Queens of the Stone Age (also known as QOTSA) is a hard rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997.
Originally formed under the name Gamma Ray by guitarist Josh Homme after the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, heavy music which Homme described as 'robot rock', saying that he "wanted to create a heavy sound based on a solid jam, and just pound it into your head". Their sound has since evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences.
Throughout its career the band has been described as hard rock, alternative rock, art rock, punk rock, stoner rock and several other genres. Homme himself rejects the term stoner rock and has often described the band style as "robot rock" referring to the band's solid and repetitive riffs in the bands song structures. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period". The bands following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we’re different and weird." The band continued to exper...