Latest Release
- JUN 16, 2023
- 10 Songs
- Songs for the Deaf · 2002
- Songs for the Deaf · 2002
- Songs for the Deaf · 2002
- Rated R (Deluxe Edition) · 2000
- Villains · 2017
- ...Like Clockwork · 2013
- Lullabies to Paralyze · 2005
- Era Vulgaris · 2007
- ...Like Clockwork · 2013
- Songs for the Deaf · 2002
Essential Albums
- Queens’ third album is a pitch-perfect blend of garage rock, heavy metal, and psychedelia played with plenty of muscle and a devilish sense of humor. Old-fashioned without ever sounding like a throwback, aggressive but groovy, the album is framed as a broadcast from some distant desert radio station—a nod to the band’s roots in Palm Desert, CA, where everything feels severe, sunbaked, and just a little weird. With Dave Grohl on drums and appearances by Dean Ween and Mark Lanegan, this is about as good as serious 21st-century rock gets.
- “I’ve got a secret/I cannot say/A modern movement to give it away.” Such are the opening lines of “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret,” the irresistible lead single from 2000’s Rated R. In a way, Queens of the Stone Age’s second album is a reflection of those words: Though Rated R exposed the band to a wider audience than the group’s 1998 debut, it was the last time they were a secret to just about anyone. Whereas ringleader Josh Homme recorded the band’s debut as a duo with drummer (and former Kyuss bandmate) Alfredo Hernández, Rated R ushers in a new era. The band is still technically a duo, but this time it’s Homme and bassist/vocalist Nick Oliveri, another former Kyuss bandmate. And it seems like Homme is setting up QOTSA as more of a collective. Rated R features tons of guest musicians, including former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, Masters of Reality vocalist/guitarist (and former Kyuss producer) Chris Goss, three drummers, and a laundry list of side players and backing vocalists. The resulting album expands QOTSA’s sonic palette considerably. You can hear it in the vibraphone on “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” and “Better Living Through Chemistry”; on the Zeppelin-esque acoustic interlude “Lightning Song”; and on the delightfully strange acid trip of “Monsters in the Parasol,” which Homme originally recorded for his Desert Sessions project two years prior. Let’s not forget the gimme-drugs clarion call of “Feel Good Hit of the Summer,” which is basically a list of intoxicants repeated over an insistent unison of bass, piano, and distorted guitar—not to mention an unexpected backing vocal from Judas Priest singer Rob Halford. The biggest change on Rated R is in the lead vocals. While Homme still handles most of them, Oliveri sings several songs (including punk stompers “Quick and to the Pointless” and “Tension Head,” plus the deliriously melodic “Auto Pilot”) while Lanegan croons on the gorgeous, bass-tastic “In the Fade.” The album closes with “I Think I Lost My Headache,” a woozy ode to paranoia that probably has the most in common with Queens’ debut. Woozy is definitely a feeling that Homme specializes in: No musician on earth captures it better. But Rated R showed he was capable of much more.
Albums
- 2023
- 2023
- 2023
- 2023
Artist Playlists
- Exploring the frontiers of desert rock.
- One of stoner rock's most eccentric bands.
- QOTSA's influence cuts across alt-rock and modern metal.
- Inspirations as eclectic as their career and collaborations.
- Listen to the hits performed on their blockbuster tour.
Singles & EPs
Radio Shows
- Josh Homme breathes life into his broad musical tastes.
- Explore the musical universe of the QOTSA founder.
- The QOTSA frontman on success and taking risks.
- Conversation around QotSA's album 'In Times New Roman...'
- Joshua Homme on "Paper Machete."
- Playing past hits in anticipation of their eighth studio album.
- Joshua is joined by his daughter Camille for the season finale.
- Joshua selects songs to encourage quarantine babies.
About Queens of the Stone Age
Had it not been for Queens of the Stone Age, stoner rock may have stayed an underground phenomenon. However, the California band’s early-2000s hits, including the choppy hard rocker “No One Knows” and the raucous, cowbell-driven “Little Sister,” brought scuzzy riffs and sleazy grooves mainstream. Vocalist/guitarist Josh Homme formed Queens of the Stone Age after the breakup of his band Kyuss, an act that had embodied the heavy, hazy desert-rock scene of the ’90s. Homme’s new group continued the fuzzy vibes and landed a major-label record deal for their second album, 2000’s Rated R, which contained the debauched scorcher “Feel Good Hit of the Summer.” With the success of Songs for the Deaf in 2002 and Lullabies to Paralyze in 2005—the former with Dave Grohl on drums, the latter their first album to feature current guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen—Queens of the Stone Age grew into one of the biggest hard-rock bands going. Thanks to the addition of players such as keyboardist Dean Fertita, the band have maintained a lofty reputation while continuing to experiment, as on 2017’s grimy blues jaunt “The Way You Used to Do,” from the Grammy-nominated Villains LP. Homme has also continued to use his Desert Sessions album series, which he records with a revolving collective of friends and collaborators, to workshop ideas that then get sculpted into proper songs for their official albums; one such standout is the falsetto-fied funk seduction of “Make It Wit Chu.”
- ORIGIN
- Palm Desert, CA, United States
- FORMED
- 1996
- GENRE
- Rock