Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age album)
| Rated R | ||||
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| Studio album by Queens of the Stone Age | ||||
| Released | June 6, 2000 | |||
| Recorded | December 1999 - February 2000 in Studio B at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:10 | |||
| Label | Interscope | |||
| Producer |
Chris Goss, Joshua Homme (credited as The Fififf Teeners) |
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| Queens of the Stone Age chronology | ||||
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| Alternative covers | ||||
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Cover of the LP release
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| Alternative covers | ||||
Cover of the 2010 Deluxe Edition
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| Singles from Rated R | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+ |
| The Guardian |  |
| Mojo | |
| NME | 9/10 |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.6/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| Spin | |
| Uncut | |
Rated R (also called R or Rated X on vinyl) is the second studio album by American rock band Queens of the Stone Age, released on June 6, 2000 on Interscope Records. Rated R was a critical and commercial success and became the band's breakthrough album. It peaked at number 16 on the Top Heatseekers and reached high positions on charts worldwide. The album has been certified gold in the United Kingdom. Three singles were released from it: "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret", "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" and "Monsters in the Parasol", with the first helping Queens of the Stone Age reach mainstream popularity.
Rated R is the band's first album to feature bass guitarist Nick Oliveri and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
As a whole, the album contains numerous references to drugs and alcohol. This makes itself particularly prominent on the opening track, "Feel Good Hit of the Summer", which consists entirely of the repeated verse "Nicotine, valium, vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol" followed by a chorus of "c-c-c-c-c-cocaine". Though frontman Josh Homme has emphasized the fact there is no definitive endorsement or condemnation behind the lyrics, he has confirmed he came up with the lyrics stumbling through the desert at night after a New Year's party, trying to remember what exactly he had consumed that evening leaving him so intoxicated.
Following the theme, "Monsters in the Parasol", which originally appeared on the Desert Sessions album, Volume 4: Hard Walls and Little Trips, is about Homme's first experience on LSD, kicking in just as his friends' father and sister came home leading to a bad trip. The song "Better Living Through Chemistry" offers an opposing stance on prescription drugs, while Homme's favorite song from the album, closer "I Think I Lost My Headache", is described as being about "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." The song is also notable for its unconventional intro and outro in the 15/8 time signature, with the outro culminating in several minutes of an incessantly jarring and repetitive horn part, added to punish those who may have fallen asleep listening to the album.
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Wikipedia