Queens of the Stone Age might be known for thunderous riffs and desert rock swagger, but their taste in Australian music extends well beyond the obvious.
Josh Homme, for one, has no problem admitting his love for a good pop song. Or his appreciation for how “hot” Michael Hutchence was.
As Queens of the Stone Age prepare to return to Australia and New Zealand this December, the band has offered a glimpse into their musical tastes with a playlist celebrating some of their favourite Australian artists, curated by Apple for Aus Music Month.
And while there are plenty of noisy guitars and punk rock deep cuts, there are a few selections that might catch fans off guard.
AC/DC, The Saints, Nick Cave and The Birthday Party are all present and accounted for, but so are Kylie Minogue, the Bee Gees and INXS.
Elsewhere, Yothu Yindi, Gurrumul, Tame Impala, Genesis Owusu and Tropical F*ck Storm (who will be touring alongside QOTSA and Primus) demonstrate just how far the band’s appreciation for Australian music extends.
For Homme, there’s no reason to shy away from the more commercially successful end of the spectrum.
“I don’t wanna pick too much underground stuff,” he explains of his decision to include the Bee Gees’ “Too Much Heaven”. “I just wanna appreciate what’s effortlessly good, and that is the Bee Gees, end of story.”
He goes further, describing the song as “one of the best pop songs ever created”, praising everything from its production to its lyrics and universal singalong appeal.
That appreciation for pop perfection extends to INXS and their 1982 classic, “Don’t Change”.
“Those first couple INXS records are just perfect,” Homme declares, before offering another reason for his admiration: “Michael Hutchence was hot. So fucking hot.”
Of course, Homme hasn’t completely abandoned his appetite for something a little more provocative. Public Figures’ “Push My Buttons” also earns a place on the playlist, with the QOTSA frontman offering a characteristically playful explanation.
“Because I like to push buttons and I like the video,” he says. “And I like this song because it’s not wrong wrong wrong. It’s right right right, right?”
While Homme’s selections celebrate the enduring brilliance of Australian pop and rock, bassist Michael Shuman’s contributions tell a more personal story.
Ask Shuman to name his favourite Australian artist of all time, and the answer comes without much hesitation: Nick Cave.
“I have to go with Nick Cave,” he says. “Not that I love every single thing he’s done, but he’s done so much and in so many different forms that have inspired me and changed the way I write and perform. From The Birthday Party to Grinderman, I’ve always been a fan.”
That fascination began with the ferocious unpredictability of The Birthday Party, whose “Sonny’s Burning” earns its place alongside Cave’s later solo work, including “Red Right Hand”.
“I’ll never forget hearing that opening line, ‘Hands up. Who wants to die?’ coming from Nick Cave’s voice on ‘Sonny’s Burning’,” Shuman recalls. “It was terrifying, intriguing and so punk to start a song like that.
“And then to go into this country-type shuffle, akin to bands like The Gun Club… I was a huge fan of that twang in punk rock in my late teens.”
Shuman even studied the band’s famously chaotic performances, repeatedly watching their live DVD Pleasure Heads Must Burn and borrowing elements of their stage presence.
“I would watch it all the time, taking bits of their live performances and wanting to be like those wild young dudes.”
His introduction to another Australian punk institution came even earlier.
“When I was 13 or 14 years old, my older family friend gave me a CD compilation of all his favourite ’70s and ’80s punk,” he remembers. “‘Stranded’, by The Saints, was the first song on there and I was instantly hooked.”
The connection between Shuman and Australian music didn’t end with teenage record discoveries, either.
In 2005, while working as program director at Los Angeles radio station KXLU, he encountered Melbourne outfit The Drones and was impressed enough to invite them onto his show.
“I found out about The Drones in 2005, when I worked at Los Angeles radio station KXLU,” he explains. “I was the program director and specifically booked them to be a live guest on my show.”
He subsequently spent time with the band, including at a performance at LA venue The Echo, before rediscovering their music years later.
“I think the track ‘Boredom’ is such a great modern and unique twist on what they’ve always done.”
The wider playlist is just as eclectic. The Easybeats’ “Sorry” sits alongside Dirty Three’s “I Remember a Time When You Used to Love Me”, while AC/DC score two appearances with “Touch Too Much” and “Riff Raff”.
There’s room for Airbourne’s “Runnin’ Wild”, Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” and Kylie Minogue’s inescapable “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”, as well as Yothu Yindi’s “Treaty” and Gurrumul’s “Wiyathul”.
One particularly timely inclusion is Tropical Fuck Storm’s “Joe Meek Will Inherit the Earth”. The Melbourne experimental rock outfit will join Queens of the Stone Age on their upcoming Australian and New Zealand tour, alongside fellow special guests Primus.
For Shuman, though, the band’s connection with Australia runs considerably deeper than the music.
“I love touring Australia the most,” he says. “There’s something about travelling so far and being stuck on this island of a country for weeks that makes it feel like a real adventure.”
Unlike the long drives that dominate much of the band’s international touring schedule, Australia’s vast distances mean flying between cities, often leaving additional time to explore.
“We also like to spend a couple weeks there and play all over the country,” he explains. “There’s no driving, only flights, which is unlike most touring we do. So that turns into so many days off to be able to enjoy each city properly.”
Hobart holds a particularly special place in his heart, thanks to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), where the band have previously performed intimate acoustic concerts benefiting a local children’s hospital.
“My favourite memories are going to the MONA in Hobart,” Shuman says. “It’s my favourite museum in the world.”
The band return to Australian shores fresh from the release of their ninth studio album, Perfecth, which arrived on October 30th via Matador Records. Their first Australian shows since 2024 will take them through Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane, before wrapping up in Auckland on December 20th.
Listen to Queens of the Stone Age’s favourite Australian songs on Spotify or Apple Music.
