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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Songs for the Deaf Artist: Queens of the Stone Age Label: Interscope, Length: 15 tracks, 62.03 minutes One year ago, “No One Knows,” the first single from the Queens of the Stone Age album Songs for the Deaf, was slicing through the morass of rock radio fare with its mock-polka bounce and grind. Yet while it registered on my radar, I admit I was too deaf to hear the full depth of this band (most likely because I was busy listening to Audioslave.) It took a sale at my local CD shop just a few weeks ago to persuade me to finally check out the full album, and while I had saved a few bucks off the RRP, I realized I had indeed missed the bus on the greatest rock album of 2002. In my opinion, this album deserves that accolade not only for the intoxicatingly creative buzz-and-grind rhythm guitars of Josh Homme and bassist Nick Oliveri (formerly of the band Kyuss), and the drumming of Dave Grohl (no introduction necessary), but also for the cohesive unity of these piercing songs. The devilish cover belies a lyrical preoccupation with the existential, and a serious quest for meaning (yea, even God!), alongside a generous slathering of humor and anti-corporate radio parody. Songs for the Deaf walks a fine line. Brutal, yet camp; raw, yet fluffy; crass, yet sublime, the Queens pull off an enigmatic masterpiece of postmodern punk. You would be hard pressed to find a more potent example of philosophical satire in today’s rock charts. The album opens with a search through the static on a Los Angeles radio dial, which finally tunes into radio KLONE, “the station that sounds more like everyone else than anyone else,” the first of a series of skits that lambaste derivative mainstream airwave syndication and programming. Ironically, the hypothetical DJ decides to flip on the QOTSA song whose overly long title preempts the reaction of mainstream radio listeners, “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire.” Metal heavy, shocked at the core / Gimme toro, gimme some moreWith a two-chord power riff and relentless screaming of such schlocky lyrics on this opening track, QOTSA dare us to switch off our ears and choose to be deaf to their sounds. But for those with ears to hear who persist, the reward follows with that catchy first single, “No One Knows.” As Grohl kicks out some of the finest drumming you’ll ever hear, Homme’s resonant tenor describes the human condition with the clarity of the Ecclesiastes philosopher, but with a curious summary. We get some rules to follow; that and this, these and those; No one knowsIt’s not the last time that God sneaks onto this album. Immediately following the above reflection, track three “First It Giveth” seems to address a series of questions to a perceived distant and disinterested God by employing the lofty, affected language of the King James Version Bible. I’m in you / You’re in me / I can’t tellIn spite of his characteristic flippancy in every interview I’ve read, I suspect Homme has some quiet, well-considered opinions on bankrupt God-talk. “Song for the Dead” is next on the play list with a bitter nod to mortality, followed by another everything-is-meaningless soliloquy, “The Sky is Falling”; both sporting killer riffs. The serious lyrical tone eases for a moment as the radio dial finds a station playing “all death metal, all the time!” and the band unleashes the hilarious grindcore spoof, “Six Shooter.” Expletives abound as they turn the tables on the pretension in such extreme niche market music. Try not laughing at this song! QOTSA are fiendishly funny. Following the morbid “Hangin’ Tree,” the latest single, “Go With the Flow,” picks up the existential angst theme again as it relates to a personal relationship, clearly affirming that life has ultimate meaning, but admitting the difficulty in reconciling that with experience. I want something good to die for to make it beautiful to live“Gonna Leave You” and “Do it Again” are together perhaps a painful sequel to the previous song, as the vocal admits defeat in the struggle to rekindle a dying relationship. At the conclusion, an unseen hand begins spinning the radio dial again, bringing forth brief strains of Sunday School songs and the exhortations of a stereotypical radio evangelist. The dial lingers here as the next song begins and the preacher calls for a last hallelujah; a fitting precursor to what could be viewed as QOTSA’s statement of faith; the bleak, desperately hopeful “God is in the Radio.” I thought I saw him on the video / A trance is keeping him underIf you haven’t got the message yet after that and “Another Love Song,” QOTSA have one song left for you, “A Song for the Deaf,” where a ponderous voice, oddly identifying itself as “the womb,” says that she knows something which “you should drop to your knees and worship.” What that is exactly isn’t stated. We have to work that one out for ourselves. Maybe that’s why Homme sings “No talk will cure what’s lost, or save what’s left for the deaf.” Even the obligatory hidden track on this album can’t avoid dipping into the philosophical mire, appropriately with the gentle, acoustic, honest and life-affirming “Mosquito Song.” We will all feed the worms and trees, so don’t be shyWith subsequent singles from this album still receiving regular rotation on radio, QOTSA’s 2002 effort is still clearly making waves in the rock’n’roll ocean, which can only be better for their presence in it. This is an album that will keep drawing you back to explore and enjoy its many lyrical and musical layers. There are no clear-cut answers to the existential dilemma, just the implicit challenge to work out your own salvation. Put aside any assumptions you have about this band and open your ears. These are songs for the mind and spirit. Listen carefully and you’ll hear God speaking through the Queens of the Stone Age radio. Brendan Boughen 12/2/2003
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