QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
"Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstacy and Alcohol.......C-c-c-c-c-cocaine!!!!!" Lyrically incisive it isn't, but with those words Queens Of The Stone Age herald their return from the wilderness and signal their intent with a lyric that every teenager in the known universe will be singing by the end of the year. Rated R, the follow-up to 1998's self-titled debut, has been proclaimed by NME and Rolling Stone as perhaps the most important rock album since Nirvana's seminal Nevermind. This is probably overstating it's credentials a little, but make no mistake, Rated R is one of those rare commodities - an instant classic.
Since Kyuss disbanded in 1995 (*sniff*), guitarist Josh Homme and original bassist Nick Oliveri have relished the opportunity to work in a less constrained environment, and indeed, this latest incarnation of QOTSA has crafted its most schizophrenic musical statement to date. With long-time producer Chris Goss once again at the helm, Rated R is undoubtedly Homme's most expansive effort since Kyuss' classic 1995 magnum-opus Sky Valley, if not sonically then certainly stylistically. So as well as the trademark grinding riffs and sound explorations of "Better Living Through Chemistry" and "I Think I've Lost My Headache", you also get the Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie inflections of "Auto Pilot", the lilting Eastern flavours of the acoustic instrumental "Lightning Song" and the almost U2-ish "In The Fade" featuring Screaming Trees vocalist Barret Martin.
But it is on the straight ahead numbers that QOTSA really shine here, from the afore-mentioned vocal hook of "Feel Good Hit of The Summer" to the trashy punk of "Monsters In The Parasol" and "Quick And To The Pointless". After years of pumping out tunes of earthquake-inducing heaviosity, Homme and Co look like finally hitting paydirt with perhaps their least complex effort to date. Such is the fickleness of the music-listening public. Sometimes we don't want to be taken on a journey - sometimes being able to scream "Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstacy and Alcohol.....C-c-c-c-c-cocaine!!!!!" at the top of our lungs as we drive down the highway is more than enough.
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