In honor of the latest Queens Of The Stone Age album, Perfecth, it seemed appropriate to look back and count down our top 10 favorite songs. In the process, we confirmed an obvious truism: This is easily one of the most enjoyable big-time rock bands of the 21st century. In fact, this top 10 affirms that QOTSA can go toe-to-toe with the great bands of any era.
Let’s run it down.
10. “Regular John” (1998)
At the time of their 1998 self-titled debut, Queens Of The Stone Age were an outlier in the age of nu-metal and post-grunge. Hard rock was dominated by Pearl Jam rip-offs and dreadlocked bands accessorized with DJs. QOTSA meanwhile did two things well simultaneously — they sounded like a throwback to the purity and simplicity of seventies hard rock, and they subverted the clichés of that music in a smart way. But that’s over-intellectualizing things. They just rocked harder than nearly every band of their generation. The gloriously heavy “Regular John” — the first song on their first record — sets the tone for the album and their entire career.
9. “I Never Came” (2005)
There are fast QOTSA songs, there are mid-tempo QOTSA songs, and there are slow QOTSA songs. But only a small number qualify as ballads. “I Never Came” fits that bill — sort of. It’s a love-gone-wrong song, where Josh Homme moans, “Love so good, love so bad / It won’t die, yeah.” But it’s not exactly romantic. A sinister undertow is discernible throughout, hinting at an explosion that — in accordance with the title — never comes. But the sense of drama, and Homme’s slinky falsetto, are two hallmarks of what makes this band great.
8. “If Only” (1998)
Another canny rocker from the debut, which wowed stoner-metal cultists in the late nineties but relatively few people outside that world. QOTSA didn’t catch on with a wider audience until a few albums later, which frankly seems odd given how catchy “If Only” is. The paradox of this band is that for much of their history, they’ve been considered a slightly left-of-center band in the world of mainstream rock. And yet the records are, by and large, really accessible and even (at times) quite poppy. Considering what was actually on the radio in 1998 — a pretty bad time for “radio rock” music — it’s crazy that “If Only” wasn’t an enormous hit.
7. “I Sat By The Ocean” (2013)
…Like Clockwork is a QOTSA watershed for many reasons — it’s one of their best and most adventurous albums, it signaled a comeback after a six-year break between studio efforts, and it ensured that they would have a career well into the 21st century. But for all the differences of that record compared with previous QOTSA releases (it’s hard to imagine, for one, Elton John appearing on any other QOTSA album) it retained Homme’s ability to write perfect rock songs that beg to be played a million times on a million car stereos. Clockwork boasts many such tunes (shout-out to “If I Had A Tail” and “My God Is The Sun”) but the most indestructible is “I Sat By The Ocean,” a Zen wallow that hits like a Mike Tyson uppercut, a Led Zeppelin epic as reimagined by Tom Petty.
6. “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer” (2000)
A definitive track of QOTSA 1.0. At the exact moment when rock music had reached peak petulance — when the most popular bands were both super bombastic and super committed to talking about their feelings — “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer” from Rated R came along and cleared away all the B.S. Just a simple riff and lyric listing all the most effective chemical stimulants, the song hits the nervous system like a weekend binge. Though the deftest trick is how not stupid this song manages to be. That has a lot to do with Homme’s underrated sense of humor and his ability to celebrate and parody the rock lifestyle in the same space. This is a party song, and it’s also a “party” song, with a light touch on the quotation marks.
5. “Go With The Flow” (2002)
Fans can argue about their choices for best QOTSA album. Rated R is an eternal candidate, while 2005’s Lullabies To Paralyze and …Like Clockwork are longtime fan favorites. What’s not up for debate, however, is the distinction of most important QOTSA album. That has to be Songs For The Deaf, the record that broke them in the mainstream and also stands in retrospect as their most popular and influential musical statement. It might very well be the greatest-hard-rock-record of the 21st century, both old school in its sound and philosophy and an of-the-moment satire of rock radio culture. The irony is that at the moment Homme mocked the conformity of the music industry, he was also producing reams of hit songs that dominated radio. Like “Go With The Flow,” one of the most immediate and appealing QOTSA tracks ever.
4. “The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret” (2000)
Of course, as we already noted, Homme was writing hit rock songs long before QOTSA started having actual hits. This highlight of Rated R remains one of the catchiest tunes in the band’s catalog, with a bassline that evokes “Sympathy For The Devil” nimbly linking the verses (which are even hookier than the chorus) with the sludgy guitars that explode at the song’s peak. Though the most impressive aspect of “The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret” is Homme’s voice, generally the most overlooked weapon in the band’s arsenal. Whereas many of his peers were screamers or bellowers, Homme’s sly (almost gentle) tenor proves that you don’t have to bend over backward to sound “hard” to be the coolest guy in the room. The more Homme underplays it, the more he draws you in.
3. “First It Giveth” (2002)
Of all Homme’s many bright ideas on Songs For The Deaf, the most brilliant was also, it seems, the most obvious: Put Dave Grohl behind the drum kit. Yes, Grohl had played the timekeeper role on at least a couple of Foo Fighters albums — though that was mostly kept under wraps. But in QOTSA, Grohl was liberated by only being the drummer. And his virtuoso playing absolutely elevates the album. Among the songs where this is most evident — beyond the title track, which we haven’t listed here, to our regret — is “First It Giveth,” which marries a Black Sabbath-style riff to Grohl’s frenetic timekeeping, a marriage of metal and punk that typifies the album’s overall vibe.
2. “In The Fade” (2000)
No matter Homme’s charisma as the leading man of QOTSA, it’s also true that the band set itself apart early on by featuring a rotating cast of singers. Like a movie loaded with great character actors, QOTSA could deploy Nick Oliveri for the “pissed-off punk rocker” songs or Mark Lanegan for the “malevolent but sensitive” tracks. On the latter count, the band’s absolute masterpiece has to be “In The Fade,” a “seize-the-day” anthem with an amazing groove from a guy who had at least nine lives. Coming from most people, a sentiment like “you live till you die” might come off like an overfamiliar cliché. But coming from Mark Lanegan, it sounds like hard-earned wisdom.
1. “No One Knows” (2002)
Their most popular song — and one of the more popular rock songs by anybody in the past 25 years — for a reason. “No One Knows” delivers the straightforward endorphin rush you want from a rock anthem, but it doesn’t really feel like a normal rock song. The tempo during the verses isn’t actually all that unusual — it’s a simple 4/4 time signature — but the way the slashing riff bobs and weaves in unpredictable fashion makes it seem complicated. Though never in some needlessly complicated or wonky way. It’s just a way to make “No One Knows” sound fresh and surprising, even as “No One Knows” has settled into a long life as the kind of rock classic that everybody knows and loves.
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