This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If success in show biz is all about who you know, Queens Of The Stone Age should soon be bigger than a boy band.
Although now basically downsized to the duo of behemoth ex-Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme and chrome-domed bassist Nick Olivieri, the Queens’ party-hearty stoner-rock always seems to attract an A-list guest list. Songs For The Deaf, their third CD, is no exception. Foo Fighters’ founder (and Nirvana survivor) Dave Grohl pounds the skins, Homme’s old Screaming Trees pal Mark Lanegan sings some, and an alt-rock who’s who from Twiggy Ramirez to Dean Ween drop in to lend a hand. What brings them around is the same thing that brings listeners around: QOTSA’s sound, which augments the grinding grooves of classic ’70s stoner-metal with melodic and hooky Cheap Trick-style pop. On this 14-track disc, you get plenty of hard-driving rawk in tunes like Song For The Dead, First It Giveth and Six Shooter, along with lots of airwave-ready fare like No One Knows, God Is In The Radio and the Gary Glittery Do it Again. Granted, this disc doesn’t have another Feel Good Hit Of The Summer — but the combo of rock muscle and pop smarts offered here is so irresistible you’d have to be deaf to miss it. And a fool to pass it up.
