At this point – fourteen years after the original lineup came together in Palm Desert, CA – Queens Of The Stone Age has become an institution. The band itself may laugh at that image and possibility (who would believe that the world at large follows and enthuses over the movements of a bunch of “old transvestites” anyway?), but it's true; in the last fourteen years, QOTSA has amassed a mythos which includes getting matching tattoos to commemorate the worst show they ever played, the band sacking one of its members when his penchant for domestic violence was discovered, getting the most famous drummer of his generation (Dave Grohl) to sit in on drums for the recording sessions which yielded a couple of the band's biggest hits and having crossover success with them between the normally acrimonious camps of hard rock/metal and punk [while a compilation featuring songs from Rated R was being given away at Warped Tour 2000, the band was playing and winning fans on Ozzfest –ed]; to name only a few examples. The list of great and infamous stories in the history of Josh Homme and his gang is as long as the list of hit singles and Gold records in the band's catalogue (longer even) but, like that list of hit records, it all starts in the year 2000 when Rated R came out – but there's more to the band's history than that. In fact, there's a whole other record which came out before Rated R which has gone largely unsung, in spite of the praise, kudos and staggering amount of attention the band has received: their self-titled debut album. As it turns out, Queens Of The Stone Age is the raw, basic framework upon which everything the band has done since is based but, because of a general lack of availability [originally released on Loosegroove Records, it has since passed around to a couple of other labels without much notice, and fallen out of print –ed] even even some rabid fans aren't acquainted with it. Queens Of The Stone Age is finally available again now though – through Josh Homme's own Rekords Rekords imprint, in conjunction with Domino Records; making it possible for fans to finally get a feel for what the band was about before the going got great.
Originally just the pet project of singer/guitarist Josh Homme (Alfredo Hernandez came over from Kyuss to play drums on this first record, but Nick Oliveri wouldn't join until the writing and sessions for Rated R), the ghosts, weirdness and inherent darkness of the Southwest (the religious right, bizarre mirages and the isolation that comes with desert living) and the fascinations that most every suburbanite kid holds dear (science fiction, hard rock music, role playing games) were the things which inspired Homme during the making of this album, and there's no mistaking it here because they're pressed into every corner of this first batch of songs. From the very beginning of “Regular John,” Queens Of The Stone Age presents itself as a proud group of sub-culturalists with rhythm guitars muddy enough to make Tony Iommi do a double-take contrasted by dissonant, disjointed lead figures and crowned by Homme's fairly laid back and monotone vocalese. The result is a startlingly epic tune which successfully cross-wires classic rock songwriting forms and themes with punk rock's love of the possibilities that DIY and throwing the rulebook out the window afford. No matter how you slice it – as a new kind of classic or an all-new punk sub-genre of one – “Regular John” is unique and all on its own.
After “Regular John” sets the stage, QOTSA keeps on digging within the same fertile landscape to see what other one-of-a-kind treasures they can find, and really do come up with some gold. Both “Avon” and “You Can't Quit Me Baby” continue to play with the old classic/new classic angle of “Regular John” to excellent effect, while If Only” reaches surprisingly close to the Chicago post-hardcore grind that Urge Overkill had working wonders for them in the late Eighties and early Nineties before “How To Handle A Rope” cuts in, sounding like the great, forgotten Melvins classic. A little deeper into the album's run-time, and the ground just seems to vanish as a bottomless bass swirls up an 'early days' Grunge tempest on “Mexicola.” As sonically disparate as these songs are though, the album holds together as being the work of just one band because every time another new sound gets incorporated, it simply sounds like “the new thing to play around with” and so has a place of honor where it appears, but doesn't distract from the proceedings. As the record finally begins to fall apart at the end (“I Was A Teenage Hand Model” just sort of splays in every direction it can reach in as early Pro-Tools twaddling mixes with talk of Job's patience to somehow arrive at a great, lobotomized pop gem) and finally just sputters to a close, listeners will be left with a feeling of accomplishment because they managed to follow the band all the way through this trip without getting lost along the way, as well as a sense that it might be fun to try again because it worked so well the first time; as loose and sort of rudderless as it might be, Queens Of The Stone Age is a really good time.
Now, thirteen years later, Queens Of The Stone Age has reissued this record, remastered with three extra songs mixed into its run-time (which aren't essential, but make for some great added flavor) to fill fans in on what they missed before they got to the party, and it really is worthwhile; sure – Rated R is essential listening and Songs For The Deaf is great, but they're very much different kinds of work stacked against the band's self-titled debut. Queens Of The Stone Age isn't the kind of album which sees a band trying to find its voice or get legs under it because those things were already set – this album proves that Queens Of The Stone Age was already running strong by the time Rated R broke; this is the template, everything since has just been a matter of evolution.
Artist:
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Download:
Queens Of The Stone Age – "Regular John"
Queens Of The Stone Age – "I Was A Teenage Handmodel"
Album:
The Queens Of The Stone Age reissue is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
