Songs for the Deaf

Songs for the Deaf is the third studio album by American rock band Queens of the Stone Age. Released on August 27, 2002 on the Interscope label, the album features Foo Fighters and former Nirvana member Dave Grohl as a guest drummer. Like their other albums, Songs for the Deaf has a large number of guest musicians, a signature of the band's releases. Following the breakthrough Rated R, this album is widely regarded as Queens of the Stone Age's best work, garnering near-universal acclaim from critics, whilst earning the band's first gold record certification in the US, having sold 986,000 copies in the country. Today, it is generally considered to be one of the greatest rock albums of the 2000's. Songs for the Deaf is loosely considered as a concept album, taking the listener on a drive from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree while tuning into radio stations from towns on the way such as Banning and the "Bible Belt" on "God Is In The Radio" and Chino Hills, California.
Songs for the Deaf was the first and only Queens of the Stone Age album that featured Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters on drums, who also toured with the band. He replaced the previous drummer, Gene Trautmann, who started working on other projects. Grohl had been a keen admirer of Queens of the Stone Age since the band opened for Foo Fighters on tour and originally wanted to appear on Rated R. He joined Queens of the Stone Age in October 2001 when he received a phone call from Josh Homme, with whom he had been friends since 1992 while Homme was the guitarist for Kyuss. Grohl admitted that he had not drummed for a long time and added that fronting a band was "tiring". Grohl put Foo Fighters on temporary hiatus, delaying their upcoming album One by One to October 22, 2002 because of touring duties with Queens of the Stone Age in support of the album. Grohl's first performance with the band occurred at March 7, 2002 in The Troubadour, Los Angeles, and his last performance was at the Fuji Rock Festival on July 28, 2002. He returned to the Foo Fighters soon after, initially being replaced in Queens of the Stone Age by Kelli Scott of Blinker the Star before Danzig drummer Joey Castillo was eventually announced as his long-term replacement in August 2002.
Songs for the Deaf marks the last appearances on a Queens of the Stone Age record of former members Brendon McNichol (lap steel), Gene Trautmann (drums) and Nick Oliveri (bass). The album also included the first musical contribution to a Queens of the Stone Age album by multi-instrumentalists Natasha Shneider and Alain Johannes. Jeordie White (of Marilyn Manson fame) reportedly auditioned for the band in 2002 but lost out to Troy Van Leeuwen, who joined the band as a touring member in support of Songs for the Deaf. White did appear on the album, however, making a brief cameo appearance as a radio DJ. Shneider, Johannes, and Van Leeuwen would subsequently become full time Queens of the Stone Age members and contribute to the follow-up album Lullabies to Paralyze, released in 2005.
Another change in personnel came with the arrival of producer Eric Valentine, who had previously worked on a pair of Dwarves albums with Nick Oliveri. Valentine was actually a requirement by Interscope and did not do his job according to Homme, who commented that " just recorded it actually, it says production, he was only there to record the beginning of it."