Queens Of The Stone Age

09/22/1998 3:00 AM, LAUNCH
Julian Woolsey

If Soundgarden are just too intellectual for you, you need the Queens Of The Stone Age. Well-named, they are what might happen if you gave Chris Cornell a lobotomy and just a pinch of glam. The lead guitarist sounds like a caveman who's just discovered fire--which can be both good and bad. But the simplicity of these ex- Kyuss members' prehistoric rhythms is the key to the grooves they occasionally blunder into. "You Can't Quit Me Babe," easily the best song on this album, is an almost psychedelic jam. When, after five minutes of solid groove and an accelerating guitar solo, it suddenly collapses into random squeals and bends, like sliced worms and lizard tails squirming in their death throes on the ground, it's disappointing--but not surprising. "I Was A Teenage Hand Model" is probably the only song ever to make a sample of a person urinating sound good.