Long Slow Goodbye
There’s a reason this Lullabies to Paralyze gem begins with the sound of a dial tone. Years ago, during a more turbulent time in Queens’ history, Josh had made the tough decision to fire bassist Nick Oliveri from the band, but couldn’t get ahold of Nick to break the news. “Where have you gone again, my sweet? Everybody wants to know…” This aint a boy loves girl kind of romance, but a bittersweet tale of brotherhood divided. The song took on an entirely new meaning during a heart-wrenching 2009 tribute to the band’s late keyboardist Natasha Schneider, wife of Queens guitarist Alain Johannes. Closing out the night, the poignancy of the performance drove the beauty of the song home in an entirely new way.
Sweet spot: Beginning at 4:14, the final collection of “goodbye” harmonies, the dial tone audible once again, rising in the mix until it’s the only remaining sound.
Fairweather Friends
Queens of The Stone Age recorded a song with Elton John. Let that sink in for a moment. You bet your ass this one’s going to be massive. Good-riddance scorn flows powerfully and beautifully in the sunshine-soaked and fantastically finger-pointing ‘fuck you’ off the band’s new album …Like Clockwork, mincing no words in its damnation. Goosebumps rise when sir Elton pounds the keys, a rhythmic recall of the dearly departed Natasha Shneider, as swarms of Mark Lanegan, Trent Reznor, the visiting piano-rock legend and more flow in a thick, bubbling choral-vocal undercurrent.
Sweet spot: Beginning at 1:30 – “So what’s it gonna take to get you back in bed? Gossips, frauds and snakes, they’re just our best Fairweather Friends…”
Better Living Through Chemistry
A bare tablas opening leads to an ominous riff that shapes Homme’s narcotic melody. “The blue pill opens your eyes,” he sings, almost underwater, before the song begins to break loose in a pre-chorus, only to give way to a chasm of buzzing feedback that bursts into a spiraling Twilight Zone riff. Following along as the song finds its way back to the original riff is like stepping back into the sunshine.
Sweet spot: 2:14, when the song comes crashing back in from feedback purgatory.
Mexicola
The eager hunger of a band with a world to prove shines through in this gem from the band’s self-titled 1998 album. Thundering basslines and squealing guitars bring this juggernaut track to life, a raw and raucous spin in a musical demolition derby.
Sweet spot: At 2:37 the best line of the song arrives: “In a world that’s full of shit and gasoline”
I Think I Lost My Headache
A slow-burn carousel of danger grinds to life in this brilliant ode to paranoia, which Homme sums up in his own words: “Paranoia… when you think something strange is going on, and everyone around you is so adamant about telling you it’s fine… but then you start thinking ‘Wouldn’t that be exactly what you’d say if you didn’t want me to know, and there is something going on?’ And so it’s kind of about that paranoid mentality which maybe I have sometimes.”
Sweet spot: The sense of insanity setting in at 4:30 as the tempo picks up and eventually the broken-robot instrumentation transforms entirely into a demented, schizophrenic horn section.
