Queens of the Stone Age is the debut studio album by the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, released by Loosegroove Records on September 22, 1998. It was primarily written and recorded in April 1998 by founding member Josh Homme and his former Kyuss bandmate Alfredo Hernández, with Hernández playing drums and Homme singing and playing the rest of the instruments. Homme also produced the album alongside Joe Barresi. Bassist Nick Oliveri, also a former member of Kyuss, would join the band by the time of the album’s release. Queens of the Stone Age received generally positive reviews from critics, who placed it in the stoner rock genre and drew comparisons to krautrock bands such as Neu! and Can, as well as to Kyuss and other metal bands.
In 2011, Homme reissued Queens of the Stone Age through his Rekords Rekords label, having it remastered and adding three additional tracks two from the album’s recording sessions and one from two years earlier. The reissue received a positive critical response and was accompanied by a supporting concert tour. Working on the reissue and subsequent tour also inspired part of the band’s approach to recording its sixth album, …Like Clockwork, released in 2013. In 2022, the album was reissued again on Matador Records with its original LP artwork.
The album’s recordings were mixed by Barresi and mastered by Dan Hersch at DigiPrep in Hollywood. The image for the album cover was taken from the 1972 book The Pin-Up: A Modest History by Mark Gabor, featuring Trinidadian-British model Sylvia Bayo. Photographs for the liner notes were taken by Tony Tornay, while the back cover photograph was taken by rock photographer Lisa Johnson; it shows Hernández, Homme, and former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri, the latter of whom joined Queens of the Stone Age just prior to the album’s release and would remain with the band until 2004. Oliveri also appears in the album’s closing moments, in a recorded answering machine message to Homme in which he agrees to join the band. Homme created the layout for the album’s packaging with graphic artist Frank Kozik.
Tracklist:
- Regular John
- Avon
- If Only
- Walkin’ on the Sidewalks
- You Would Know
- How to Handle a Rope
- Mexicola
- Hispanic Impressions
- You Can’t Quit Me Baby
- Give the Mule What He Wants
- I Was a Teenage Hand Model
Queens of the Stone Age
Josh Homme: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, piano, producer, packaging (credited under the pseudonym “Carlo” for bass guitar, keyboard, and piano)
Alfredo Hernández: drums
Additional performers
Chris Goss: bass guitar and backing vocals on “You Would Know” and “Give the Mule What He Wants”
Fred Drake: drums and vocals on “I Was a Teenage Hand Model”
Patrick “Hutch” Hutchinson: piano on “I Was a Teenage Hand Model”
Mike Johnson: “sofa” on “I Was a Teenage Hand Model”
Dave Catching: percussion on “I Was a Teenage Hand Model”
Production
Joe Barresi: producer, mixing engineer
Steve Feldman: assistant engineer
Dan Hersh: mastering engineer
Artwork
Tony Tornay: photographs
Lisa Johnson: back cover photograph
Frank Kozik: packaging
