Rated R (also known on vinyl as Rated X and Rated RX on the 2010 deluxe edition) is the second studio album by Queens of the Stone Age, released on June 6, 2000 by Interscope Records. It was the band’s first album for the label, as well as their first to feature bassist Nick Oliveri and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
Rated R was a critical and commercial success and became the band’s breakthrough album, peaking at number 54 in the UK and eventually being certified gold by the BPI. Two singles were released from the album: The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret and Feel Good Hit of the Summer, with the former helping the band reach mainstream popularity.
The 70s-era MPAA “R” rating bumper features on the album’s cover, along with the text “RESTRICTED TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME“. The album’s liner notes contain further warning messages for each song, in the style of the warning messages given to parents on video and DVD boxes: “Auto Pilot“, for example, contains “Alcohol and Sleep Deprivation”.
The title and subtext was meant by the band as a jab at record label Interscope, whose persistence that the album’s themes would be too controversial and would warrant a parental advisory sticker circumvented the issue and allowed the band to sell the album without one.
Tracklist:
- Feel Good Hit of the Summer
- The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
- Leg of Lamb
- Auto Pilot
- Better Living Through Chemistry
- Monsters in the Parasol
- Quick and to the Pointless
- In the Fade (Includes a reprise of Feel Good Hit of the Summer)
- Tension Head
- Lightning Song Dave Catching) (Instrumental)
- I Think I Lost My Headache
Queens of the Stone Age
Josh Homme: guitars (tracks 1 – 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11), lead vocals (tracks 1 – 3, 5, 6, 11), percussion (tracks 3, 8), lead guitar (tracks 4, 7), backing vocals (tracks 4, 8), drums (track 4), piano (track 10), producer, mixing, concept
Nick Oliveri: bass (tracks 1 – 3, 5 – 11), backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 11), lead vocals (tracks 4, 7, 9), guitar (track 4), percussion (track 8), concept, art conception
Guest musicians
Dave Catching: electric piano (tracks 1, 2, 8), lap steel guitar (tracks 1, 11), guitar (tracks 6, 7), B3 (track 4), piano (track 5), 12-string guitar (track 10)
Nick Lucero: drums (tracks 2, 3, 5, 8, 11), percussion (tracks 3, 4)
Gene Trautmann: drums (tracks 1, 6, 7, 9)
Chris Goss: backing vocals (tracks 4, 5, 6), grand piano (track 1), percussion (track 1), noise piano (track 2), bass (track 4), producer
Mark Lanegan: backing vocals (tracks 4, 11), lead vocals (track 8)
Barrett Martin: vibes (tracks 2, 5), percussion (tracks 5, 10), steel drum (track 11)
Mike Johnson: backing vocals (track 3)
Pete Stahl: backing vocals (track 2)
Rob Halford: backing vocals (track 1)
Nick Eldorado: backing vocals (tracks 1, 7)
Wendy Rae Fowler (Wendy Ray Moan): backing vocals (tracks 1, 7)
Scott Mayo: baritone sax (track 2), horns (track 11)
Fernando Pullum: flugelhorn (track 7), horns (track 11)
Reggie Young: horns (track 11)
Technical personnel
Bradley Cook: engineer
Martin Schmelzle: engineer, sequencing, assembly
Trina Shoemaker: engineer, mixing
Dan Druff: guitar technician
Marek: noise (track 8), mixing
Robert Brunner: pre-production assistant
Francesca Restrepo: art direction
Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022)
