Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has always been a personal favorite of mine. He’s an alternative rock juggernaut, with a drugged-out and sleazy vibe that immediately makes you feel like you’re halfway through a bottle of tequila every time you hear him play. He plays like the guitar with an almost Medieval like intensity, with bizarre lead hooks that almost defy definition– they’re weird as hell and filtered through effects that make them like they’ve been soaked in kerosene. The entirety of this album is fiercely precise, with intricate guitar lines playing off thumping bass lines before they are elevated by Homme’s hypnotic approach to singing. The dude is one of a kind.
But Songs for the Deaf owes much of its energy to the blistering drum work of Dave Grohl, who joined the band for this record behind the kit. Grohl, already a legend with Nirvana and Foo Fighters, pushed the album’s sound to new heights with his powerful, tight drumming. From the opening roar of “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire” to the breakneck pace of “Song for the Dead,” Grohl’s relentless rhythms infused the album with a primal force only he is truly capable of. The recording of the drums on this album were also relatively unique– Grohl’s drums were recorded in an isolation booth to create a tight, punchy sound, with cymbals recorded separately to allow for flexible microphone positioning. To achieve this, Grohl played each song twice: first with electronic cymbal pads and then with real cymbals, blending the takes for the final mix.
Together, Homme and Grohl’s collective genius came together to create a record that defines the chaotic energy of rock and roll at its best—dangerous, thrilling, and impossible to ignore.
Standout Songs: “No One Knows”, “You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire”, “Go With The Flow”, “Song For The Dead”
