John Rzeznik and the Goo Goo Dolls will perform on Thursday at the Smart Financial Centre. Shows from Rick Springfield, Kansas and Steve Earle are also on tap this week. Credit: Photo by Fr. Jeff Lorig. Creative Commons.

Years ago, Pat Benatar sang, “Stop using sex as a weapon.” Well, what about using death metal as a weapon?

According to the Loudwire website, Brittany Anjou, who is the lead vocalist for an “artsy” New York metal band called Bi Tyrant, managed to scare an attacker away with an impromptu recital on the streets of Manhattan. After several minutes of a man on a bicycle following her while dispensing verbal harassment, Anjou took a stand.

“I literally stopped, turned to him full body square, and I shouted in my best death metal growly voice the chorus to the song by [the band] Kittie, ‘Raven,'” Anjou said in a TikTok video. Apparently that did the trick, since the creepy stalker guy turned tail and ran (well, biked) off. The lyrics in question? “Get away from me! / Stay the fuck away from me! / Get away from me! / Stay the fuck away from me!” (Repeat as necessary).

While I am not generally in favor of music being weaponized, desperate situations call for desperate measures. So if I had to use music to drive someone away, what would it be? Here are a few ideas off the top of my head. Click on the links at your own peril.

“Paralyzed” – The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
“They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” b/w “!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er’yehT” – Napoleon XIV
“Gangnam Style” – Psy
“Achy Breaky Heart” – Billy Ray Cyrus
“Transfusion” – Nervous Norvus
“Friday” – Rebecca Black
“Kokomo” – Beach Boys

But hey, that’s me. What’s on your list?

Ticket Alert

Wet Leg, a British indie rock band founded by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers burst upon the scene in 2021 with “Chaise Longue,” a single with an unlikely title that was actually pronounced correctly (some might say pretentiously) on the record. It’s been more hit singles since then, and the band just released its second album, Moisturizer, earlier this month. Tickets are on sale now for Wet Leg’s show at the White Oak Music Hall on Thursday, October 9.

The newly-founded supergroup Texas Headhunters will perform at the Heights Theater on Friday, October 24, and expectations for the show are running high. Why is that, you may ask. Well, the answer lies in the fact that this new band brings together three of the Lone Star State’s best guitarists: Jesse Dayton, Ian Moore and Johnny Moeller. The group’s first album is due in August, and the singles that have been released so far augur well for some serious plank spankin’.  Tickets are on sale right now.

And speaking of the Heights Theater, the venue has just lined up a couple of other eagerly anticipated shows. Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) will perform at the Heights on Friday, November 14, in support of his forthcoming solo album Twilight Override. And on Thursday, February 1, it’s “An Evening with Bruce Hornsby.” If you are only familiar with Hornsby via “The Way It Is,” be aware that he is a monster keyboard player (a “playing mofo,” as Miles Davis used to say), equally at home in the worlds of rock, jazz and classical. Presales for both shows start today, with the general sale set for Friday.

Concerts This Week

When Dash Rip Rock, Elly May’s boyfriend, left “The Beverly Hillbillies,” sensible folks knew that was too good a name to waste. So a trio of musicians from Baton Rouge adopted it as their own, and the rest is cowpunk history. Don’t know exactly what it will be like at Dash Rip Rock’s show on Thursday at the Continental Club, but it definitely won’t be boring.

Also on Thursday, it’s songwritus emeritus Steve Earle at the Heights Theater, with his sister Stacey Earle opening. That’s kind of sweet and all, but I swear, kids, if you don’t start behaving right now, I’m turning this tour bus around!

Like a number of bands that came of age during the late ‘80s, the Goo Goo Dolls initially displayed a punk influence before refining their sound in search of more commercial pastures. The Dolls (the Goos?) reached their apex with “Iris,” a song featured in the 1998 film City of Angels, which sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 18 weeks. The band’s “Summer Anthem” tour (the logo sports a drawing of a cassette that probably contains a mix tape) hits the Smart Financial Centre on Thursday, with emo dudes Dashboard Confessional opening.

Nostalgia of an earlier era will rule the roost on Friday at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, when the “I Want My ‘80s” tour will present Rick Springfield, John Waite, Wang Chung and Paul Young, all stalwarts from those early days of the Reagan administration, when MTV still played primarily videos and shows like “Jersey Shore” were not even a gleam in a network executive’s eye. 

In what was probably a move to get some publicity for the tour (gee, I guess it worked), Rick Springfield got (mock) offended when, during a live interview, “Today Show” host Craig Melvin was unable to suppress a yawn. “Am I boring you?” Springfield asked. Come on, Rick, the guy probably has to wake up at 3 or 4 every morning to be on the air at 7. And Rick, were you telling that same story about “Jessie’s Girl” again?

Receding even further into the past, the ‘70s (OK, and a little bit of the early ‘80s) will be celebrated at the Pavilion on Saturday with a double bill featuring prog rockers Kansas and those “wild-eyed southern boys” from .38 Special. For more on Kansas and the state of the band, check out Bob Ruggiero’s Houston Press interview with lead singer Ronnie Platt.

Contributor Tom Richards is a broadcaster, writer, and musician. He has an unseemly fondness for the Rolling Stones and bands of their ilk.