Weezer

Rocks Off's 10 Best Musical Discoveries of 2012

The thrill of discovering freshly minted treasure or a previously unheralded favorite is one of the main reasons music writers get into this racket in the first place; every so often it can make wading through the ocean of crap mediocrity that is pop music worthwhile. Rocks Off asked our contributor ... More >>

Frog Eyes! The 10 Greatest Glasses-Wearing Musicians

If you were like me growing up, you had glasses. You got ridiculed for it with names like "frog eyes," "nerd" (sadly children didn't equate that with smart, just weird), "ugly" and "geek." Even worse was the fact that, as a result of my wearing glasses, I couldn't wear sunglasses because the good o ... More >>

Oh My, A List!: 7 Tips For Free Press Summer Fest Newbs

This will be the Rocks Off team's fourth Free Press Summer Fest outing since the festival began that summer of 2009. I remember it well: The small stages, the blistering August heat, The Sword, rolling in the grass with Hippie Mike, all of it. The main stage headliners were Of Montreal, Explosions ... More >>

Squared Circle: Top 5 Songs About Pro Wrestling

Although the wrestling boom of the late '90s is a fading memory, the absurd mix of sport and theater continues on in bingo halls and arenas across the country. Every night, under the bright lights, someone is trying to avoid being hit with a steel chair. It should come as no surprise that there are ... More >>

Ben Kweller

Readers Poll: The Most Underrated Rock Albums Of The '90s

For this week's readers poll, I asked our Facebook and Twitter chums their choices for the most underrated and unsung albums of the '90s. We all agree on things like Nevermind, Harvest Moon, Mezzanine, The Soft Bulletin, Odelay and OK Computer, but what about albums that fall through the cracks of ... More >>

In Bloom

Spring has sprung with a fresh crop of recent Houston-related releases.

Cloud Nothings

Stunt-Casting A More Modern Disney Soundtrack

Photo by Katie Rommel-Esham​The other night I watched Beauty and the Beast for the first time in roughly forever. I was shocked by two things: How much of the plot I had forgotten, and how many of the songs I remembered. It's like that for most Disney classics: I can't tell you what happened but I ... More >>

'90s Soundtrack Battle: Angus & Batman Forever Duke It Out

​The movies couldn't be any more different. One is about an obese, kindly high school guy with a heart of gold. The other is about an crime-fighting millionaire orphan inside a cartoonish world full of super-villains, cringe-worthy puns, and Jim Carrey at his muggiest. Obvious Angus is a bette ... More >>

4 Songs About the Frozen Head of Walt Disney

ZliKiSm​45 years ago one of the men who shaped the world in his image forever passed on. Walt Disney, innovator, animator, and imaginer, lost the battle with lung cancer. Disney left behind him a legacy of theme parks, cartoons, musicals, technological marvels and an institution of family ente ... More >>

Staying Sane at Owl Bar

​The best thing about Owl Bar is that it doesn't feel like it belongs. A couple of years ago, when Mugsy's occupied the same space, it would have been a little more at home in its neighborhood. Upper Kirby has since come up in the world, though. Standing on Owl Bar's narrow patio on a Tuesday ... More >>

Sunday Afternoon: Maroon 5 On A Cruise Ship And In Concert

Photos By Craig Hlavaty"What do you think, Adam?"​Yesterday morning I found myself in Galveston boarding Carnival's brand-new cruiser, the Magic, for a presser with Maroon 5, who are currently burning up radio and the iTunes with their hit single "Moves Like Jagger". The band is helping promot ... More >>

Montrose Classic: Monday Night at Cecil's

It was a Monday night, and I was on the patio of Cecil's with a couple of friends. I looked toward the open part of the porch and saw two young men embrace. At first I thought the white guy with the shaved head was trying to express his affection for his skinny black friend by lifting him off the gr ... More >>

25 Essential Eponymous Albums

​Eponymous: (of a literary work, film, etc) named after its central character or creator: The Stooges' eponymous debut album. On this day in 1983, a young woman from Michigan who had recently given up on a career as a hard-rock singer released her first album of electronic dance-pop, an album ... More >>

The 25 Most Influential Bands Of The '90s

Trent Reznor, you know, before the Oscar and all the weightlifting. ​As a music writer, we are asked constantly to compare the new with the old, to decipher the periphery where modern bands' influences come from to understand where we are going and what we are seeing. We can hear everything Ke ... More >>

Summer Fest Releases Stage Schedule, Set Times

Jermaine Rogers​If Rocks Off learned anything at iFest these past two weekends, it's that we should have started our own bottled-water franchise. And that when you go to a music festival, it's a good idea to know who is playing and when. Running around willy-nilly is all well and good unless i ... More >>

BP? Maybe Not - Five Other Possible Summer Fest Sponsors

Jermaine Rogers​Today is not only 4/20 and whatever the name for the Wednesday of Holy Week is - sorry, it's been a while since Rocks Off has been to church - it's the one-year anniversary of the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. It's also the latest April Fool's Day in history, because earlie ... More >>

Weezer, Ween, Sharon Jones, Bun B Head Summer Fest Lineup

"I'm gonna pull out some shit on stage that will make the Flaming Lips cry and possibly retire in awe." - Hayes Carll, via @hprocksoff GroovehouseYeasayer at House of Blues, April 2010​Weezer, Ween, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Yeasayer and Houston rappers Z-Ro and Bun B head up the lineup ... More >>

Against Me!

Paris Falls Has A Winner With Reverse Mirror Image

​It's very, very hard to talk about Paris Falls' latest CD, Reverse Mirror Image, without using a plethora of adjectives that have already been painted in bright letters across reviews of their first three albums. They are still the living embodiment of everything that made pop music awesome ... More >>

Does "Indie Rock" Mean Anything At All Anymore?

​Our colleague Shea Serrano has been doing brisk business with his Rap Round Table blogs, corralling local hip-hoppers into talking about events in their scene and in the world at large. No topics are off limits, and everyone is willing to talk. So Rocks Off decided it was time for Houston's ... More >>

FAIL: Carlos Santana, Anniversary Songs, Skynyrd Covers

​That's Enough, Carlos Santana: Carlos Santana has to be one of the most overrated rock artists of all time. Never once has his noodly, choogly brand of boring stoner-rock managed to ignite even the tiniest spark of interest for Fails. Yeah, the guy's got some serious guitar chops. But as any ... More >>

Answers To Rocks Off's Musical Nickname Quiz

​Rocks Off hopes you enjoyed our musical nickname quiz earlier today. We have had a few nicknames ourselves over the years - our dad called us "Boog" after former Baltimore Orioles first baseman Boog Powell, and we were known for years around the Austin Chronicle offices as "Weezer," which we ... More >>

Presenting... Theremin Hero!

Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos deemed worthy to share. If you have something you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner@yahoo.com. ​You're thinking, "It's a joke or a parody or a trick," but you are so, so wrong. Grieg Stewart has act ... More >>

News on the March

Aftermath: Gold Sounds Top a Four-Band Texas Variety Pack at Walter's

Photos by Adam P. NewtonThe Small Sounds​While we're sure that some people feel that Aftermath engages in a bit of hagiography regarding the music of our fair city, we find it mildly difficult not to regularly and frequently express our love for the many excellent artists who call Houston home. We ... More >>

Houston Musicians Recall Their Own Rock and Roll High School Days

​Tonight Rocks Off is hosting the first annual Texas High School Rock Off, with local bands from area schools fighting for a grand prize of $500 and bragging rights around town. This past week we have profiled the seven bands in the running: The Paperwaits, Useful Information, The Handshake, Livin ... More >>

Aftermath: Surfer Blood, More Than the Poor Man's Vampire Weekend, at Mango's

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ One can sit around all day and wax faux intelligent about where a band gleams their influences from. It's armchair quarterbacking for the kind of folks who wake up in the middle of Sunday afternoon and could give a good goddamn about 100 yards and monied monoliths of bro. ... More >>

Sorry Dave, We Had To: Top Ten Songs to Listen to While Having Sex With Co-Workers

If The Late Show with David Letterman hasn't seemed very funny lately, it's probably because Dave has been spending more time apologizing for banging his subordinates than he has making fun of Paul Shaffer. Admittedly, it was a bold move: coming forward and confessing his past missteps in order to ... More >>

Aftermath: The McKenzies, the Howlies and Springfield Riots at the Mink

Photos by Chris GrayThe McKenzies To Aftermath, the Mink's Backroom has always seemed more like a house than a music venue - especially inside, with the dark floors, corner bars and abundant, comfortable seating, it's like one of those cozy but spacious multi-resident dwellings where we all went to ... More >>

The '90s Continue Unabated At House Of Blues, Homeslice!

Seriously, what's with the House of Blues downtown toying around with all our '90s modern rock nostalgia as of late? In the past eight months or so since the HOB has opened, the folks on Caroline have booked almost every quasi-major alt-rock band of the last decade, that has not died of an overdos ... More >>

Defending The Buzz: Does 94.5 FM Really Suck That Bad?

What with Creed reuniting, BuzzFest coming up in a couple of weeks and, hell, maybe even the swine-flu scare - As in: What's worse than coming down with swine flu? A Houston radio that only tunes in 94.5 FM - Rocks Off sure has been thinking a lot about The Buzz lately. Probably too much. I mean, it ... More >>

Unusual Suspects at The Usual

Trackside bar welcomes amateur karaoke stars — and everybody else

Good Luck Academy

Five ( 3) Spot: Christmas With Weezer!

Welcome back to Five Spot. Every week, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Because God loves us: Weezer, one of our all-time favorite bands, has recorded six Christmas covers, the greatest ... More >>

Five Spot: Rock's Top Flavor Savers

Boheme Cafe and Wine Bar Has an Open-Mike Night That Doesn't Suck?

Potential Theme Songs for the Astros

We Now Present... Steroids, The Musical

Hootenanny

Lost Albums

CDs that deserve another listen

Confessions of an Airbrushed Anglophile

A veddy British Madonna wants to keep it bloody real

Ludo

Saturday, October 15, at Java Jazz Coffee House, 419 Gentry, 281-528-8129.

Freshen Up, Freshen Up

Pearland new-wave legends the Judy's reunite for a benefit show and possibly more

Mark Ronson

Here Comes the Fuzz (Elektra)

Wet Dreamer

Andrew W.K. is oozing with gratitude. Watch out -- you might get it on your clothes.

Ultimate Fakebook

Friday, March 29

Ready for Recess

Beck's Prime