Then, like a magical thunderbolt, hurled out of the depths of the California desert, came the album "Lullabies to Paralyze". Upon hearing that album, I held it aloft as the heir to the bad ass rock gods that I so revered. The first time the cowbell rang in on "Little Sister" I was immediately hooked, and had long discussions with my friends about how Queens and The White Stripes were going to save Rock and Roll. After discovering their back catalogs, I was swept along the sexy roller coaster of desert stoner bliss, past the grimy Lullabies, the sarcastic "Rated R", and the punishing, brooding "Songs for the Deaf".
Led by the towering viking inferno himself, Josh Homme, Queens has soldiered on past lineup changes, the ever changing landscape of popular music, one that was systematically rejecting guitar music, and even death. No rock band has made sexier music in the last 20 years, and at the center of it all was Hommes' defiant middle finger to anyone who dared question him or his majestic desert titans' siren song.
These are the cream of the crop, my personal, top 5 favorite Queens of the Stone Age lyrics, and convincing arguments as to why the group is one of the most important rock acts of our generation.
1: "They say those who can't, just instruct others / And act like victims or jilted lovers / You can't lose it if you never had it / Disappear man, do some magic
You want a reason, how's about "because"? / You ain't a has been if you never was"
"Turnin on the Screw" - Era Vulgaris
A frantic, scrambled stomper that opens up the bands 5th album, "Turnin" is a playful song that puts a bullet in the head of all the bitter misfits out there who live and die by self defeating prophecies. Josh pleads with the disenchanted masses to get out there and get some shit done, to go realize their full potential, or christ, at least have a better attitude about it. After a chaotic, off tempo guitar halestorm, Homme relents, saying "fuck it, bitter is in fashion" and jumps right in with them for a tight outro with a gorgeous vocal accompaniment from current Queen, Troy Van Leeuwen. The album runs the gamut from sexy, to brooding, to downright scary, but the opening track will have you dancing your ass off as Josh flirts with the cretins, crooning a weary "I'm a mess I guess, I'm turnin' on the screw"
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2: "Ain't gonna' worry. Just live 'till you die, I wanna' drown / With nowhere to fall into the arms of someone. / There's nothing to save I know, you live 'till you die"
"In the Fade" - Rated R
The darkness before the dawn on the album that defines the struggle of addiction and depression. Amidst the excess and torment the album pummels you with, Homme allows a brief reprieve in the form of this comforting, borderline optimistic tune, reminding the listener that you are always able to pull yourself up and out of whatever you're stuck in, and move forward with your life. After weary admissions of depression and heartbreak, Josh defiantly states that he won't worry, that he'll soldier on past the crippling bleakness of the characters life as depicted by Rated R. In an almost fiendish plot twist, when all seems well, the song crashes to conclusion with a reprisal of the albums cacophonous opening track, with throat shredding shrieks of submission to all that life has to offer him "Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol".
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3: "Most of what you see my dear, is purely for show / Because not everything that goes around, comes back around you know / Holding on too long is just a fear of letting go / Because not everything that goes around, comes back around you know / One thing that is clear, It's all downhill from here."
"Like Clockwork" - Like Clockwork
The crushingly beautiful ending to one of the finest albums of 2013, Josh takes to the piano to remind us that even desert vikings had a soft side. After dying on an operating table after a botched knee operation, Homme regained consciousness, and with it, a murky melancholy that can be heard all over "Like Clockwork". A sweeping slide guitar breaks up the ballad, accompanied by thunderous drums and a killer reverb that brings the album plummeting to it's knees for a sonic representation of a man at the end of his rope. "All the promises of stone, crumble in the light", Josh croons as a man wracked with grief and heartbreak, a soulful resignation to the truth of the matter, that people are going to always do what they want, and there's nothing you can do about it. The more you try and hold on to things, the more they will slip out of your fingers.
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4: "It's late enough to go drivin', and see what's mine / Life's the study of dying, how to do it right / You're a holy roller, if you're betting to lose / If you're hangin' around, I'm holding the noose"
"A Song for the Dead" - Songs for the Deaf
One the of dozens of examples I could point to of Josh Hommes' uncontrollable swagger. The attitude on this track practically slaps you in the face. A back to basics, hard rock behemoth, Song for the Dead is one of the most bad ass tracks the band has ever written, blasting out of the gate with long time collaborator Dave Grohls' hands of god, Bonham incarnate drumming. A stabbing lyric, filled with that sarcasm that is painted all over the walls of the Queens' albums, Josh invokes a twisted version of the Budhist philosophy of dying by degrees. If you are wilting away second by second, why not make the most of it? Think mere mortality can restrain The Queens of the Stone Age? No way man.
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5: "Don't cry, with my toes on the edge it's such a lovely view / Inside, I never loved anything until I loved you / Confide, I'm over the edge, what can I do? / Sunshine, I've fallen through"
"I Appear Missing" - Like Clockwork
While Like Clockwork is the closing track on the album, this song is where the journey reaches it's end. A man on the edge of what he can handle, about to leap to cathartic freedom. A story of a broken person, obsessing over what he can't have, lamenting his unrequited love while he tumbles further down the rabbit hole. Battling depression for months after his near death experience, Homme leveled the playing field and brought his demons into the blinding spotlight of the mid-day sun. "It's only falling in love because you hit the ground", he spits as the song spirals into it's climactic end, with Josh on the edge, dangling his feet over the abyss of his own mortality.
Queens of the Stone Age has for nearly 20 years been affording us the opportunity to scream along, strut around, and shake our ass' to their unique brand of musical insanity. Josh's magnetic attraction has roped in the likes of Elton John, Trent Reznor, Alex Turner and Dave Grohl, bringing these titans of rock in to supplement but never to replace. To accent but never to dominate. Every Queens album is different than the next, with Josh striving to never get stuck in a rut, or do what's expected of him by anyone. Following firmly his business plan of not giving a shit, The Queens have launched salvos of sandy, musical missiles at us for years, each one more potent and biting than the next. Never losing his sexy strut, even in the midst of personal turmoil, the world owes a debt to Josh Homme, just as he owes a debt to whatever heathen rock gods he tricked into teaching him their talents. Thanks for saving 14 year old me from the barren landscape of rock radio, Josh. Here's to you
