Some band names are blunt statements of intent — think AC/DC, Kiss, or Slayer. Then there are those that leave fans guessing for decades. One such name belongs to Queens Of The Stone Age, a group whose moniker feels a little enigmatic.
In a recent conversation with Alternative Nation, Jesse Hughes, frontman of Eagles Of Death Metal and a close friend of Queens Of The Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme, laid out the true meaning behind the name.
As Hughes put it: “The thing about Queens Of The Stone Age is that I feel like I probably understood what was going on a little bit better than everyone else, because Queens Of The Stone Age is not a made-up name.”
He went on to explain its roots in older LGBTQ+ slang: “It’s an old gay community term, okay? And it means an uncool homosexual, a ‘queen of the stone age.’ Like, ‘Don’t invite him. He’s not even into Bowie. He likes Liberace. He’s a real queen of the stone age.’”
The revelation adds a new layer to the band’s identity, hinting at a playfulness – or perhaps subversiveness – in how the name was chosen. It aligns with the band’s long-standing ability to blend swagger, irony, and darkness in equal measure.
Hughes, known for his signature mustache and occasional cape-wearing flair, also shed light on the meaning behind one of Queens Of The Stone Age’s most iconic tracks, “No One Knows.”
“I know what the song’s about. I know what a lot of these songs are about – what they’re actually about,” Hughes said. “And they’re heavy, very hard-hitting, deep critiques of people in his personal life that are brutal sometimes – in the manner in which they’re taking down their subject matter.”
He continued, describing “No One Knows” as something more intimate than fans might have realized: “‘But ‘No One Knows’ is a beautiful way to say, ‘Please keep a secret.’ If you listen to it now again and think in your head, ‘Keep a secret,’ you’ll hear that it’s an instruction manual.”
The shared history between Hughes and Homme stretches back decades, culminating in the formation of Eagles Of Death Metal in 1998. While the band’s tongue-in-cheek name often overshadows their musical output, their bond is as real as it gets, with Homme contributing drums and various other instruments in the early days.
With Hughes’ revelations, we could now have a fresh lens through which to revisit Queens Of The Stone Age’s catalog — especially “No One Knows.” Whether the band intended the name to be a reclaimed jab, an inside joke, or a clever piece of irony, it adds to the lore of a group that has always thrived in the space between cool detachment and emotional intensity.