About
Out of the ashes of Kyuss, Josh Homme transplanted himself from Palm Desert to Seattle and rebuilt his vision of heavy music from the ground up, founding Queens of the Stone Age in 1996. Homme has always been the creative engine here, but the revolving cast of collaborators — Nick Oliveri, Troy Van Leeuwen, and a rotating roster including Dave Grohl, Trent Reznor, and Mark Lanegan — gave the band a chameleon-like quality that kept things unpredictable. Their sound sits in a fascinating sweet spot: thick, hypnotic riffs with a cool swagger that owes as much to glam and psychedelia as it does to metal.
Their self-titled debut turned heads, but it was Rated R and then Songs for the Deaf that cemented their reputation as one of the most vital rock acts of the 2000s. Songs for the Deaf in particular is a stone-cold classic — relentless, cinematic, and just weird enough to feel dangerous. Era Vulgaris and ...Like Clockwork showed Homme wasn't done evolving, with the latter earning some of the best reviews of their career.
QOTSA essentially kept arena-worthy guitar rock alive during an era when it was deeply unfashionable, influencing a generation of bands who wanted heaviness without the genre's usual baggage. They remain one of the few acts from that early-2000s rock revival that still genuinely matters.
