No One Knows is a song by the Queens of the Stone Age written by band members Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan. It was the first single and second track from their third album, Songs for the Deaf, and was released on November 26, 2002.
No One Knows was a chart success, becoming the band’s first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and their only single to top the US Alternative charts. The song was also critically acclaimed, receiving a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 2003 Grammy Awards. According to Homme,“No One Knows existed before the recording sessions for Songs for the Deaf:
“We have patience with music, a year or five years down the road it may kind of rewrite itself and become what it’s supposed to be. There’s two songs on this record that are over five years old, you know? ‘God Is in the Radio’ and ‘No One Knows'”.
Recording for Songs for the Deaf began in March 2002 at three studios across California. Though the liner notes credit Homme and Eric Valentine with producing the majority of the album, including No One Knows, Homme credits Valentine with merely recording the beginning of the album for contractual reasons.
The music video for No One Knows was directed by Dean Karr and Michel Gondry; Gondry filmed the first half in June with Karr taking over in July. Josh Homme has said Gondry was chosen because he “did all those videos for Björk and we’re huge fans of Björk, so we’re excited”.
The video is split into two sections and switches between them throughout. The first has band members Homme, Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan driving a truck at night, whereupon they hit a deer.
When they get out to inspect, the deer proceeds to attack them before going on a rampage in their International Scout, with the three band members tied to the hood of the car. The deer’s rampage only stops when it falls in love with a doe statue decorating a garden, proceeding to make love with it after mounting the heads of the band members on the wall like trophies.
The second section of the video is of Homme, Oliveri, Troy Van Leeuwen and Dave Grohl performing the song against a black background.
No One Knows received heavy rotation on music video channels culminating in a nomination for the MTV2 Award at 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, where it lost to AFI for “Girl’s Not Grey”.
Tracklist:
- No One Knows (Josh Homme, Mark Lanegan)
- A Song for the Dead (live from The Mean Fiddler, Soho, London, England) (Homme, Lanegan)
- Avon (live from The Mean Fiddler, Soho, London, England) (Homme)
- No One Knows (multimedia track) (Homme, Lanegan)
Credits
Josh Homme: rhythm and lead guitar, vocals
Dave Grohl: drums
Nick Oliveri: bass
Ana and Paz Lenchantin: strings
Mark Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022).
