The only genres Josh Homme ever disliked: “New-school punk rock and the bulk of the hair metal”
There are benefits that come with being an outcast, especially if you want to make it in music. Just ask Heart.
How were any bands piercing the veil of rock music when the genre had established itself as the biggest in the world? Well, Heart managed to do it, and while there were a few factors that contributed to their success, being outcasts was certainly a big part of it, and they grew up in Seattle, miles away from any established musical scene or sound, and that meant they had free rein to make what they wanted.
It’s all well and good coming up in the heart of a specific scene, but California eventually grew tired of hippie bands, New York became bored of the Meet Me In The Bathroom movement, and even Mancunians grew tired of Oasis rip-offs. When Heart first started writing music and gigging in their hometown, there was no limit on what styles of music bands could make.
“I think that Seattle is full of outliers and misfits, especially in those days,” said Ann Wilson when talking about the city that helped make her. “It’s a seaport, it’s a place that rains maybe nine or ten months out of the year. It’s grey and dreary. That does have an effect, especially on sensitive people. So, I think if you’re an outlier and you’re a singer…you’re from Seattle!”
Josh Homme had a similar experience when he was growing up, realising from a young age that being on the outskirts of the mainstream was the best way to come up as a creative, and by not fully committing to one specific style or sound, you wind up stumbling upon various ideas and blending them all together, the band he’s most famous for being Queens of the Stone Age, who are undeniably rock, but Homme’s sound expands outside the one genre, and it’s this attitude that helps him achieve as much.
Homme pays homage to his upbringing at the beginning of the Queens of the Stone Age album, Villains. The opening line of that album, “I was born in the desert, May 17th, ‘73,” acts as insight towards Homme’s early life. He elaborated on how he grew up and the strange people who made up those early days.
It was a man called Mario Lalli who helped facilitate his initial meetings with different creatives. It seems odd for Homme to look back on now, but at the time, this friendship helped in shaping his musical identity. “I was into punk rock music, and he’d have these parties at his house,” he said. “Look back on it now, there’d be 13-year-old people, me, and 40-year-old people. Which is kinda gross, ultimately, perhaps, but in that time frame, it was totally fine. Because it’s a gang of individuals and outsiders.”
When talking about the album Villains, Josh Homme spoke about the diversity on the record and how that was reflective of this broad appreciation for music, which has always been a huge part of him, but when discussing the many genres he likes and that influence him, he also lets slip the one genre he can’t stand, and it might upset a few people.
“I think that’s why the record is diverse-we listen to everything from The Cramps, to Johnny Cash, to Discharge, GBH, Black Flag, Björk… I mean, it’s as scattered as the record is,” he concluded. “Some of the only stuff I don’t really like is new-school punk rock and the bulk of the hair metal.”
