No. 357: Queens of the Stone Age - "Queens of the Stone Age" (1998)

After the grunge explosion of the early 90's there were a heap of copycat bands trying to cash in on the phenomena, and after a while everything started to sound the same. To me, rock music seemed to have lost its balls, so to speak, and I became disillusioned. That is until I got a hold of this album.
Desert rock, stoner rock, robot rock - it's been called all these things in an attempt to "give it a label", but essentially this album earmarked the revival of riff-based rock. Queens of the Stone Age signaled a return to those classic days when rock had real power and you could jam on the same chord for nearly 5 minutes. Opener "Regular John" and "Walkin' On The Sidewalks" are the best examples of this, and the rest of the album delivers with the same full-on intensity.
This is a guys album, best enjoyed at a BBQ with mates and a few bourbons. There's no Van Halen-styled overplaying on this album - just honest rock the way it was intended. Guitar, bass, drums & voice (and maybe the occasional piano riff). That's all folks.
Criminally, the album has been out of print for the last 6 or 7 years, however yesterday it was re-released on CD with three bonus tracks and I was first in-line to pick it up (again) at my local record store. Coincidentally the band are also in Perth this weekend to play the Soundwave festival, but being a father of two young children on a long-weekend holiday prohibits my attendance - the first performance of theirs in Perth I have missed since 2003.
This album is a timely reminder of the power of rock music in this age of seemingly endless electro-pop and Gaga-esque over-indulgences. As Molly Meldrum would say, "Do yourself a favour..."