What better way to kick off a new segment on Dead Good than ranking the albums of your favourite band? To be unbiased, Queens of the Stone Age are the best band of all time, and if you don’t agree with that then…you’re wrong. I discovered them in 2007 after hearing ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ on TV and wondered how I’d gone so far in life without them. This discovery soon developed into an (un)healthy obsession that has even left a tattoo or two (tattwo) upon my skin.
Let me preface this by saying that trying to order these albums proved to be pretty tough. Each week the order changed, as (part of why I love QOTSA so much) there are always hidden harmonies or instruments that come out of the speakers after each listen. Totally transforming that song or record. Another thing that made it so difficult was how varied their discography is. You can start at the dusty depths of their debut, take a drive through the desert on Songs For The Deaf and fall into the deepest ocean of emotion on …Like Clockwork. It was tough. Especially when each of their albums could fall into that top spot.
Villains (2017)
Kicking off the list is their latest album, Villains. Let me say this now, but any QOTSA album that ranks last is still a great album. It’s just going against the quality of a discography like theirs means the standards are sky high. While it follows a similar path to …Like Clockwork, its ballsy, “fuck everything” attitude often leads to it becoming lost. The production is a little too compressed, muddying the guitars and almost entirely removing the oomph of the drums. Songs such as ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me’ and ‘The Evil Has Landed’ don’t quite hit as hard as they probably deserve to. Despite their riffs and hooks, they could’ve sounded much more monstrous, which is a shame.
On the other hand, you do see the band experiment with swing music in lead single ‘The Way You Used To Do’, which absolutely noodles its way into the hips. Synths are discovered and explored on ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Un-Reborn Again’ and more of the raw emotions experienced on …Like Clockwork are felt on ‘Fortress’ and ‘Villains of Circumstance’. It does a good job bridging the old guitar-heavy sound with the newer, synthesiser vibes. As mentioned, it is a good record, but I feel with better production it could’ve been a lot more.
Lullabies To Paralyze (2005)
Coming off the blazing trail of Songs For The Deaf comes a follow up clouded in pressure. Everybody wanted more of the same monolithic sound that created hits like ‘No One Knows’, but what we received is a record that purposely hides away from the attention. Seeking happiness in the dark.
Lullabies To Paralyze is the product of a tumultuous time for QOTSA. Dave Grohl and Nick Oliveri departed the band – the latter because of some not-nice events – and some personal loss for Josh Homme makes for an altogether chaotic context to follow up one of the biggest albums of 2002. Due to this, Lullabies makes the most of its time in the shadows. A lot of the songwriting plays with a darker sound (‘Someone’s In The Wolf’, ‘Burn The Witch’), almost to the point of becoming too “Halloween-y” in parts. But you do feel those strong foundations shine through.
‘Little Sister’ remains a festival favourite for its in-your-face guitars and that mood carries through the likes of ‘Medication’ and ‘Broken Box’ too. ‘The Blood Is Love’ is probably the real highlight on the record, though a very deserved shout out to ‘Tangled Up In Plaid’ is needed. While it could alienate those who expected a certain record off the back of SFTD, Lullabies is a record that holds its cards close and will happily reveal all the further you dive into it.
Rated R (2000)
Honestly, placing Rated R in this spot was tough. Becoming a fan of QOTSA at the latter half of their career means I missed out on when this, Songs For The Deaf and Lullabies To Paralyze were released. Making these albums interchangeable for me. Ask me to do this list in a week and I’m sure it’ll look totally different.
Rated R is the record that saw the band gain recognition as the next big thing. As it made a little distance from the wholly Desert environment of the self-titled debut, it began to embrace some Poppier elements. ‘The Lost Art of Keeping A Secret’ is a straight up great song, and you can’t ignore the Paul Simon influence on ‘Auto Pilot’ and ‘In The Fade’. Two songs that gave an insight into QOTSA’s knack for producing music on the softer side.
With these mixed with the meme-able quality of ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’, the sheer drive behind ‘Tension Head’ and ‘Quick and To The Pointless’, the excellence of ‘Better Living Through Chemistry’ and the absurdness of ‘I Think I Lost My Headache’, Rated R is a superb record from front to back. I might’ve convinced myself to rethink this order. (Editor note: I did).
Era Vulgaris (2007)
This record holds a special place as it’s where I heard QOTSA for the first time. As an entry point, I’d say it’s a valid record to start with. It has the brute of the guitars all over, but they’re filtered through a “Robot Rock” sound that totally flips it on its head. No wonder I became hooked after hearing it.
‘Turnin On The Screw’ introduces us to their industrialised sound with a foreboding set of guitars that are unrelenting in driving riffs into the skull. Paired with one of the grooviest drum beats around to make it even more perplexing. ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ pushes the boundaries even further as it messes with your insides, leaving a note for ‘Battery Acid’ and ‘Run Pig Run’ to do the same.
Once again, Era Vulgaris is a record that’s solid from start to end. It’s more of a smorgasbord of noise than a concise album but is full of highlights. ‘3’s & 7’s is a fantastic song to get amped up to, ‘Make It Wit Chu’ is a deep Desert Sessions cut tweaked into a seriously smooth tune, and ‘Misfit Love’ is probably the greatest song they’ve ever done. You cannot go wrong with it.
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Back to where it all began. Emerging from the shadow of Kyuss comes the self-titled debut. Consisting mainly of Josh Homme and Alfredo Hernandez, Queens of the Stone Age is probably the closest we’ll get to a Josh Homme solo album.
Despite being covered in Desert sand, the record is full of hooks and riffs that remain prevalent in QOTSA’s music today. The opening riff of ‘Regular John’ introduces the world to a record that promises to sound like no other yet comes with the tools to get you hooked. It’s a pretty barebones record compared to others but utilises that raw energy to create some truly memorable moments in Queens’ discography.
The bass line of ‘You Can’t Quit Me Baby’, the pummeling drums of ‘Avon’, the sheer strange of ‘You Would Know’: there are so many classic moments you could highlight from this timeless record. Also, shoutout to the reissue for adding ‘The Bronze’ to the tracklist. One of the best B-sides of all time.
Songs For The Deaf (2002)
I mean, this surely had to be top 3 at least, right? The record that certified QOTSA as a next-level band. The home of their biggest hits in ‘No One Knows’ and ‘Go With The Flow’ woven into a concept of changing radio stations during a long drive. It’s sublime. But as easily as I could say “It’s got No One Knows on it, duh.” This record offers so much MORE.
Songs For The Deaf is peak Queens for me. The peak in terms of their rotating cast and contributing singers. You have Josh Homme, Mark Lanegan and Nick Oliveri taking vocal credits throughout this album. All of whom help deliver a record that is steeped in variation and a determined attitude to fuck you the fuck up.
Oliveri showcases his range from screaming his lungs on the powerful opener ‘You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar…’ to singing sweetly on ‘Another Love Song’. Lanegan’s textbook growl adds extra oomph to the record’s most powerful cuts on ‘Song For The Dead’ and ‘God Is In The Radio’ and Josh does his thing delivering the grooves and hits. This combination alongside the variation in sound really highlighted their talent and ethos as a band who brought the unpredictable. Even after endless listens, I’m still caught off guard by the switch in styles. And what also makes it great is how concise it sounds too.
Honestly, this record makes me miss how interchangeable each role is in Queens. While I’ll continue to love their later records, there was something special harnessed in Songs For The Deaf. It could’ve easily been number one, but I couldn’t let it top this one…
…Like Clockwork (2013)
Oh boy, it’s time to get emotional. Six years after discovering my favourite band through Era Vulgaris comes …Like Clockwork, a record that embedded that love deeper. At the time of its release, I was also going through a tough time and needed to hear something to get me out of that fog and throw me into the next chapter.
To add some context, the record comes after Josh Homme almost lost his life during an operation. Leaving him bedridden and spiralling into a deep depression. While struggling to move forward, he found solace in the support of the people around him which culminated in …Like Clockwork. It was their hardest record to make, but it illustrates all the pain and love wonderfully.
While it keeps a lot of the roots of QOTSA, the record operates at a slightly slower pace. There are still a lot of loud moments throughout (‘If I Had A Tail’, ‘My God Is The Sun’), but it almost chooses to calm down to allow the emotions to be heard. Incorporating the piano for ‘The Vampyre of Time and Memory’, the title track and ‘Kalopsia’ is something that wouldn’t have been heard on previous records, but they really shine through the gritty, pained guitar riffs that exist elsewhere. It also removes the vagueness that existed in the band’s lyrics for a long time, plainly speaking out against bad friendships and adoration for individuals, culminating in a dance with death on ‘I Appear Missing’. To hear so much fragility from a traditionally Hard Rock band was unheard of, but it makes …Like Clockwork so special.
Where Songs For The Deaf is Queens at their best, …Like Clockwork is their magnum opus. I love it so, so much. Its logo and passing ships of ‘I Sat By The Ocean’ is etched on my skin. That’s why it ranks number one on this list.
Thank you for taking the time to check out our ranking of Queens of the Stone Age records. Do you agree with the lineup? Which album would be number one in your list? Let us know.