QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Formed from the ashes of seminal stoner rock band Kyuss Queens of the Stone Age consist of only two regular members: vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme and bassist and more occasional vocalist Nick Oliveri; both of whom were original members of Kyuss. Bar their first album (for which they recruited just a drummer - Alfredo Hernandez) it has become their stock-in-trade to cubby up with leading lights in the American rock scene. This came to a head with their most recent album - Songs for the Deaf - for which the basic line-up was the terrible twosome plus ex-Screaming Trees vocalist and grunge relic Mark Lanegan on additional vocals and contemporary rock legend Dave Grohl returning to the drum stool. Of course, after recording the album and doing a few tours, Grohl has returned to his day-job (main man in the middle-of-the-road Foo Fighters) so Homme and Oliveri are more or less back to where they started. Not that that is a problem, of course, it just highlights the rather unusual structure of the band - one that consists of only two regular members who swell the ranks if and when it is necessary.

I've never really gotten into Kyuss but it is clear Queens of the Stone Age are far from a carbon copy of their former incarnation. Sure, they do dabble in stoner rock in that many of their compositions, particularly on the first album, are rather sludgy and bleary eyed. That said, they contain an energy that just isn't present in the majority of other stoner bands. Certainly their punk influences (Oliveri in particular) are allowed far greater reign than in the Metallica/Sabbath-obsessed Kyuss. On top of which, although undoubtedly tied-in with, Queens of the Stone Age are capable of producing refreshingly diverse and varied music that often cuts through several genres in one go. Indeed, my main (perhaps only) criticism of the band is the fact they don't allow their diversity off the leash enough. That said, they remain one of the very few great straight-up rock bands that are currently in existence. Certainly, their hedonistic embracing of the old time rock'n'roll values of sex and drugs is a refreshing anachronism after the God-awful dourness and negativity of post-Nirvana bands. (Indeed, Josh Homme is perhaps the only cool ginger person in existence.) They also manage to successfully tread the near non-existent line between the haughty intellectualisms of Radiohead and ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and the meat-head frat-boy antics of nu-metal and the Jackass generation. They are not saviours of rock or startlingly original and revolutionary on the one hand but they are still perhaps the pioneers of an endangered species - the great contemporary rock band.

From: Guy Peters

Calling Lanegan a 'grunge relic'? well, it's obviously true that he had his 15 minutes of fame during the heydey of the grunge explosion (and the Singles-soundtrack contributed), and looking like flannel-wearing lumberjacks enhanced the 'grunge' image also i guess... but truth is that the band had been relentlessly active from 1985, and they released already 5 full-length hard-rocking albums before the album that almost made 'em big (Sweet Oblivion)... lots of people also seem unaware of Lanegan's solo output, which started while he was in the Screaming Trees... the debut (The Winding Sheet) is probably notorious because it has "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" and the second one also got some credit, because it was released during grunge's last days...but: the three albums he made after that were even better....dark and brooding, late-night folk full of melancholy etc etc (this sounds like a cliche, i know)... anyway, what i wanted to say: it's a bit weird to call Lanegan a 'relic', because he has proven himself to be an artist capable to transcend the 'grunge' label, albeit in an unnoticed way....I'll Take Care of You (1999) and Field Songs (2001)are highly recommended but; very good qotsa-reviews!

It would be doing a disservice to Homme and Oliveri to constantly refer to their original band, particularly as I think QOTSA make a strong case for actually being a better band than Kyuss. That said, I will make one final reference in saying that if you purchased this album when it came out, as a Kyuss fan, you would no doubt have noticed that this does not sound a great deal like them. The riffs are less monolithic and the songs in general are sharper, shorter and more to the point (although there are a handful of exceptions). So, for the purpose of this page, all ties with Kyuss are now irrevocably severed. Homme's vocal style is perhaps not as distinctive as it is now but there is no mistaking his laid-back, almost expressionless drawl that ups the cool ante on here almost a hundred percent. His guitar is also one of the most prominent features with its constant barrage of unflashy yet decidedly effective riffing. Many songs also feature overdubbed guitar solos at various stages which sound like a bleary-eyed snake making its way through proceedings. Or perhaps, more aptly, the thick, potent smoke that arises from a freshly lit joint. This album is certainly the closest to original stoner rock, although it is perhaps more in feel with a general aura of numbness and red-eyed idleness instead of the never-ending sludge or mindless fuzz of other stoner rock bands. Not that this album doesn't rock, though, as almost half of it is taken up by fantastic, no-nonsense rockers. The opening three songs are all indicative of the strengths of the band with heavy but simple riffs, half-sneered, half-drawled vocals and surprisingly deft melodies. For all three the tempo is more than pedestrian, if not quite a rapid sprint, with excellent, succinct deliveries for the verses and choruses that strive for both the heaviness of rock and the catchiness of pop. Stoner fans who might have been initially disappointed are no doubt compensated by the following duo, the never-ending "Walkin on the Sidewalks" and "You Would Know". The former is noticeably slower and less concise than the opening trio and it takes an eternity to end with the same dumb riff being repeated ad nauseum. "You Would Know" is better, it at least builds into something resembling a hook, but most of it sounds so deliberately stoned that it is hard to reconcile with the rock action at the start of the album. Thankfully the cat is pulled out of the bag once again with "How to Handle a Rope" being another full-tilt, no nonsense rocker with one of the best choruses on the whole album. The best is still yet to come with the intensely brilliant rocker "Mexicola" which is an early contender for their best ever song. It is perhaps one of the most Sabbathy songs on the album as it begins like a lumbering beast awakening before dropping into the most exhilarating of grooves and catchiest of melodies. It is almost certainly the best rock song to date from 1998, that's for sure. "You Can't Quit Me Baby" (an obvious pun on the famous Zeppelin cover, "I Can't Quit You Babe") is often stretched out live to go on for fifteen minutes plus but the version on here calls it a day at a mere six. Again it is a little too deliberately stoned to impress me and the fucked-up guitar solo merely overstates the point. The album closer "I Was a Teenage Hand Model" (prompting recollections of that great episode of Seinfeld) is the only track on here to drop the heavy rock angle as it is played out on an acoustic guitar, although it certainly doesn't drop the "I'm so wasted" approach with Homme sounding like he's singing it at 4am after a heavy session. To be honest, I'm not a great fan of stoner rock. I think basing an entire genre on drugs is a bit sad and the indifference and idleness of weed hardly makes for the most exhilarating of albums. Thankfully, only a few songs on here are negatively influenced by such lethargy and the rest are rock songs of the highest calibre. We should be certainly be thankful that QOTSA are very definitely their own men.

The best thing about this album is that it is so obviously a progression, in terms of style and substance, from the debut. Obviously the first album was hardly a bad one so it will come as no surprise to learn that this is a great one. Unnecessary indulgences, like the extended outro for "Walkin' on the Sidewalks", are thankfully cut short (well, almost - providing you turn the album off before the shitty free-jazz brass play out) and the diversity on here is almost astonishing - no two songs sound alike, whereas even the good songs on the debut ("Regular John" and "If Only" for example) were sometimes difficult to differentiate between. At the time this came out it fairly unanimously won album of the year and I don't see much reason to disagree even if I might personally rank it just below the sadly-departed At The Drive-In's volatile explosion of an album: Relationship of Command. Even more than before the subject matter on here is sex and drugs but the music manages to so successfully avoid stoner rock cliches that even I'm impressed. The lead-off single, the notorious "Feel Good Hit of the Summer", is the song that most rock bands kick themselves for not thinking of themselves. Against one chord a shopping list of drugs (both illegal and legal) are slurred off by a veritable unholy choir (including Rob Halford) leading up to the minimalist chant of "c-c-c-cocaine" that stands for a chorus. Of course it is an utterly brilliant song, and a perfect way to set up an album, but the fact remains that it would not have been anywhere near as brilliant in anyone else's hands. The thought of that hack Marilyn Manson doing it, for example, near-sickens me. There are a couple of fairly simple power-chord dependent rock songs, one of which is really good - preliminary single "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret", which is unflashy yet perfectly well-written, whilst the other - "Monsters in the Parasol" - is unflashy but unimpressive to boot. Similarly, the druggy haze of "Leg of Lamb" is what constitutes the only other weak track on here (bar perhaps the unnecessary but brief instrumental, "The Lightning Song"). Literally every other song is just simply brilliant. Unlike the Homme-dominated debut Oliveri gets to scream two punk-influenced numbers, the brilliantly sleazy "Quick and to the Pointless" ("I'm so old, you're so young") and the heavy-metal overload of "Tension Head" (with perhaps the best riff on the album). Both are the two most exciting numbers on the album (along with "Feel Good Hit") and are close to being the best. I give the nod to "Quick and to the Pointless", though, because of the added humour. Mark Lanegan makes an early appearance to croon the sublime slacker ballad "In the Fade". The quiet verse/loud chorus grunge dynamics are subtle enough to avoid sounding cliched and the way he delivers the punch-line "don't worry - you just live till you die" is enough to reassure the most neurotic of listeners. Homme digs out his lead guitar less on this album although it is particularly prominent on the Bowie-influenced "Auto Pilot" which is another song that presents a clear improvement from the debut. The most ambitious track on the album is probably the six minute "Better Living Through Chemistry" which features interesting use of congas for percussion and fades in and out during the middle with a myriad of riffs on offer. According to the sleeve-notes it is a homage to Bjork but I'm afraid I'm not a big enough fan of the mad Icelandic one to describe the similarities. The album ends with the lengthy "I Think I Lost My Headache" which might be classed as a standard stoner song (due to the self-evident Sabbath influence) but it is certainly a fine example of its genre if so. Until the end of the song, that is, upon which a brass ensemble takes over and predictably descends into tongue-in-cheek free-jazz. To be honest it's been done so many times before (and it was neither funny nor impressive to begin with) that I just wish they could have left it out. That said, up until that moment this album leaves a more-than-favourable impression. The diversity and stylistic progression from the debut is noticeably impressive and wholly welcome and the veritable wealth of fantastic, varied and interesting songs makes for an undisputed contemporary classic.

For their third and most successful-to-date album Queens of the Stone Age all-but-abandoned the madcap diversity of the previous release and concentrated solely on one direction - rock. Put simply, this is an album of pure, singularly focused, unflinching rock music. Whilst it does ensure that it is a less distracting listen than Rated R, pummeling the listener with pure rock action from the word 'go', it also means the final stretch of the album becomes a little samey. But let's get one thing straight from the start, the first half of this album (excluding, perhaps, the touch-generic "First It Giveth") is absolutely immense. The paranoid pop perfection of "No One Knows", the ominous blur of "A Song for the Dead", "The Sky is Falling" and "Hangin' Tree" all make perfectly good cases for being considered QOTSA's best ever song. The second half, on the other hand, whilst containing the stream-lined assault of "Go With the Flow", does not necessarily expand and progress where a really great album might. Indeed, the latter half of this album just sounds like a tribute to rock itself. The songs are all good and perfectly well-written, be it the stream-lined power-chords of the aforementioned "Go With the Flow" and "Gonna Leave You", the chugging metal of "A Song for the Deaf" or the seventies rock homages "Do It Again" and "God Is in the Radio", but the lack of diversity and innovation prevent a great album from becoming a truly classic one. It is as if the band (temporarily a four piece - Homme, Oliveri, Lanegan and Grohl) sat themselves down and concocted a 100% proof rock album. Take two glam rock riffs, three grunge choruses, one dense riff, four heavy metal bass lines and two hardcore screamers and leave to simmer for fifty minutes and you have your rock album. On the second half we at least get the poppy sixties-flavoured "Another Love Song" (sounding a bit like Love) but the like of "Do It Again" couldn't be more in thrall of seventies glam rock if it tried. Remember Rob Halford contributing to the first track on Rated R? Well he does so again, only this time indirectly. For the punk screamer (and splendidly titled) "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire" Oliveri chants the chorus of "gimme some more, gimme some more" in much the same way ol' Halford chanted "breaking the law, breaking the law" some twenty years previously on the Judas Priest classic of that name. Still, I'm willing to let that slide as the song itself is a fantastic way to open the album, all violence and aggression. I suppose the album actually begins with a fake radio broadcast with the DJ memorably announcing "it's songs for the deaf... you can't even hear it!". Although it is only a minor note it is worth pointing out that although fake radio announcements pepper the intervals between songs it isn't meant to be an entire broadcast as such but a car travelling through America picking up various different stations through the journey (hence the sound of a car starting right at the start). This "trip through America" concept also fits in with the "trip through rock" nature of the music. Oliveri also screams his way through the thankfully brief "Six Shooter", which is the only poor song on the album. "No One Knows" was the first single and it seems like the perfectly sensible choice as it is definitely the most melodic track on the album but it also rocks enough to appeal to the more hardened of heavy metal maniacs. It is perhaps edged out of best song honours, though, by the awesome and immense "A Song for the Dead" which features some astounding riffing and also reminds us why Lanegan's in the band as his demonic croon more than matches the music. In short, a truly exceptional song. Almost as good, though, is the menacing "The Sky Is Fallin'" with perhaps the best single riff on the album. Lanegan also croons his way through "Hangin' Tree" and, again, it is another blistering song. Even though the stylistic diversity is perhaps missing you simply can't argue with the strength of those songs. The unrelenting "rock-ness" of it might start to drag towards the end of the album but the actual quality of the latter songs is hardly below-par in their own right. "Go With the Flow" and "Gonna Leave You" might be stripped down but none of the energy or excitement is missing. It might have taken me a long time to come round but I've finally come to properly appreciate this album. It isn't diverse enough for my liking, it is perhaps a little too retro-ish in places and it certainly isn't better than Rated R as most people seem to claim, but it is still one hellish brute of a rock album.

And two becomes one. If I previously thought it strange that Queens of the Stone Age only consisted of two regular members the unusual became the ridiculous when Josh Homme kicked Nick Oliveri out of the band in 2004 after his unhinged behaviour made his position in the band untenable. The comparisons with our own Carl and Pete are obvious but given that Homme himself is no slouch in the drugs and debauchery department it does not even bear thinking how Oliveri must have been behaving to have been presented with his redundancy package. Of course, if Homme had the power to eject Oliveri on his own initiative one is left to wonder whether it has really been a one-man venture all along. Sure, Oliveri contributed towards the songwriting and vocals on a few occasions but then so did Mark Lanegan (still sticking his head round the door on here) and he has never been considered a full-time member of the band. And what if Homme decides to leave? Surely that would spell the end for the surreal moniker behind the past four albums. Apparently Homme and Oliveri are still speaking so it can be presumed that his departure is not irreversible and it may well turn out that this is the only album to be released by the 'band' without his wild-eyed input. The fact that the quality of this album is a touch below the three that came before is often attributed to Oliveri's absence but I would hesistate to draw too strong a conclusion. I have no doubt his hardcore influences and punk roots would perhaps shake up some of the hard-rock complacency that sinks in on the second side but, that said, bar the punishing opener on Songs for the Deaf Oliveri's presence was not that profound on the previous record. As it stands, Rated R is the only album of their's that displays any real diversity and it is an obvious result that one-dimensional albums rely solely on the quality of the songwriting. Even with material as strong as Songs for the Deaf the album still started to drag slightly towards the end. Unfortunately, this album starts to drag much earlier. The first half continues the same sort of form found on the previous releases. "Medication" and "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane" (I wonder who that is directed towards?) are fast-paced blasts, blessed with typically tight melodies and arrangements. In a similar vein, the singles "In My Head" and "Little Sister" carry on Homme's penchant for melodic hard-rock based around snappy, succinct arrangements (cf. "No-One Knows"). The second half of the album degenerates into dense riffage, though, that can only hold the attention for so long. It is not as if the songs themselves are disagreeable (only the cartoonish "Burn the Witch" and the grating "Skin on Skin" are poor efforts) but nothing really stands out amongst the pseudo-stoner blur. The band attempt to shake up the tempo at the very end with the laid-back leering blues of "'You Got a Killer Scene There, Man...'" and the aptly titled "Long Slow Goodbye" but by then it is too late and one's interest has already wandered away somewhat. It is a shame, actually, that the UK bonus track "Precious and Grace" was not included in the midst of all the riffing as it is an excellent no-nonsense hard-rocker that makes excellent use of Lanegan's ravaged world-weary vocals. As it is, this album does little more than fill the gap until the (hopefully) inevitable return of Oliveri. There is enough material on here to suggest Homme is still one of modern rock's most indomitable figures but ultimately an insufficient level of variety to see this regarded as anything other than the Queens' weakest release to date.

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