Queens Of The Stone Age: Rated R (Vinyl LP)

When their self-titled debut slipped under the radar in 1998, Queens Of The Stone Age were still very much a cult-level affair, unknown to most save for California’s alt.rock cognoscenti. However, their stock rose dramatically when, on June 6, 2000, they issued the widely acclaimed Rated R, a superlative second effort that found QOTSA frontman Josh Homme coming into his own.

Wickedly infectious, post-grunge belters such as “Monsters In The Parasol” and the acid-fried “Auto Pilot” showed the band were beginning to stockpile material that could bring them mainstream attention. Indeed, the stupidly catchy “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer” would surely have been a monster radio hit if its controversial chorus (“Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy, alcohol!”) hadn’t been quite so gleefully hedonistic.

Further raising QOTSA’s profile, Rated R was greeted by a raft of positive reviews, with The Guardian even declaring that “with the atmosphere thickening with every psychedelic swirl, Rated R recalls the menace of Iggy Pop in his prime.” It duly sold solidly, yielding the band’s first gold disc in the UK and setting the scene for their arrival on the wider global stage with 2002’s formidable Songs For The Deaf.

1. Feel Good Hit of the Summer
2. The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
3. Leg of Lamb
4. Auto Pilot
5. Better Living Through Chemistry
6. Monsters in the Parasol
7. Quick and to the Pointless
8. In the Fade
9. Tension Head
10. Lightning Song
11. I Think I Lost My Headache