The Queens of the Stone Age song inspired by Josh Homme’s acid trip
No rule states that listeners need narcotics to appreciate music. As much as smoking something may add to the experience of listening to an album from back to front, the best players in the world have the potential to give their audience a contact high just by hearing their different classics. While drugs may be a nice way to spark creativity, writing Queens of The Stone Age’s ‘Monsters in the Parasol’ came from one of the biggest drug-addled nightmares Josh Homme ever had.
Then again, it almost goes without saying that Homme liked to indulge in some nefarious behaviour before he started performing. Since his old band Kyuss helped birth stoner rock, no one was expecting them to be the clean-living act that never took anything heavier than over-the-counter medication.
While Kyuss would eventually fold so Homme could focus on his new outfit, there was a specific haze coating their first handful of records. As much as the band may have been able to play their asses off on their debut record, it’s easy to get a contact high if you’re not careful, especially on songs that felt like they were conceived on another planet like on ‘Avon’ and ‘If Only’.
Homme may have just wanted a fluid lineup in the beginning, but the group started to solidify with bassist Nick Oliveri and vocalist Mark Lanegan on Rated R. Taking the tracks one step further, ‘Monsters in the Parasol’ originated when Homme went on his first acid trip when he was a kid.
Looking at the lyrics, Homme practically puts the listener in the mind of someone going on an acid trip as he starts listing off his warped visions. Written in the same vein as the surrealist psychedelic songs of the 1960s, a lot of the imagery in the track is absolutely insane, from Homme watching the walls close in around him to the unspeakable things that he never imagined all covered in hair.
Since this was written around the first time he took acid, it’s easy to picture Homme sitting blitzed out of his mind in the middle of his basement as he watches these creatures close in around him. Although it might have been terrifying at the time, one hit of acid would be a walk in the park compared to what the frontman got into on the rest of Rated R.
Even though the piece may have sounded very different when inebriated, some of the biggest names didn’t need any chemical assistance to enjoy it. Apart from the hard rock community, Dave Grohl admitted to being a huge fan of the album, leading to him taking over on drums for the next album, Songs for the Deaf, while Foo Fighters were taking a break.
As if to hammer home the “stoner” schtick, the entire first song on the record is nothing but one chord and Homme listing off all of the narcotics that he had in his system one night at a party, including but not limited to…nicotine, valium, vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol. The band may have been able to make musical marvels out of their odes to drugs, but it was never about showing off. It was about playing music that gave the same sensation of a drug trip without having to ingest anything.
