Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme Thinks It’s “A Little C*nty” When Bands Don’t Play Their Hits
When fans pay money to see a show, they want to hear the hits. Or, at least, that’s how Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme thinks it should go. The singer/guitarist appeared on the Tuna on Toast with Stryker podcast and talked about how he makes a setlist for Queens shows. He started off by saying that he focuses on the hits (h/t Blabbermouth).
“I understand that I’m always going to play ‘No One Knows’ because I still like playing that song, and that’s something that, it’s an agreement with the audience. ‘I assume that this is a part of coming here to see us, and here you go.’”
“When there’s bands that don’t wanna play their big song or their big songs, I always think it’s a little cunty to do that. [Laughs] Acting like a song that a lot of people like is a burden is just a strange reaction to the gift that your fans have given you. Seems like an odd reaction.”
Homme said that he can relate to the idea of feeling like a single song is overshadowing the rest of one’s work but considers that a good problem to have.
“I think especially when something blows up, I can understand perhaps that feeling of it’s overshadowing the rest of what you do and all. But perhaps these are uptown problems, you know? And while I understand bits of that sentiment, I don’t think the end result can be that you deny the sort of world that that song would give you… In the years of doing this, I’ve seen a lot of artists do that — at times they sort of get angry at their own music for doing well, for creating this world.
“I don’t know. Having fans is a cool thing, and they want stuff, and when it comes to playing the stuff they want, I feel like that that’s why this is happening, right? You guys are all here because you wanna hear some stuff and also have no idea what’s gonna happen. And you needed to have that basic food group in order for me to surprise you, too. Surprise requires knowing some constants are going to happen, you know?
I’m with Homme here. If I’m at a show, I want to hear the hits. You can listen to the full interview below this, as well as tune into the video for “Negative Space,” which Queens of the Stone Age just dropped.
