Queens of the Stone Age: Rating the Albums
Submitted by ash_campbell on Fri, 06/18/2004 - 04:03
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- 1.Rated R (2000)
- It just beats out Songs for the Deaf, and that’s saying something. Solid from beginning to end, this has some fantastic numbers, with the wicked Leg of Lamb, the ethereal Auto Pilot, and perhaps the best track, In the Fade. Oliveri crushes his bass licks, and Homme’s vocals are evocative. Great stuff.
- 2. Songs for the Deaf (2002)
- Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame) guest-drummed on this album and it shows. A pretty awesome collection of songs that is hurt by the hokey and unnecessary radio DJ interludes. Still, you can’t help but love the two big singles from the disc (No One Knows and Go With the Flow; each with stellar videos), and Another Love Song is tragically hip (in a good way). What’s probably most amazing about this is that all that star-power actually blends together rather than being distracting.
- 3. Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
- Decent debut shows all the formation of what would become their signature style, but it lacks any clear outstanding tracks. The closer I Was a Teenage Hand Model shows their penchant for not taking themselves too seriously (it’s a good track, actually) and Regular John could have fit well on Rated R, but mostly it’s like many debuts: a band finding it’s footing and niche.
The remnants of Kyuss, a standard hard rock band, changed directions and became Queens of the Stone Age. They switched frontmen from the typical low gravelly vocalist to the higher-toned (and tonal, for that matter) Josh Homme. They scored a direct hit with their second album, and their most recent release sent them soaring into the stratosphere. Recently, they’ve changed personnel, dumping the highly talented, but reportedly volatile, bassist Nick Oliveri, as well as co-vocalist Mark Lanegan departing. This will be a make-or-break for the band, I suspect, and it will be interesting to see what they can do in the future. Here’s how the albums rate.