The song Queens of the Stone Age actually wrote for deaf people
An institution of modern rock, Queens of the Stone Age have achieved much in their time. Whether it be establishing themselves as one of the most distinctive of the contemporary era by bringing stoner rock to the masses or the fact that they’ve been one of the most consistent bands of the past 25 years, their list of feats is extensive.
Led by frontman and guitarist Josh Homme, although the band have had a revolving cast over the years, this propensity for change hasn’t detracted from the quality on offer. Essentially a supergroup, they have always been the sum of their parts, with Homme’s sidemen helping him to realise his increasingly expansive creative vision.
Given that the band have eight albums to their name, starting with 1998’s eponymous debut, with the most recent being 2023’s In Times New Roman…, the question around which is their best effort remains to this day. Many fans’ call for the best would be 2002’s Songs for the Deaf, Queens of the Stone Age’s breakout record. A loose concept album featuring Dave Grohl on drums, it boasts classics such as ‘No One Knows’, ‘First It Giveth’ and ‘Go With the Flow’.
The album is brimming with some of Queens of the Stone Age’s best moments and features some of their most experimental ideas. As it is a loose concept album based on taking the audience on a drive through the Californian desert from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree, tuning into different radio stations from towns on the way, it gave the group a broad scope with which to create their music.
Although the title of the album, Songs for the Deaf, appears to have no bearing on the broader concept, the band did address this theme. On the CD version of the record, they included the hidden track ‘The Real Song for the Deaf’, which can now be found on streaming sites as a regular song, detracting from its original surprise.
Kicking off with a robotic voice confusedly asking, “Huh? What?”, this 92-second palette slowly adds more textures as a filtered arpeggio that fades in. It eventually gives way to a fleeting popping sound before we hear the familiar sound of the car keys shaking, meaning that the opener of the record, ‘You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire’, and the journey across California, is about to commence.
Interestingly, there was an actual point to the short sound collage of ‘The Real Song for the Deaf’. Per the account of bassist Nick Oliveri, who was the primary songwriter on the album alongside Josh Homme, the track was meant to accommodate the needs of deaf people. “We got an organisation of deaf people to rub balloons against the mic at such a low frequency that they could feel it,” he told Planet Sound. “Turn up your speakers at home, and you’ll, ah, hear it.”
Listen to ‘The Real Song for the Deaf’ below.
