To celebrate the reissue of what is possibly the greatest rock album of the last decade – which is 10 years old – here’s a handy guide to the album that launched the hard rocking career of Queens Of The Stone Age.
Released in 2000, Rated R, which gets its re-release on Monday, is an extraordinary album by any measure. At the time of its orginal release American rock was in the doldrums (read Limp Bizkit), so Josh and a loose collection of musicians decided to rip it a new one with lean mean Man Rock. With the opening track Feel Good Hit Of The Summer, they set their stall out perfectly, with possibly the greatest opening track of an album of all time. Add to the mix, backing vocals by Rob Halford from Judas Priest and you have a real mind-blower.
With a band made up of some of the finest miscreants imaginable, including ex-Screaming Tree Mark Lanegan, Chris Goss and the clothes-shy Nick Oliveri, Rated R was a masterclass in epic yet heavy pop-fuelled narco-rock. It was also the breakthrough for the band, reaching the US charts and going silver in the UK.
California’s Palm Desert plays an influential role in the QOTSA creative process. Homme would regularly gather band-mates together in the middle of the desert, hook up a generator and play hard and drink hard through the night. The occasional highlights of the Desert Sessions – previous ones have included the likes of PJ Harvey – get beefed up and turned into tracks. One such is Monsters In The Parasol, which makes you want to steal a car, load up on booze and drive off into the sunshine. *
Josh’s own personal favourite on Rated R is I Think I Lost My Headache, and true epic to close to the album which breaks the rules time-signature wise.
Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your standpoint) none of the live clips feature bassist Nick Oliveri naked (which was a signature event at most of their shows around this time. This performance of Better Living Through Chemistry is Nick-free, but is, frankly, a bit awesome.
• Don’t steal a car, load up on booze and drive off into the sunshine
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