Today’s entry is a good test of my basic musical preferences. I like to think of myself as a well-rounded music fan, one who can find enjoyment in many different genres and many different sounds. But one genre I have never liked, and suspect I never will like, is hard rock/heavy metal.
Sure, I’ve enjoyed some harder-edged detours by otherwise “quiet” bands (R.E.M.’s Monster comes to mind) but those are definitely exceptions.
Queens of the Stone Age’s 2002 album Songs for Deaf People is one of the most critically-acclaimed albums I’ll feature over these two weeks. It’s been called one of the best hard rock albums ever. But does that mean it’s any good to me?
Based on this track, sure. ‘No One Knows’ isn’t very “hard” by my standards. But I’ve sampled other tracks from the album that have more of the shrieking vocals and unhinged guitars that typify the heavy metal genre. So… not for me.
That and this
These and those
No one knows
We get these pills to swallow
How they stick
In your throat
Tastes like gold
Oh, what you do to me
No one knows
And I realize you’re mine
Indeed a fool of mine
And I realize you’re mine
Indeed a fool of mine
Ahh
I journey through the desert
Of the mind
With no hope
I found low
I drift along the ocean
Dead lifeboats in the sun
And come undone
Pleasently caving in
I come undone
And I realize you’re mine
Indeed a fool of mine
And I realize you’re mine
Indeed a fool and mine
Ahhh
Heaven smiles above me
What a gift there below
But no one knows
A gift that you give to me
No one knows
Meet Me In Montauk 
I definitively have a part of me that gets into harder rock, but it’s mostly the type of stuff you hear on a classic rock station — Led Zepplin, Queen, Van Halen, etc. I think my taste in this genre stems from my teenage years and has been basically grandfathered in, fueled by nostalgia, as I haven’t warmed to any hard rock that has come out since that time.
Today’s song doesn’t bother me, but I’m sure that, like you, I would be turned off to the more heavy of the heavy metal tracks.