-->''"Life's a study of dying- how to do it right."''
--->'''Queens of the Stone Age,''' ''"Song for the Dead"''

Queens of the Stone Age is a HardRock group from the Palm Desert Scene, formed in 1995 by guitarist Josh Homme after his previous band {{Kyuss}} disbanded. Originally titled Gamma Ray, they were forced to change their name after a threat of legal action from an [[Music/GammaRay already existing band]]. The name comes from a joke made by one of Kyuss's producers, but Homme has since given a different rationale behind it.

The group started out by releasing two split [=CDs=]: one of the leftover {{Kyuss}} tracks and another with the group Beaver. The new material on those [=CDs=] and their first official album, ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Queens of the Stone Age]]'' in 1998, showed Josh Homme slowly breaking away from the musical stylings of {{Kyuss}} and coming into his own as an independent musician. However, the group found its identity with the release of ''Rated R'' in 2000, a mellower and more varied (but none-the-less hard) mix of stoner rock, grunge/alternative, classic rock and just a touch of heavy metal (with a few unorthodox musical experiments here and there, such as the use of steal drums in one song). The band solidified their newfound sense of identity with ''Songs For the Deaf'' in 2002. Largely abandoning their Stoner Rock origins in favor of a more accessible HardRock sound, it's a critically acclaimed album with the Grammy-nominated songs "No One Knows" and "Go With the Flow" (which also found their ways into ''{{Guitar Hero}}'' and ''RockBand'', respectively). It is their best selling album and the only one with platinum certification.

The group followed up with ''Lullabies to Paralyze'' in 2005 (named after a lyric from the track "Mosquito Song" from the previous album) and ''Era Vulgaris'' in 2007. While both have been given good press and each had a Grammy nominated song, they are neither as successful or as highly regarded as ''Songs For the Deaf'' (although ''Lullabies'' was a top-five album while ''Songs'' was not).

After a six-year break, ''...Like Clockwork'' was released on June 3rd, 2013 to massive acclaim.

Josh Homme is also part of the supergroup ThemCrookedVultures, with [[Music/FooFighters Dave Grohl]] and [[LedZeppelin John Paul Jones.]]

!!Studio Albums

[floatboxright:
Related Acts:
+{{Kyuss}}
+The Desert Sessions
+EaglesOfDeathMetal
+Fififf Teeners
+Music/FooFighters
+ThemCrookedVultures
+Screaming Trees (Mark Lanegan)
+Mondo Generator (Nick Oliveri)
+Eleven (Alain Johannes)
+Spinnerette (Johannes)
+Sweethead (Troy Van Leeuwen)
+The Dead Weather (Dean Fertita)
]
* ''Queens of the Stone Age''
* ''Rated R''
* ''Songs For the Deaf''
* ''Lullabies to Paralyze''
* ''Era Vulgaris''
* ''...Like Clockwork''
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!!This band and their music contains examples of:
* AlbumTitleDrop: At the beginning of "You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire," the [=DJ=] says "I need a saga. What's the saga? It's ''Songs for the Deaf.'' You can't even hear it!"
** The album version of the song also contains a track hidden in the pregap called "The Real Song For The Deaf" which consists mainly of low frequencies that deaf people may be able to detect.
** Interestingly, the title of "Lullabies to Paralyze" is dropped on its ''predecessor'' album.
** Averted on ''...Like Clockwork,'' despite a TitleTrack.
* AudienceParticipationSong: The aaah-aaah-aaahs in "Burn the Witch."
* BingeMontage: Ultra condensed in the form of "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer"
* BerserkButton: [[MemeticMutation Throw a bottle at Josh Homme, and he'll call you gay.]]
** Moshing into women in front of Josh is also a very bad idea.
** As is beating your girlfriend.
* TheBigBadWolf: "Someone's In The Wolf"
* BlackComedy: One of the fake radio bumpers on "Songs For The Deaf" includes a DJ slapping a crying baby.
* BurnTheWitch: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin A song off Lullabies to Paralyze]]
* CallBack: At the end of "The Sky is Falling," a DJ at KRNL ("We ruin music for ''everyone!''") announces that the next song he's going to play is "Millionaire" by Queens of the Stone Age, which was the first track on the album. The station is changed before the song begins again.
** CallForward: "The Sky is Falling" plays in the background of the DJ's introduction to "You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire."
** "Millionaire" was actually the name of the demo version of You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar...
** In "Fairweather Friends" (on ''...Like Clockwork''), as in "Walkin' on the Sidewalks" (on their debut, ''Queens of the Stone Age''), the narrator wants to escape the cares of the world with his girlfriend to "drink wine and screw."
** "Long Slow Goodbye" references the closing track of every previous QOTSA album and foreshadows the next one:
*** The rhythmic telephone beeping references "I Was a Teenage Hand Model."
*** The presence of a post-song horn section references "I Think I Lost My Headache."
*** The melody of the horn section is similar to the horns in "Mosquito Song."
*** The melody of the horns also harmonizes with the outro of "Running Joke," the closer on some versions of ''Era Vulgaris.''
* ChivalrousPervert: Josh Homme.
* ClusterFBomb: Josh Homme swears a ''lot'' when you push his buttons.
* ConceptAlbum: ''Songs For the Deaf'' uses fake radio bumpers and the changing of stations as a framing device. It might also explain the heavily compressed audio, but whether it's intentional or just another victim of the LoudnessWar is unknown. Each song on the album represents a different radio station the protagonist turns to as he drives ("You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" is the 'screamo' station, "God is in the Radio" is a religious radio station, etc).
** ''Lullabies to Paralyze'' is (loosely) a concept album as well, described by Josh Homme as "starting in the darkness and reaching for the light." In this way it mirrors ''Songs For the Deaf'', which starts out relatively light but ends up incredibly dark (the final few songs are some of the band's grimmest, with the last being a disturbing tale of cannibalism).
** ''...Like Clockwork'' may be a concept album as well, (seemingly) telling the story of a man recruited into an apocalyptic cult shortly before the end of the world.
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Lullabies To Paralyze'' was this to some extent. It was decidedly darker and more sinister-sounding than the previous three QOTSA albums, no doubt due in part to all the turmoil surrounding Nick Oliveri's firing a year before its release.
** ''Songs for the Deaf'' was considerably darker than ''Rated R'' and the SelfTitledAlbum. The overall tone is a lot more grim, with songs like "Song for the Dead," "Go With the Flow," and "God is in the Radio" having a dark, ominous sort of groove to them. There's also a song about cannibalism.
** And ''Lullabies to Paralyze'' was even darker than ''Songs for the Deaf.''
* DeusEstMachina: "God Is In The Radio"
* DoubleEntendre: "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer" could be implying a musical hit, or one of the narcotics listed in the song.
* DrugsAreBad: Generally averted, as Homme has shades of TheHedonist and did, after all, write "Feel Good Hit of the Summer." But Oliver's severe drug problems ended up being part of what got him thrown out (the other part was his habit of beating his girlfriend), and the cause of his many legal woes, including the infamous SWAT standoff.
* EpicRocking: "The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died," "I Appear Missing," "Someone's In the Wolf"
** During early performances, songs on the SelfTitledAlbum were expanded drastically. Some performances of "You Can't Quit Me Baby" lasted nearly twenty minutes.
* EverythingIsAnInstrument: "You Would Know" uses scissors and a telephone for percussion.
** "Regular John" includes a telephone beeping rhythmically in the background.
** As does "Long, Slow Goodbye."
* ExploitationFilm: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgVfjXA_QY0 video]] for "3's & 7's". It captures the feel of the golden age of Seventies exploitation films quite nicely.
* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Several times on ''...Like Clockwork,'' most notably the [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome incredibly awesome]] build-up at the end of "If I Had a Tail" leading into "My God is the Sun."
* {{Fairy Tale}}s: A theme in ''Lullabies to Paralyze'', though it arguably first showed up in "Mosquito Song" on ''Songs for the Deaf'' (the track ''Lullabies to Paralyze'' got its name from).
* HeroicBSOD: "I Appear Missing," based on Homme's near-death experience, four-month inability to walk, and depression, [[KickTheDog each of which caused the next]] during the recording of ''...Like Clockwork.''
* IAmAHumanitarian: "Mosquito Song", the video for "Sick, Sick, Sick"
* IAmTheBand: Josh Homme on the first album wrote all the songs along with [[Music/{{Kyuss}} Alfredo Hernandez]] he also played guitar under the name of Josh Homme and played bass, keyboards, and piano under the name of Carlo Von Sexron.
* IndecipherableLyrics: "Sick Sick Sick" can be nigh-incomprehensible.
* IntercourseWithYou: "Make It Wit Chu" is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Additionally: "Do It Again", "Skin On Skin"
** "Sick Sick Sick" is extremely dirty, but hides it with IndecipherableLyrics.
* InTheNameOfTheMoon: Josh Homme has been known to react violently to hecklers, and whenever he gets pissed the first thing he always says is "Hey you!"
* IWillWaitForYou: "This Lullaby"
* KnuckleTattoos: Josh Homme has the name of his grandparents, Cap and Cam, tattooed on his knuckles [[http://www.celebritytattoosite.com/2010/05/josh-homme-tattoos.html]]
** He now has the initials of his son, Orrin Ryder Homme, on the lower knuckles of his right hand.
* LastNoteNightmare: "I Think I Lost My Headache", "Make It Wit Chu"
** The album ''Songs for the Deaf.'' The final 'official' song is [[TitleTrack "Song for the Deaf"]], which features blood-curdling screams buried in the mix and lyrics about paranoia and betrayal. Then there's a few minutes of silence, and [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment then a minute-long version of "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" with the lyrics replaced with laughing.]] And ''then'' comes the unsettling, LyricalDissonance-filled bonus track "Mosquito Song," probably the most nightmarish song in the band's catalogue.
* LighterAndSofter: Arguably ''Era Vulgaris'' compared to ''Lullabies To Paralyze'', as the album was considerably more catchy and less grim-sounding. Also ''Rated R'' compared to the band's S/T album.
** QOTSA, in general, is this compared to [[Music/{{Kyuss}} Josh Homme's prior band]].
* ListSong: "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer"
* LongTitle: "You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire.", "I Think I Lost My Headache", "How To Handle a Rope (A Lesson In The Lariat)"
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Despite how cynical and sarcastic his music often is (and how temperamental he can sometimes be), Josh is actually known to be a very nice and friendly person in real life.
* MinisculeRocking: "Six Shooter," which runs at 1:19 and still manages to pack in [[ClusterFBomb quite a few swear words]].
* MushroomSamba: "Monsters In The Parasol"
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally in the 4 to 7 range. Occasionally they'll go down to a 3 (In The Fade) or up to a high 8 (Tension Head).
* {{Motif}}: On the SelfTitledAlbum, multiple songs reference telephones in some way:
** "Regular John" is about a man who calls numbers on bathroom stalls.
** "You Would Know" features the beeping of a telephone [[EverythingIsAnInstrument mimicking the main guitar line.]]
** "I was a Teenage Hand Model" includes [[{{Foreshadowing}} a phone call from Nicki Oliveri]] accepting Josh's invitation to join the band.
* NonIndicativeName: They're all male, not royalty and thoroughly modern.
* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Sick Sick Sick," "If I Had a Tail"
* PrecisionFStrike: From the "My God is the Sun" video:
-->THE END IS REALLY FUCKING NIGH
* ThePowerOfBlood: "The Blood Is Love"
* ShoutOut: [[{{Radiohead}} "I want you to notice/when I'm not around"]] in "You Can't Quit Me Baby."
* SlasherSmile: ''"Beware the smile/[[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily It hides all the teeth, my dear]]"''
* StableTimeLoop: The ...Like Clockwork videos are this. The man from I Appear Missing is killed by the man from Kalopsia, who's killed by the man from Keep Your Eyes Peeled, who's killed by the woman from If I Had a Tail, and then they're all killed again by the... whatever it is in the My God Is the Sun video. And then the man from I Appear Missing is back where he started...
* SuperGroup: The ''Songs For The Deaf'' line-up was essentially a 90's alt rock supergroup, with Josh Homme & Nick Oliveri from Kyuss, Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees and Dave Grohl.
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: "Song For The Deaf"
* TitleByNumber: 3's and 7's
* TitleTrack: "A Song for the Deaf," "Era Vulgaris," "...Like Clockwork"
* WordSaladLyrics: At least half of their songs are comprised entirely of this, while others have snippets thrown in. In fact, Josh Homme himself has mentioned that he often writes lyrics in a deliberately vague manner so that the listener can interpret them in any way he/she chooses.
* XMeetsY: ElvisPresley meets {{Slayer}}.
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[[TheStinger * kzzetrt* ''It's been a good night. Dave Catching here. Not saying 'good night'... just saying.''*kzzztr*]]