Within the mid-90s, when Josh Homme fronted obscure stoner-rock band Kyuss and toured with cult-level Seattle grunge outfit Screaming Timber, few would have envisaged that he was about to launch probably the most highly effective and forward-thinking rock bands of the twenty first Century. Nonetheless, with their major-label debut album, 2000’s Rated R, Homme’s new venture, Queens Of The Stone Age, injected trendy rock with a much-needed frisson of hazard. After twenty years and 5 additional albums, his singular, desert-dwelling outfit nonetheless sound prophetic. In celebration of the band who craft rock music “heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls,” these are one of the best Queens Of The Stone Age songs.
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20: Give The Mule What He Desires
Queens Of The Stone Age’s preliminary incarnation centered round Josh Homme and drummer Alfredo Hernandez, with the duo dealing with all of the devices on their self-titled debut album, launched by way of Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s Loosegrooves imprint in October 1998. Rolling Stone famous that the file landed in “the place between art-metal seriousness and pop pleasure,” and the cyclical grooves of its stand-out monitor, “Give The Mule What He Wants,” confirmed Homme was quickly outstripping the sludgy stoner rock of his pre-QOTSA outfit, Kyuss.
19: Toes Don’t Fail Me
Josh Homme and wunderkind producer Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Girl Gaga, Adele) each rank amongst trendy rock and pop’s most ingenious artists, so it’s no shock that their collaboration on QOTSA’s 2017 album, Villains, produced a file with all of the hallmarks of a keeper. Homme revealed that Ronson’s 2015 Bruno Mars collaboration “Uptown Funk” influenced Villains’ general sound and, with its infectious beats and icy synths, the album’s opening lower, “Feet Don’t Fail Me,” very clearly benefited from Ronson’s studio smarts.
18: Mosquito Music
Such was the pool of fabric QOTSA may dip into for 2002’s consummate, multi-platinum Songs For The Deaf that the outstanding “Mosquito Song” solely appeared because the “hidden” monitor tagged on on the finish. As such, followers might need anticipated one thing dashed off, however as an alternative they acquired a shocking, Mariachi-flavored exercise centered upon Josh Homme’s acoustic guitar and his emotive, close-mic’ed vocal. “Mosquito Song” stays one among QOTSA’s most affecting tracks, although the Sam Peckinpah-esque fatalism of its lyric (“Swallow and chew, eat you alive/All of us food that hadn’t died”) confirmed that QOTSA even invested their ballads with an unparalleled depth.
17: Make It Wit Chu
The preliminary recording of “Make It Wit Chu” appeared on the ninth quantity of Josh Homme’s ongoing facet venture The Desert Periods, with a cameo from PJ Harvey, however QOTSA revisited it for his or her fifth album, Period Vulgaris, in 2007. As sultry and lustful as something within the band’s canon, “Make It Wit Chu” has greater than a little bit of The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” in its sultry, funk-infused groove. The group performed it within the suitably glamorous setting of The Palms On line casino Resort on the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards: a efficiency for which QOTSA had been joined by particular friends CeeLo Inexperienced and Dave Grohl.
16: My God Is The Solar
QOTSA endured a interval of turbulence following the tour for 2007’s Period Vulgaris, with Josh Homme affected by sick well being and the band using out personnel reshuffles. Nonetheless, they returned refreshed with 2013’s … Like Clockwork, which was nominated for 3 Grammy Awards, together with Greatest Rock Album. It was previewed by the pressing “My God Is The Sun,” which additionally picked up a Grammy nomination. Although it didn’t win, QOTSA nonetheless carried out a dynamic – if truncated – all-star model of the music on the 2014 Grammys with contributions from Dave Grohl, 9 Inch Nails, and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham.
15: In The Fade
Bassist Nick Oliveri and ex-Screaming Timber vocalist Mark Lanegan joined Josh Homme to file 2000’s Rated R: QOTSA’s Interscope debut and their industrial breakthrough on each side of the Atlantic. Homme precisely described Rated R as a file with “a dynamic range,” and Lanegan’s forbidding presence added an entire new dimension to a number of of the tracks. The cream of the crop was absolutely “In The Fade” – an affecting anti-suicide paean on which Lanegan’s smoky baritone was shadowed by Homme’s ghostly falsetto.
14: 3’s And seven’s
QOTSA took a step again from the sweeping melodrama of 2005’s Lullabies To Paralyze with 2007’s hard-edged, guitar-driven Period Vulgaris. Josh Homme has described the file as “dark, hard and electrical, sort of like a construction worker,” and that’s a becoming picture for “3’s and 7’s”: an ode to telling white lies, pushed by robotic riffs which pull no punches by any means. Launched as a single, this visceral monitor cracked the UK High 20 and was promoted with a suitably hedonistic, Charlie’s Angels-esque video shot in California’s evocative Joshua Tree by director Paul Minor.
13: Higher Dwelling By way of Chemistry
Rated R’s most overtly mind-altering expertise, “Better Living Through Chemistry” places the emphasis very a lot on its title’s ultimate phrase. There’s additionally some outstanding musical alchemy, with this acid-fried, suite-like building stretching to nearly six minutes. Starting with pattering tablas, it’s anchored by Oliveri’s insistent bass motif, which is step by step usurped by Homme’s squealing guitars, earlier than looming hums of suggestions straight out of Lou Reed’s Metallic Machine Music ultimately give method to a wide ranging improvisational wig-out.
12: All people Is aware of That You’re Insane
One other chameleonic triumph, Lullabies To Paralyze’s “Everybody Knows That You’re Insane” lurches from Black Sabbath-style doom rock to revved-up, alt.rock exercise to traditional rock anthem in simply 4 breathless minutes. Followers have lengthy since speculated whether or not the music’s bitter, sneering lyric (“You want to know why you’re so hollow?/Because you are”) is geared toward QOTSA’s former bassist Nick Oliveri, however regardless of the reality of the matter, “Everybody Knows That You’re Insane” is visceral, blistering rock’n’roll.
11: Monsters In The Parasol
An absolute belter of a tune from Rated R, “Monsters In The Parasol” discovered Josh Homme recounting the consequences of an LSD journey (“The walls are closing in again, oh well/I’ve seen some things I thought I’d never saw/Covered in hair”) in minute element. Nonetheless, in distinction to its surreal lyric, the music’s disciplined musical backdrop – insistent, chugging verses giving method to a swerving, Nirvana-esque refrain – meant it was outfitted with a radio-friendly attraction that has rendered it impervious to getting old.
10: Hanging Tree
Arguably QOTSA’s career-defining album, 2002’s Songs For The Deaf was an all-star affair, with the band’s then-current core trio (Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri, and Mark Lanegan) joined by luminaries akin to Dave Grohl and go-to alt.rock multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes. The latter initially co-wrote the brooding “Hanging Tree” with Homme for one among Homme’s offshoot Desert Periods albums (Quantity 7: Gypsy Marches), however QOTSA laid down the definitive model, with Lanegan’s darkish croon ideally suited to ship the music’s forbidding, murder-related lyric.
9: One other Love Music
Mercurial bassist Nick Oliveri screamed his lungs uncooked on a number of Dee Dee Ramone-esque hardcore exercises on each Rated R and Songs For The Deaf. Nonetheless, he additionally proved he had a greater than half-decent voice on the latter album’s “Another Love Song.” Certainly, Oliveri’s winsome croon wasn’t the one shock, for the music itself was a surf-tinged triumph. That includes E-bow, organ, and tremolo-heavy lead guitar, “Another Love Song” may simply have soundtracked a Quentin Tarantino film, and it additionally drew the blueprint for Josh Homme’s collaboration with Iggy Pop on 2016’s elegant Submit-Pop Despair.
8: Burn The Witch
Bassist Nick Oliveri was fired after the tour for Songs For The Deaf, and a contemporary QOTSA line-up, together with drummer Joey Castillo and multi-instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen, coalesced round Josh Homme for 2005’s Lullabies To Paralyze. Alongside making solo data, on-off member Mark Lanegan once more contributed to the album, and his growling call-and-response backing vocal with particular visitor Billy Gibbons (ZZ High) augmented Homme’s menacing lead singing on “Burn The Witch”: a beefed-up glam-rock stomper with lyrics drawing upon the infamous Seventeenth-century Salem Witch Trials.
7: Go With The Movement
An pressing rocker from Songs For The Deaf, “Go With The Flow” performs out like a high-speed journey by Josh Homme’s beloved desert panorama. Pushed alongside by coruscating guitars and Dave Grohl’s cruel drumming, it switches as much as fifth gear and stays there for 3 ecstatic minutes earlier than screeching to an abrupt cease. Fast and plain, it’s one among QOTSA’s most completely realized songs and later obtained a well-earned Grammy nomination.
6: In My Head
Although extra mainstream-inclined than the colossal Songs For The Deaf, Queens’ fourth album, Lullabies To Paralyze, was nonetheless a mighty file. Arguably its most accessible monitor, “In My Head” had beforehand been recorded for Josh Homme’s Desert Periods collection (on this case, 2003’s Quantity 10: I Coronary heart Disco), however the Lullabies To Paralyze model was tighter and extra dynamic, with an emotive Homme vocal supported by jagged, Vehicles-esque riffs and stabs of piano. The music’s intrinsic radio-friendly high quality stood it in good stead as a standalone single, which went on to crack the High 40 of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock and Various Songs charts.
5: Little Sister
Lullabies To Paralyze’s terrific first single, “Little Sister” drew its inspiration from the Elvis Presley traditional of the identical title (written by Doc Pomus), with Josh Homme saying he loved the “sexual twist that’s put on by, ‘Little sister don’t you do what your big sister done.’” Pushed by stabbing guitar riffs and punctuated by drummer Joey Castillo’s jam block (a plastic model of the cowbell), the music was captured reside within the studio in a single take and greater than earned its Greatest Laborious Rock Efficiency nomination on the 2006 Grammy Awards.
4: First It Giveth
Rock’n’roll could be considerably poorer if it didn’t crib from The Bible, so it received’t shock these accustomed to the scriptures that “First It Giveth” cops its title from a citation from The Guide Of Job (“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away”). In QOTSA’s case, nonetheless, “First It Giveth” examined how utilizing medication can have an effect on creativity, with Josh Homme telling The Fade that “at first you can draw inspiration and then eventually, it negates any inspiration.” Promoted by a memorable video of the band’s on-tour hijinks at Glastonbury and with Pink Sizzling Chili Peppers, this tanked-up rocker took no prisoners, but it nonetheless notched up a UK High 40 hit for the band.
3: Really feel Good Hit Of The Summer time
Rated R’s infamous second single, “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer,” stoked up Intercourse Pistols-esque controversy. Its refrain (“Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy, alcohol!”) provoked US chain retailer Walmart to refuse to inventory the album except the offending music was eliminated, and it additionally earned the band criticism for allegedly glorifying drug use. Whatever the hubris, nonetheless, followers and critics alike liked this pulverizing rocker with a ardour. The Village Voice’s esteemed Robert Christgau even wrote, “Among American rock moments, it stands alongside [Nirvana’s] ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’”
2: The Misplaced Artwork Of Maintaining A Secret
“Feel Good Hit Of The Summer” acquired by on hedonistic thrills, however its Rated R colleague “The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret” proved categorically that Josh Homme’s staff had been quickly turning into a drive to be reckoned with. Promoted by a memorable video with shades of David Lynch, this catchy, noir-infused anthem stored the strain on a decent lead all through, taking the band into the mainstream for the primary time when it broached the UK High 40 and peaked at No.21 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
1: No One Is aware of
Josh Homme had been toying with Queens’ signature hit, “No One Knows,” for 5 years earlier than it lastly fell into place for 2002’s Songs For The Deaf. It was nicely well worth the wait, too, as Homme’s strutting riffs, Nick Oliveri’s nimble basslines, and Dave Grohl’s kinetic drumming locked in with a precision that’s nearly supernatural on this monitor, which is about as elegant as guitar-based rock’n’roll will get. The music that broke QOTSA internationally, “No One Knows” deservedly topped Billboard’s Fashionable Rock chart, cracked the UK High 20, and obtained a Grammy nomination – although, with some irony, it misplaced the latter to “All My Life,” by Dave Grohl’s essential band, Foo Fighters.
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