as a celebration of the positive cultural impact Hispanic and Latino Americans contribute to this country. This year, guitarist Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana was honored by Macy's as the Hispanic ... More >>

The First Alt-Country Record? Flatlanders Rediscover The Odessa Tapes

A lot of stellar music came out of that flat land known as West Texas. Bob Wills, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Terry Allen, Guy Clark, and the Sparkles are just a few artists who found something in the wind, the dust, the heat, the cactus, the mesquite, the sandstorms, the blizzards, t ... More >>

Meet the 2012 HPMA Showcase Nominees: Potbelly

Rocks Off reached out to the artists playing this year's Houston Press Music Awards showcase Sunday, August 5, and asked them to introduce themselves. Here's what they sent back. Catch up with the other showcase nominees and see the rest of our HPMA coverage Rocks Off: When and where was your firs ... More >>

Years of Refusal: 8 More '80s Icons Who Should Follow Morrissey Into Retirement

Morrissey announced this week that he plans to retire in two years. That's tragic news in some circles, but we think it's a good move. In 2014, he'll turn 55, and the Smiths thing is never happening. How much longer is he supposed to do this? Another ten years 'til he's 65? He's Morrissey, not a Chi ... More >>

Perry Farrell Is Doing Just Fine

Jane's Addiction and Lollapalooza mastermind on Bin Laden and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Going The Distance: The Hot 100's 10 Longest-Charting Songs

Let us hop in our time machine and head back to a magical place in the past known as Dec. 23, 2010. Here is a snapshot of things going on at the time: Rocks Off was making wishes for the year 2011; Kanye West was knee deep in Album of the Year wins for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; Eddie Vedder ... More >>

You Got Served: The Top 10 Legal Battles In Rock History

Ten years ago last week, one of the most vicious legal battles in rock history took another ugly turn. Ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl found themselves in King County Superior Court over a dispute with Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, over the band's considerable royalti ... More >>

They're Ba-a-ack!: The Six Best Coachella Reunion Performances

Over the weekend, we experienced one of the most exciting musical events of the year: The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. One of the main features of the festival is the reunion aspect. For most of Coachella's lifespan, it has featured at least one classic band back together for the first ti ... More >>

Aerosmith & Cheap Trick Rock Toyota Center July 30

This morning Aerosmith, the band that wouldn't die (or refuses to go away), announced a Houston stop on this summer's "Global Warming" tour at Toyota Center Monday, July 30. Taking a break from the casino/state-fair circuit, Illinois power-pop heroes Cheap Trick open. Aerosmith is still be rumored ... More >>

Women On Top: 10 Female Artists We're Way Into Right Now

March is Women's History Month, and Rocks Off has been thinking a lot lately about the indelible contributions to popular music made by women over the last few decades. After all, where would Elvis Presley be if it weren't for Big Mama Thornton? Probably still dead, we guess, but you get the point. ... More >>

Top 10 Carole King Songs Written for Other Artists

Carole King is a woman who has played a major part in creating numerous classic hit songs. She has helped to shape popular music since she and then-husband Gerry Goffin (they divorced in 1968) wrote "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" in 1961. Her songs have been covered by such diverse artists as Smokey Ro ... 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 >>

Memoir From Early AC/DC bassist Mark Evans Sheds Light On Band's Beginnings

Get Lit: Dirty Deeds - My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC By Mark Evans 288 pp., $19.95, Bazillion Points Books The Thunder from Down Under that is AC/DC has been blasting eardrums for nearly four decades, continuing to move millions of records and tour huge arenas worldwide. And though the lineup ha ... 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 >>

Last Night: The Doobie Brothers At House Of Blues

Photos by Bob Ruggiero​They are one of the classic American rock bands of the '70s and '80s, boast nearly a double CD's worth of hits from three distinct eras, always play with incredible musicianship, and still feature original singer/guitarists Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons. So why was A ... 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 >>

Joe Ely, Bobby Womack Top Early 2011 Concert Picks

Jason WolterJoe Ely (left) and David Grissom at iFest 2010​Lonesome Onry and Mean got a Facebook event invitation Monday that caused us to panic and pull our credit card out so we could be sure we had a ticket. And in doing so, we realized that 2011 is upon us and we have some planning ahead t ... More >>

Island Of Misfit Christmas Albums: Teen Pop Meltdown

​It happens like this: You are in charge of a major teen-pop act who can sell anything with their face or voice on it, be it training bras, shaving cream, or caskets. You have a week off in the summer from touring. Do you let the talent go home and sleep in their own beds or do you shove the ... More >>

FAIL: ABBA, Animal Collective, Diddy, Pete Doherty

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Hooray! Now Your Feet Are Boring, Too!: A clothing designer called Keep took a whole bunch of ecstasy (probably) and then invited Animal Collective's Avery Tare to design some shoes for them. By "design," we of course mean "scribble on some plain beige ... More >>

Last Night: Hole At House Of Blues

Photos by Groovehouse / Click here for a slideshow​Hole House of Blues July 6, 2010 It wasn't a train wreck. And we all had such high hopes. Courtney Love and the four-man retinue she calls Hole these days - mostly distinguishable by their wardrobe (dreadlocked drummer, Scally-capped keyboar ... 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 >>

The Musical Minds That Made Booker T The Soul Man He Is Today

​How good a musician is Booker T? Along with the rest of the MGs, the house band of seminal soul imprint Stax who had several instrumental hits of their own besides backing Stax's powerhouse roster (Rufus Thomas, Albert King, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding...) throughout the '60s, the Memphis-born m ... 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 >>

Jackson Browne

Get Lit: Three More for That Already Groaning Springsteen Bookshelf

Daniel KramerThe Big Man, the Boss and Mighty Max Weinberg at Toyota Center, April 2009​ Just as Bruce Springsteen winds down a frenzied period of back-to-back album and tour marathon - despite the death of Springsteen's cousin/assistant tour manager earlier this week in Kansas City, he and the E ... More >>

Tres Hombres

Discovering why ZZ Top is "critic-proof"

Mail Call: Diagonals, Fountains of Wayne, Jason Isbell, Chess Records, Sally Crewe and More

After a hot minute, Mail Call returns in a slightly revamped format... Pick of the Litter Diagonals (Austin), Valley of the Cyclops (Monofonus Press) They Say: "A sweet-and-sour dark-pop soundtrack for the dawn of the post-Bush era." Rocks Off Says: Loose-fitting, lo-fi melodic garage ... More >>

Cadillac Records Can't Handle the Truth

Spinning Blues into Lies

DVD Review: Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

Weekend Music: Kid Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rick Ross, Craig Kinsey, Young Jeezy and More

Last Night: Van Halen at Toyota Center

Get Lit: Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer, by Chris Salewicz

Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham will perform Friday, January 26, at the Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas, 713-230-1600.

Strait to the Topp

Art, Music and Crap

It's all there -- in a neat little package -- at WestFest Compressed

Oh, Won't You Stay

ZZ Top brings down the curtain at a venerable venue

2 Filthy, 2 Furious

The Sex Pistols have re-formed (again), and Johnny Rotten is spewing pure vitriol (still)

Motivational Motörhead

Lemmy: Heavy metal's F-bomb-dropping answer to Anthony Robbins

Tuesday Night Music Club

Racket takes his judging skills to Paesanos Lounge

Story Teller

Ray Davies wants to tell you a tale

Dumb or Dumber?

Space cadets of Man or Astro-man? go to great depths to maintain a gimmick

New Year's Eve Blastoff

Sleight of Head

Rotation