The Clash (Band)

The 10 Dumbest Things Overheard at SXSW This Year

For every insightful conversation I have heard or had at SXSW over the years, whether it was talking to Matt Pinfield while walking the streets of Austin talking about David Bowie, or telling The Clash's Mick Jones that he was in fact, in The Clash, I have overheard a thousand awful ones. Years of ... More >>

Opening for Clapton Makes the Wallflowers Glad All Over

When listeners first heard the hypnotic, disco-inflected "Reboot the Mission," the first single off the Wallflowers' recent Glad All Over CD, they could probably be forgiven for the momentary shock. But upon closer listen, the song's roots were more firmly planted in Clash numbers like "The Magnific ... More >>

Black Sabbath For Kids: A New Book Swaddles Children In The Majesty Of Ozzy & Company

I remember scouring my elementary and middle-school libraries for every book I could find on music, any kind of music. Books about composers, Broadway folk, and everything in between. Sometimes you could get lucky and find a book about the '60s with a few sentences about the Beatles, the Stones, or ... More >>

Return to Glory: Rick Rubin's 5 Best Comeback Productions

Recently, Black Sabbath confirmed that record magnate and production auteur Rick Rubin would be twiddling the knobs on their new record, set to be released next year. It will be their first with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals since 1978, and a lot of their reputation is riding on this. Not that it will ma ... More >>

Ryan Bingham: "It's Tough to Be That Vulnerable All the Time"

Talking to Ryan Bingham, you get the impression he's just as soon not carry around the official title "Academy Award Winner Ryan Bingham" the rest of his life. One clue is where he keeps the Best Original Song Oscar he and T-Bone Burnett won in 2010 for "The Weary Kind," but we'll get to that a litt ... More >>

ZZ Top Sucks. There, I Said It.

The Clash In Houston, 1979: The Devil In Mick Jones

Rewind: The Clash In Houston, 1979: A Case of Legionaire's Disease During The Clash's October 1979 show at Cullen Theater, photographer Andy Abbott, situated in the front row with 35mm camera gear at the ready, began snapping pics of Jerry Anomie of headliners Legionaire's Disease Band when, he say ... More >>

The Clash In Houston, 1979: A Case of Legionaire's Disease

By the time The Clash hit Houston's Cullen Theater on October 5, 1979, Lester Bangs had described their tour-de-force as "desperation uncontrived, unstaged, a fury unleashed on the stage ... real pain that connects with the nerves of the audience." Yet Texans had already been enthralled by the Sex ... More >>

Exterminate: 5 Songs For the Daleks

Note to my fellow Whovians: This is being written in the past, so I have no idea how much then-me will have enjoyed the first episode of the season (now). If you want to read what I will have thought you can see that at this link, but please pop back over here and let then me know in the comments wh ... More >>

The Best Post-Clash Joe Strummer Songs

Today would have been Joe Strummer's 60th birthday, but he passed away in December 2002 of a heart attack, days before Christmas. He left behind a wife and three daughters, plus thousands of years of music and memories. The loss was like a punch to the gut, made even more bitter because he and f ... More >>

No Fences: Garth Brooks & the Fuzzy Math of 10 Mega-Concerts

Fifteen years ago this week, the greatest country music artist of all time, Garth Brooks, made history by playing a free concert to a massive crowd in New York's Central Park. Now, not just anybody gets to play Central Park, but Brooks had the megawatt stroke in the entertainment biz back then to ma ... More >>

When Car Commercials And Rock And Roll Collide

This weekend is the big Houston Art Car Parade, where children and adults of all ages can gander at their fellow Houstonians' labors of car love. Each car is a marvel to the ingenuity and the insanity of this race known as the modern Texan. The Art Car festivities have cars on our brains. Rock a ... More >>

Y'all, We Have All Been Doing "Punk" Wrong

When you think of punk rock, images of a bloodied Sid Vicious in a leather jacket may come to mind. Skinheads flipping off a camera. Henry Rollins and Black Flag destroying a crowd in a basement. Jello Biafra jumping into a surging pit of people after screaming about holidays in Cambodia. The Clash ... More >>

The 10 Best Songs of 2011 You Didn't Hear

​I have absolutely no clue what is going on out there. I know that Beyoncé had that song with the counting, Adele had a song that was maybe about doing ecstasy in a pool, and some guy with a beard got nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy even though For Emma, Forever Ago came out literally ... More >>

Tumblrin' Dice: Clipart Covers Hurt Your Eyeballs

"Dazed and Confused" indeed...​Today I discovered Clipart Covers, a Tumblr site dedicated to remaking classic album covers with just clipart and comic sans, turning them into nightmarish, though amusing, affairs. Random urban-looking folks and what looks like a Wii avatar make up the cover of ... 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 >>

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 >>

Gimme Some Truth: What Happens When Rabid Fans & Bands Meet

​We have all been there. You may have had a few drinks, you are at your favorite band's show, and you come to find yourself in the vicinity of one of your heroes. Word vomit. Torrential word vomit. But you mean well. "I really think youse guys is great and your albums really means a lots to ... More >>

Wild Moccasins: What They Can't Live Without On Tour

Still younger than springtime, the Wild Moccasins are getting to be old hands at this touring thing. (If you missed their set at BestFest - it was way early - you missed something special.) Lately it seems like the sunny Houston five-piece is either just getting off the road or about to go back on. ... More >>

The Carpettes: Unsung UK Punks Back For The First Time

​Punk bands like The Clash have been lauded by critics and fans spanning across the globe, while other superb acts like The Carpettes have remained stuck between the cracks of history. This is almost tragic, since their blend of fine-etched, unblemished pop-tinged punk was just as riveting as ... More >>

The Best Fourth Songs On History's Greatest Albums

Sorry, Manowar, maybe next year...​As we come up on the July 4th weekend, Rocks Off considered a myriad of blog ideas to commemorate the holiday. Most patriotic songs, album covers, artists? Sorry, Lee Greenwood, Richard Pryor, and Ted Nugent, but it's all been covered. On this weekend of inde ... More >>

Rockin' In Plain Sight: Our Favorite Hidden Album Tracks

​In the days when compact discs and tapes ruled the world, hidden tracks on albums were like secret gifts from your favorite bands. Off the liner notes, not in the original track listings, and totally unassuming, sometimes tucked away after minutes and minutes of silence on a disc. With the ... More >>

Dead People We Wish We'd Seen

​Regrets, sang Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Sid Vicious, I've had a few. (Or, for Sid, a feee-yooouuu.) So have we all. But if you review concerts for a living, there's nothing worse than someone you like dying before you get the chance to see them live. So for this week's Round Table, Rocks Off ... More >>

Friday Night: Something Fierce Record Release Party at Mango's

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Something Fierce Mango's April 1, 2011 There are terms in music that cause audible groans and visual displeasure at their mere mention, and while these vary from person to person, some are fairly universal. Emo, yacht rock, muzak, and pop punk all fall into these categ ... More >>

Something Fierce Rolls Out Don't Be So Cruel

​Tomorrow night at Mango's, Something Fierce releases their new LP, Don't Be So Cruel, their follow-up to 2009 full-length There Are No Answers, and the band's first release since last year's 7" "Where You Goin Man." The trio of Steven Garcia, Niki Sevven, and Andrew Keith has made one of the ... More >>

The Fleshtones, Ivan Julian

Top 10 Self-Titled Debut Albums

​It wasn't until we were discussing its release this week that Rocks Off realized we're basically the same age as Led Zeppelin's debut album. Recorded in October 1968 and released the following January, Led Zeppelin is 42 years old. It suffers from some of the same ailments as all of us who r ... More >>

The 31 Best Music Documentaries Of All Time

​Hands down, above all of these following music documentaries, Craig's Hlist's two favorite of all-time are The Decline of Western Civilization Part 2: The Metal Years, and The Beatles Anthology. We can watch both on repeat for days and not complain. That will probably all change once we see ... More >>

Gorillaz's New Album Includes Song About Houston

​ Christmas morning, Rocks Off got to hear the new Gorillaz album, The Fall, recorded entirely on an iPad by leader Damon Albarn as the super-group made their way through the States on tour this past October. Most every city on the run got a song dedicated to it, including Texas towns Ho ... More >>

A Fistful of Soul

One righteous vintage vinyl party.

Top 10 Honorary Texas Musicians

West Vita​Right here, right now, and in print all damn week, you can read the Houston Press' interview with perhaps the hottest new band on the South 40, San Antonio's Hacienda (above). Whether or not they go on to become a South Texas Kings of Leon - Hacienda is also three brothers and a cous ... More >>

Last Night: Gorillaz At Toyota Center

Photos by Jim Bricker​ Gorillaz Toyota Center October 19, 2010 For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. Gorillaz may have overspent on their first-ever extended tour. True, the entire concept is that the group is officially made up of four cartoon characters, so there kind of ... More >>

Six Songs That Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

​If there's one musician whose advice is worth heeding, it ought to be Johnny Cash. But when the Man in Black sang "Don't Take Your Guns To Town," a whole lot of musicians must not have been listening. Perhaps they were tuning in one of Cash's other songs that takes a different point of view - ... More >>

Bankrobbers: The Clash Family Tree

​Rocks Off cried the night he heard Joe Strummer died. It was December 2002, and we sat on our family couch and let it all out. That fabled Clash reunion that seemed just months away would never happen. Strummer died of a heart attack at 50, just three days before Christmas, leaving behind a w ... More >>

FAIL: Prince, Johnny Rotten, Too Short, Auto-Tune

Photos by John Seaborn Gray​Internet Not As "Over" As Prince Had Hoped: Remember last week when Prince said the Internet was "over," and that was why he's now giving copies of his new CD away for free whenever you buy a copy of that thriving and relevant medium, a British newspaper? Well, ent ... More >>

Five '90s Musical Fads We Remember Well, But Don't Really Miss

​A little over a decade ago, swing music made a strange comeback. You may remember seeing people all over dressing like '40s hipsters, jumping and jiving in Gap commercials and most every club or bar was offering swing lessons. It started with the release of the film Swingers, which still mi ... More >>

Mods Vs. Rockers: Five Mock Battles

​Fresh off our trip to AmeriVespa 2010, Rocks Off has come to this conclusion: we are neither a Mod nor a Rocker. We're a Mocker. When you drive around a town as large and car-centric as Houston on a small scooter you get a lot of comments from people, mostly in allusion to Quadrophenia, which ... More >>

Music's Top 10 Messed-Up Mouths

​Rocks Off went to the dentist this morning for the first time in... well, a long time. The importance of taking care of your choppers is thus fresh in our minds - especially since we have to go back tomorrow, this time to a "specialist." So... yeah. This would probably be a good time to mention t ... More >>

Toots & the Maytals

Jimi Hendrix's Pyromania And 5 Other Great Moments In Instrument Destruction

​ We've all seen the famous footage of Jimi Hendrix humping, burning, and finally smashing his guitar to bits at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. What not many people realize is he initially performed this act of musical instrument immolation some months before, at the suggestion of writer Keith ... More >>

Spermy Night In Georgia: Sexed-Up Songs To Set The Mood For Blowfly

Let's get one thing perfectly clear: Blowfly is the original dirty rapper. Before anyone in 2 Live Crew was old enough to set foot into a peepshow stall or buy a pack of cigarettes, Clarence "Blowfly" Reid was spewing forth raucous raps like "Spermy Night In Georgia" and "What a Difference a Lay Mak ... More >>

One to Grow On

What we'd like to see happen in Houston music this year.

Album Covers You'll Never, Ever See on Any UK Stamps

​ The UK's Royal Mail recently unveiled a series of stamps based on classic British album covers, including the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed and The Clash's London Calling. Rumor has it Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here was rejected due to the burning man on the cover, with the Royal Mail electing t ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Why 2010 Is Going To Suck, Pt. 1

I know I'm not the only person who feels like high-fiving everyone at the end of the holiday season, heady with the triumph of having survived another two weeks of forced jocularity, awkward family moments, bad TV, and worse music. The new year, with it's promise of fresh opportunities to screw up a ... More >>

The Gourds

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

Joe Strummer transcends punk, and the music lives on

The Red Hearts

Pops wears his punk influences proudly on his sleeve

Static

Having Some Nasty Fun

Too Much Joy cowers in the mouth of adulthood