Houston promotes its present-day music scene to the national media.
I'm not sure who thought to film the fabulous display of parenting that is documented in the video below, but after watching this hot mess for exactly two minutes and 39 seconds, I've decided there's nothing quite as disturbing as a six-year-old rapping about how he can make my "booty pop." I refus ... More >>
After spending all week thus far exposing the lies apparent in song titles from The Beatles and Kiss, it's time to tone it down a little bit both in heaviness and in rhetoric. Nothing says tone it down like adult-contemporary music, so that's the arena I fight the lie war in today. Rewind: The Son ... More >>
In terms of pure variety, the weekend of June 1-3 may be the most stacked weekend of music Houston will see this year, and that's not just because of Summer Fest. In addition to the wide variety of acts playing Eleanor Tinsley Park there's the regular weekend mass of shows taking place across the ci ... More >>
Mötley Crüe, those depraved kings of '80s sleaze, took a major step toward strip-club immortality 25 years ago this week when the band released its fourth album, Girls, Girls, Girls.. Glossy, debauched heavy metal ruled the charts in the summer of 1987 -- Whitesnake, Ozzy, Bon Jovi and Poison all ... More >>
One Direction, the newest UK pop import to make it to colonial shores, announced a full-scale summer tour Tuesday, including a Houston date on June 24 up at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Pretty big venue for a group that is just now breaking in America, and the Brit-Irish boy band just sold ... More >>
Today, November 4, marks 15 years since the Spice Girls first album, Spice, was released. Closing out 1996 with a titanic dose of girl power, the album would go on to sell almost 24 million copies and spawn countless imitators like B*Witched, All Saints, and later on, the Pussycat Dolls. Ob ... More >>
Suspenders with heels? What were you thinking?In addition to going on the Idol tour, one of the "perks," if you want to call it that, of making it to the Top 13 or whatever is that you get to come back and sit in the audience during the final selection. I only point this out because of the nu ... More >>
Rehashing yesterday's musicals, Burlesque squanders its hottest asset: Xtina.
Rocks Off combs through Craigslist's postings hoping to find the genesis of some great musical endeavor. So when we saw a posting looking for Arabic singers, we were intrigued. After all, this is a time of mosque burnings and our upstairs neighbors passing anti-Sharia laws. It must take a he ... More >>
If you watch this, you're going to need to explain yourselfThe arrival of another Dancing With the Stars results show always fills me with a queasy mix of relief and dread. Relief, because it's only an hour long instead of two, and another couple will be eliminated, bringing us all that much ... More >>
Britney Spears and her three-ring "Circus" came to Houston Monday night, and I unashamedly followed throngs of twenty- and thirtysomethings into Toyota Center to catch a glimpse of the comeback girl we love to pick apart, then pick back up again. We'll skip right on over openers the Pussycat D ... More >>
Michael Becker/ Fox AI judges Simon Cowell and Kara DioguardiDAY 5 This new Idol concept - a lushly appointed "judges' mansion" where contestants on thin ice are forced to sing for their survival - was squandered, somewhat, by the producers. I mean, this was a two-hour show, and really, ther ... More >>
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 >>
Her career has already withstood more train wrecks than Amtrak, and now it looks like Britney Spears is on the upswing one more time. Spears' new single "Womanizer," the lead single from her Circus album (dropping today), which she performed today on Good Morning America (above), is a recent B ... More >>
Each Wednesday, 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 introducingliston@gmail.com. Here at Rocks Off we’ ... More >>
Classic, Modern and Wonderful
The Houston International Jazz Festival attracts two indie-soul heavyweights
Q&A with the singer/songwriter
Corinne Bailey Rae makes music -- and history
I'm Not Dead / Out Here All Night
Fabricated pop groups are nothing new, but these Dolls are more than bad -- they're a threat
The Pussycat Dolls
Playing in Chuck Berry's pickup band can be a trial by rock and roll fire
A scintillating survey
Texas dance's grande dame steps into DiverseWorks
Get freaky like the stars at the Haunted Hollywood Party
DJ Mod Scott brings '60s pop to Helios
