​David Bowie's space-hippie, proto-punk, peace freak, interstellar rock 'n roll ambassador Ziggy Stardust character debuted 40 years ago today in London at a gig at the Toby Jug pub. The rail-thin Bowie, resplendent in dyed red hair, androgynous clothing, and a beat mixing The Velvet Underground, The Kinks, Vince Taylor, The Rolling Stones and The Who, was embarking on a great musical experiment. Throwing glitter and a dash of scary sexuality -- at the time -- into a macho rock scene.

The fact that the Ziggy Stardust character doesn't seem 40 years old is a testament to Bowie being ahead of the curve, or rather, creating the curve. Imagine what a world still reeling from hippies, mods, the sexual revolution, all of these things, and then being hit with Stardust.

Stardust would linger in the Bowie discography from 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1973's Aladdin Sane and that year's covers album, Pin Ups, finally ending in 1974 with Diamond Dogs, after which drugs took over the Stardust persona and turned Bowie into the
R&B-obsessed man on the cover of 1975's Young Americans.

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Photo By Marco Torres

Axl Rose with Guns N' Roses at the Toyota Center last November

​W. Axl Rose, born William Bruce Rose, Jr., turns 50 today, shimmying and snake-dancing into this world on February 6, 1962. It's been a fun -- and rocky -- past 25 years with the man, full of great music, great fights, and great fashion choices, and that ever-present squeal.

Rose isn't the only thing in GNR history to be celebrating a milestone this year. The band's Appetite For Destruction turns 25, hitting stores on July 21, 1987. Further icing on the cake will be GNR's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction coming in April, an event which is already fraught with controversy, as GNR guitarist Slash and Rose don't exactly jive well together in the same vicinity. By all accounts available though, the rest of the original GNR get along well enough to be near Rose.

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​It started as a simple question: What albums would you leave your unborn children, if you knew you were on borrowed time and may not be around to show them the way. At first I asked for albums for sons, but then it grew broader, not out of needing to pacify the PC-thug in me, but to make sure everyone, regardless of gender, had a sort of Rosetta Stone of musical history in their hands.

You could leave them pristine vinyl versions of these, a collection of cassettes, or maybe just a diamond-covered flash drive, if are so inclined. As for me, I will also leave my unborn child my Rdio account. That's not a paid endorsement, that's just me being expedient.

To get some obvious picks out of the way, the entire Beatles catalog will come standard with being my child, like seat-belts in cars. As will George Strait's Strait Out Of The Box, and ZZ Top's catalog.

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"I'm forever, sugar tits!"

​The other day, looking around on YouTube for Pantera stuff -- did you know that this month Vulgar Display Of Power turns 20? -- I found a relatively recent clip of lead singer Phil Anselmo VH1 Classic's That Metal Show from late 2010. The current Down crooner and mouth from the south was guesting on the metal chat show, looking as young as the day that "Walk" premiered on Headbanger's Ball, and rapping about his boutique metal label, Pantera, and everything else thrown at him.

True this is probably old news, but I even noticed this last year at Down's Warehouse Live. With his head shaved he looks incredibly youthful, which is a great feat considering his harried past. He doesn't look 43 years old. He looks my age, just 28, which gives me hope that you cannot imagine.

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Does it float?

​The fine folks at punk toy firm Aggronautix, famous for their GG Allin and Keith Morris "throbbleheads," have now outdone themselves, yet again, with the release of a J Mascis model, complete with real doll hair.

It's a shame that this is not Mascis' real hair, though. That would make this figurine pretty special and a psychotic little gem to a few thousand Dinosaur Jr. fan boys. This is easily of one the coolest Aggronautix throbbleheads out there. This is the same company that made the Andrew W.K. and GG Allin bobbles that sit on my desk. I think the Allin one winked at me once.

With the Dinos currently laying down tracks for a follow-up to 2009's Farm, according to member Lou Barlow, you should probably score yourself one of the bad boys for Mascis to sign next time they come to town. If he let's you get close enough to his person while holding a miniature version of him that is.

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Photo By Groovehouse

Fat Mike of NOFX at the House Of Blues in January 2011

​Aside from the blood, bruises, beer, and the bands, the one thing you could always count on punk-rock for was to provoke unpopular thought. To make you go against what polite society and your parents had taught you. NOFX has been making punkers snicker and scratch their heads since 1983, this one included.

The band began writing odes to drugs, drinking, and sex, but as the band and lead singer Fat Mike Burkett got older and grew their own families, the sociopolitical bent to the madness became more pronounced. And listeners like myself welcomed it, even if our brains had been trained to disagree.

Today Fat Mike turns 45 years old, and he hasn't shown any signs of wavering in his questioning of this spinning ball of mud. Just a few months ago he was sporting a mohawk, at an age when most guys his age should be settling into hirsute normalcy. Yes, that was him on the red carpet at the recent AVN Awards in Las Vegas with his girlfriend, Mistress Soma.

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Photo By Edward Culver

Check out this great Q&A with Damaged photographer Edward Culver

​Every modern punker has a story relating to Black Flag's Damaged, which turns 30 years old today. Some hate it, some love it, some blame it for the everything good or bad that happened in their lives since they first heard it. For Houston scene vet Bill Fool, it was the beginning of a personal revolution.

"It's the single most important record to ever be slipped onto my record player. After the music kicks in and old Henry starts his verbal assault, you just can't stop the transition that is about to happen from normal human being to punk," he says. Fool currently plays in Hell City Kings, and has been in a host other Houston punk bruisers.

Released on SST Records on December 5, 1981, Damaged is still converting the punk youth, along with Minor Threat's First Two 7"s on a 12", the Sex Pistol's Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, The Clash's first self-titled album, and a host of others. But the kids who used Damaged as their gateway drug are different, heartier breed it seems.

Guitarist Greg Ginn's project - let's face it, the band was his baby since 1976 - would grow to become one of the most influential bands to tour the world, acting like a traveling bag of Miracle-Gro wherever they went, making bands sprout up in their wake. Ask Rad Rich next time you see him about Black Flag in Houston.

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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, but we remember the dream fondly. Hell, we don't even think we tweeted once during the dream, which was a first. The best part about the dream was fighting for a Joe Strummer guitar pick with the dad from Family Ties.

What? It's a dream, and for the record, we kicked Michael Gross' ass.

A few weeks back we found a few concert-ticket generators online and set about making our own: Shows we can't see because people are dead, broken up beyond repair, or just obstinate. The worst part was figuring out who would play where, and assuming that none of them would be relegated to smaller venues. Obviously the Beatles and Bob Dylan would never play low-attendance venues, but you never know how much an artist could go in decline.

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Nicole Zeno

​Maybe it's a failing of our own energy and spirit that's to blame for a history of apathy for Yellowcard. When we discovered the band we were in the last of a desperate attempt to patch things up with MTV. We've always been a music video fanatic and the death of that aspect of the channel has always kind of been like a bad break-up in our heart.

Yellowcard's, "Ocean Avenue" was the final good video we saw on the channel. We were intrigued by what we were pretty sure was an homage to Run Lola Run, and that of course is awesome. Still they just seemed like one more pop punk group, x-game soundtrack fodder, and even adding in the amazing violin stylings of Sean Mackin seemed like just another gimmick.

We're some years down the line, and now a dedicated publicist has dragged us kicking and screaming back to Yellowcard and their music. It's been long enough that we can feel nostalgic for the bands that were popular when our biggest problem was still getting to the Rocky Horror Picture Show on time, but we're also mature enough now to know who was faking it, and who was really worth something. Yellowcard falls firmly in the latter category.

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​We never knew how much we needed our daily dose of punk rock until Fungus became a victim of the XM/Sirius merger...in favor for a station that played AC/DC 24/7 if we remember correctly. That was the cue to say goodbye to satellite radio, but it didn't really do anything to fill the oi-shaped hole in our soul.

That's why getting a chance to hear the latest release from JuiceheaD caught us in a particularly good mood. How to Sail a Sinking Ship is a tremendous punk achievement. It's like all the things that people tried to convince us of about Rancid has finally come true.

The Chicago based band was founded from the remains of several other punk groups under the directorship of guitarist and vocalist Rob Vannice. He brings a deep, singer-songwriter quality to his brand of punk. The result turns something that would be powerful in its own right into a battle cry.

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