Songs for the Deaf: I Need a Saga. What's the Saga?

by editor Michele Catalano

Josh Homme. Nick Oliveri. Dave Grohl. Mark Lanegan. My god. Talk about catching lightning in a bottle. These four made up the Queens of the Stone Age lineup in 2002. I truly believe this was the best lineup of QOTSA throughout the years. There was a magic, an exuberance, a decadence in the music that made me feel like we were witnessing magic. Nothing had sounded this good before and nothing would sound this good again. Backed by a host of guest musicians, these four icons would make an album so damn perfect that I cried tears of joy on first listen

I loved their self-titled debut. I loved the follow up, Rated R. But there was something about Songs for the Deaf that felt above those, like the band had ascended to a higher level.

While all the other QOTSA albums can be played at whatever volume you like, in whatever setting you want, Songs for the Deaf was meant to be played at maximum volume, in your car. In fact, the running theme of the record – peppered with radio bits between songs – is a drive through the desert with the radio on. And you can just feel it as you listen to song after song, imagining that there are washed out cow skulls and menacing cactus out your window instead of steel and concrete. It’s hot as hell and even the wind that blows in through the open windows is like the devil’s breath on your neck so you drive faster and faster and play the music louder and louder as the desert zooms by you, at times threatening (“Song for the Deaf”), at times exhilarating (“Do it Again”) and in between all that is an oasis of pure bliss (“Go With the Flow”). This album can turn any traffic-clogged, road rage type drive home into a hallucinogenic ride through some wasteland.

The pounding drums and melodic rhythms will work you into a frenzy and just as you’re about to convert that frenzy into road rage, remembering that you’re not actually driving through a desert, there’s a break between songs, an ironic little sound burst about how much the radio sucks and you catch your breath, laugh knowingly and wait for the next song to invade your senses.

Grohl’s relentless drumming, the constant change up of styles, the absolute heaviness coupled with amazing melodies; from the hoarse screams of “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar” to Dean Ween’s frenzied guitar work on “Six Shooter” to the sweet orchestration of the dark, disturbing hidden track “Mosquito Song," Songs for the Deaf is a pure joy ride of perfection.

Songs for the Deaf came out two days after my second wedding and 40th birthday. We were in Port Jefferson, Long Island for a short honeymoon in the quaint town and not thinking about Queens of the Stone Age, for the most part. But when I heard “Go With the Flow” on the small clock radio in our hotel room, I knew I had to rectify that. We stopped at a record store (I don’t remember which one) on our way home and bought the CD.

The drive from Port Jefferson to my house is about an hour long. The album is about 61 minutes long. We listened to the whole thing in the car thanks to a little traffic and let me tell you, driving on the LIE on a blistering August afternoon in a car with no air conditioning was the perfect environment for this. Well, the perfect environment would be the desert. This felt close.

I went kind of crazy in 2002, to put it bluntly. This breakdown was born of 9/11, but contained multitudes. Marrying someone half my age was an offshoot of that breakdown; unchecked anger and despair and untreated depression and anxiety were contributors. It all culminated in a years-long break with reality that encompassed my life for a while. Songs for the Deaf became the soundtrack to my mental demise, and I mean that in a good way. Throughout my struggles, I turned to this album time and time again for its ability to take me away, to make me feel free, like I was escaping everything. Sometimes I would get in my car and just drive for the length of the CD through the parkways and highways of Long Island, trying to get on a stretch of road where I could drive unencumbered by traffic (not easy on Long Island). I drove through wooded areas, over back roads, side streets, desolate avenues. I did a lot of thinking and contemplating, but I also just let the music play sometimes, let it take me away to a faraway desert road with the cow skulls and cacti. I found that if I drove to the north shore and revisited my high school haunt known as Sweet Hollow Road - a dark winding road in the middle of the woods that we used to thrill ride on with the headlights off at night just for kicks - I could become one with the music. It was a heady, deeply felt emotion, that feeling of connection. At that time in my life, the only solace I felt was on these rides with Homme and company as my co-pilots. The sky is falling, I would sing out loud. I’d have epiphanies during “Go With the Flow” and bouts of clarity during “Song for the Dead.” This record was truly my companion, the only connection I had between me and reality. It was my home base.

I listen to this record now - years removed from my insanity, from that marriage, from who I was in 2002 - and it makes me feel renewed. I think about that weird time in my life and how far I’ve come since then. The meanings have changed, the tone feels different. But the lyrics I want something good to die for/to make it beautiful to live will always be the same for me; a call to make change, to find something in my life that has meaning, to care for something more than I care for myself and give a little meaning to my world.

Songs for the Deaf is my comfort album, my emotional support record. But more than that, it’s just a really great listen. This is the last QOTSA album that Nick Oliveri would play on; his presence is greatly felt here (and missed on subsequent albums). I thank god for this lineup because it was truly a holy act to bring these musicians together to make what is a perfect record. Grohl’s drumming is otherworldly, Homme is at his best, Lanegan as always is a treasure. I feel like we are so lucky to have experienced these musicians playing together.

QOTSA would never replicate the thrill Songs brings me again. I truly love all the other albums, but this was lightning in a bottle, one for the ages.

I think it’s time for a drive to Sweet Hollow Road with Songs for the Deaf helping me make sense of the world and my life, at least for 61 minutes.

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