"NO ONE KNOWS" QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (2002)

For the month of October, I’m taking the #OctAtoZBandChallenge challenge. The premise is simple. Pick a band starting with the day’s assigned alphabet letter and then choose a song from that band.

Day 17

Had to dig a little deeper here. Everyone will pick a Queen song for the 17th day of this challenge, and I wanted to do something different. That said, I’m not a fan of either Queensryche or Quicksilver Messenger Service. Couldn’t even name one song from either of those bands. I’ve always liked the name Queens of the Stone Age. So I found myself flipping through some of their more well-known tracks on Spotify. Full disclosure: I’ve never heard a single song from Queens of the Stone Age until today. “No One Knows” stood out immediately.

Having no idea what the band’s sound is characterized by, I was welcomed by this almost Spoon-esque rhythm created by short, frenetic guitar riffs. It made me feel a bit at home and less out of my element even though this is typically not my kind of music. “No One Knows” also makes great use of quiet-loud-quiet dynamcis, which my ears always love. Looking further into it, I also found out that Dave Grohl plays drums on this track, in addition to most of the songs on the album Songs For The Deaf. My verdict: I may not keep listening to this band, but I thoroughly appreciated the pit stop.

“Heaven smiles above me. What a gift here below. But no one knows. A gift that you give to me. No one knows.”