Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age album)

Rated R has been described as featuring stoner rock,[1][2][3] alternative rock,[4] hard rock,[5] and alternative metal.[6] The album contains numerous references to drugs and alcohol. This is 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.[7]

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.[7] 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."[8] 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.[7]

Rated R features the debut of bassist Nick Oliveri and guest vocalist Mark Lanegan, who both made vocal and songwriting contributions to the band. In addition to providing backing vocals for "Auto Pilot" and "I Think I Lost My Headache", Lanegan sang lead vocals on "In the Fade", a song about clarity following a comedown/sobriety, while Oliveri sang "Tension Head", a re-recording of the song "13th Floor" off Oliveri's Mondo Generator's debut album Cocaine Rodeo, and "Quick and to the Pointless", which follows the singer's experiences on heroin and speed, and cocaine and meth, respectively. "Quick and to the Pointless'" drum, bass, guitar and vocal tracks were recorded simultaneously in just one take. Oliveri's vocal performance was originally intended to be a scratch vocal, but the band liked it so much that this original recording remained on the finished song including the two verses in Dutch.[9]

One of the few songs not involving drug use is the albums' lead single, "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret", which is a response by Homme to people who had lost his trust, particularly involving trysts.[7] Another one, the acoustic instrumental "Lightning Song" was penned by touring keyboardist, second guitarist, and lap steel player Dave Catching.

The 70s-era MPAA "R" rating bumper features on the album's cover, along with the text "RESTRICTED TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME". The album's liner notes contain further warning messages for each song, in the style of the warning messages given to parents on video and DVD boxes: "Auto Pilot", for example, contains "Alcohol and Sleep Deprivation".[10] The title and subtext was meant by the band as a jab at record label Interscope, whose persistence that the album's themes would be too controversial and would warrant a parental advisory sticker circumvented the issue and allowed the band to sell the album without one.[7]

Rated R was released by Interscope Records on June 6, 2000. A UK-only special edition of the album included a bonus disc, titled Rated U, which was also separately issued as the "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" single. Along with "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" and its video, it featured three newly recorded songs.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[13]
The Guardian	[14]
Mojo	[15]
NME	9/10[16]
Pitchfork	8.6/10[17]
Q	[18]
Rolling Stone	[19]
Spin	[20]
Uncut	[21]

Rated R was critically acclaimed. Steve Huey from AllMusic said "R is mellower, trippier, and more arranged than its predecessor, making its point through warm fuzz-guitar tones, ethereal harmonies, vibraphones, horns, and even the odd steel drum. That might alienate listeners who have come to expect a crunchier guitar attack, but even though it's not really aggro, R is still far heavier than the garage punk and grunge that inform much of the record. It's still got the vaunted Arizona-desert vibes of Kyuss, but it evokes a more relaxed, spacious, twilight feel, as opposed to a high-noon meltdown. Mark Lanegan and Barrett Martin of the Screaming Trees both appear on multiple tracks, and their band's psychedelic grunge – in its warmer, less noisy moments – is actually not a bad point of comparison."[22]

Rhapsody called it the best rock album of the decade on its "Rock's Best Albums of the Decade" list.[23]

Rolling Stone named it the 82nd best album of the decade.

Queens of the Stone Age

• Josh Homme – guitars (tracks 1–3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11), lead vocals (tracks 1–3, 5, 6, 11), percussion (tracks 3, 8), lead guitar (tracks 4, 7), backing vocals (tracks 4, 8), drums (track 4), piano (track 10), producer, mixing, concept
• Nick Oliveri – bass (tracks 1–3, 5–11), backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 11), lead vocals (tracks 4, 7, 9), guitar (track 4), percussion (track 8), concept, art conception

Guest musicians

• Dave Catching – electric piano (tracks 1, 2, 8), lap steel guitar (tracks 1, 11), guitar (tracks 6, 7), B3 (track 4), piano (track 5), 12-string guitar (track 10)
• Nick Lucero – drums (tracks 2, 3, 5, 8, 11), percussion (tracks 3, 4)
• Gene Trautmann – drums (tracks 1, 6, 7, 9)
• Chris Goss – backing vocals (tracks 4, 5, 6), grand piano (track 1), percussion (track 1), noise piano (track 2), bass (track 4), producer
• Mark Lanegan – backing vocals (tracks 4, 11), lead vocals (track 8)
• Barrett Martin – vibes (tracks 2, 5), percussion (tracks 5, 10), steel drum (track 11)
• Mike Johnson – backing vocals (track 3)
• Pete Stahl – backing vocals (track 2)
• Rob Halford – backing vocals (track 1)
• Nick Eldorado – backing vocals (tracks 1, 7)
• Wendy Rae Fowler (Wendy Ray Moan) – backing vocals (tracks 1, 7)
• Scott Mayo – baritone sax (track 2), horns (track 11)
• Fernando Pullum – flugelhorn (track 7), horns (track 11)
• Reggie Young – horns (track 11)

Technical personnel

• Bradley Cook – engineer
• Martin Schmelzle – engineer, sequencing, assembly
• Trina Shoemaker – engineer, mixing
• Dan Druff – guitar technician
• Marek – noise (track 8), mixing
• Robert Brunner – pre-production assistant
• Francesca Restrepo – art direction

Rated R was the band's breakout album in the UK. It peaked at number 54 there and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry in 2001 and later certified gold in 2013.[25] In the U.S., however, the album did not chart on the Billboard 200, instead peaking at number 16 on the Top Heatseekers album chart.[26]

Rated R included the hit single "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret", which was released in the summer of 2000 and became arguably the band's most recognizable and popular song at its time of release. Not only did its music video receive mild airplay on music television, the song was featured in the Entourage episode "I Love You Too" (from Season 2). It was also the only single from the album to get a chart position, reaching number 21 on the Mainstream Rock chart, number 36 on the Modern Rock chart and number 31 on the UK Singles Chart.[26][27]