No One Knows Go With The Flow Little Sister Queens Of The Stone Age

No One Knows Album: Songs For The Deaf (2002)
Go With The Flow Album: Songs For The Deaf (2002)
Little Sister Album: Lullabies To Paralyze (2005)
by Queens Of The Stone Age

No One Knows accurately describes what it's about. "It's a mystery," QOTSA leader Josh Homme told MTV when the song was released. "No one knows."

He did let on that writing songs is a catharsis for the band, so it's possible he'll sing about it but not talk about it.

Queens Of The Stone Age made some noise with their first two albums but didn't have an actual hit until they released "No One Knows" on their third album, Songs For The Deaf. The band made very radio-unfriendly songs (see: "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer") so they weren't on the radar of many radio stations, but "No One Knows" made a steady climb, going to #1 on the Modern Rock Chart and even entering the Hot 100, peaking at #51 in March 2003, about six months after the album was released. It didn't go to their heads: The bands kept making unpredictable, unorthodox rock music to serve their fans, most of whom didn't care for the teen pop and R&B that ruled the airwaves.

Josh Homme wrote the song with Mark Lanegan, best known as the frontman for Screaming Trees. They teamed up to write two other tracks for the album as well: "Song For The Dead" (with a lead vocal by Lanegan) and "Song For The Deaf."

Dave Grohl, the drummer in Nirvana and frontman in the Foo Fighters, played drums on "No One Knows" and most of the others on Songs For The Deaf. Queens Of The Stone Age only has one permanent member, Josh Homme, so Grohl was able to join the band without feeling tethered. Getting back behind the kit seemed therapeutic for him. He felt a bit bogged down while recording the Foo Fighters album One By One, which ended up being released a few months after Songs For The Deaf after Grohl re-recorded some of it. He even joined Queens for a tour in the summer of 2002.

Grohl's impact on the band wasn't just musical. Having him on board gave them instant cachet with their record company, which helped because their first two albums weren't huge sellers. When they wanted a big-budget video for this song, the label was happy to oblige knowing Grohl would be in it.

Nick Oliveri, the goateed bassist in the band, said: "When Dave came in, the game changed. It was immediately a game-changer for how we were being treated by the label – as naturally would happen. And we knew the songs were super-strong and we had something super-special."
The album has two concepts:

1) Music for deaf people. This one is generally metaphorical - the idea that it's so loud even the deaf will hear it - but is literal on the opening track, "The Real Song For The Deaf," which contains various pulses and vibrations that hearing impaired people can feel.

2) A road trip from Los Angeles to the Joshua Tree desert, with radio stations tuning in and out along the way. It's a drive Josh Homme made quite often, as he lived in Joshua Tree but often worked in LA.

In between some songs on the album, we hear the radio station tuning, with bits of songs and commercials coming on before settling on a station where a DJ introduces the next song. After "No One Knows," a DJ introduces the next song, "First It Giveth," in Spanish. The voice of the DJ is Alain Johannes, the flamenco guitarist on that track.

The snippets of songs that go by as the dial tunes are real songs the band recorded but didn't use for the album.

The main riff of No One Knows was originally used by Josh Homme on a song for his side project The Desert Sessions called "Cold Sore Superstars." This was found on The Desert Sessions Volumes 7 & 8, along with the song "Hanging Tree," which was also re-recorded as a Queens Of The Stone Age song.

No One Knows is featured in several video games, including Guitar Hero, which allowed gamers to play along with this song using a guitar-shaped controller. >>
Dave Grohl became the first person to hold the #1 spot on the Modern Rock chart as a member of three different groups when "No One Knows" reached the summit. He'd previously topped the tally with Nirvana and Foo Fighters.

Josh Homme is a big Björk fan, so he sought director Michel Gondry, who helmed many of her music videos (including her debut "Human Behaviour") for the "No One Knows" video. In the clip, co-directed by Dean Karr, the band accidentally hits a deer with their truck and the deer, in turn, attacks them. The band members end up mounted on a wall.

There was little attempt to make the deer look real, which adds to the comedic value. Nick Oliveri said, "My girlfriend at the time went to the taxidermy store and got a deer, and they put mechanical pieces in it and made it into this little robot that could move and smack us in the head," he said. "It was quite fun."

Grohl isn't in the deer scenes, but Mark Lanegan is - he's the guy with the shaggy hair. "I recall being stuck in the wall with our heads through the wall and Mark being sick," Oliveri added. "And Dean Karr putting grocery bag handles on his ears and Mark going, 'You son of a bitch... I'm going to kill you!' It was the funniest thing ever because we were strapped in the wall. It was a long one, but it was a fun day."

The UK band The Vaccines recorded a version of No One Knows for their 2021 covers EP Cosy Karaoke, Vol. 1. The accompanying music video finds frontman Justin Young driving through the streets of London.

Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme is dealing with a love interest who won't commit in Go With The Flow. He tells her he'll "go with the flow," meaning accept her terms and let it play out, but with a caveat: "Don't say it doesn't matter anymore," he asks.

Homme wrote the song with QOTSA bass player Nick Oliveri, his right-hand man on the Songs For The Deaf album. Oliveri tells Songfacts it was one of the first ones they wrote for the album, following "You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire."

Queens Of The Stone Age played an early version of Go With The Flow on some dates (including the Reading Festival) in August 2001, a year before it was released. The band liked to road test songs before recording them, something that was possible in 2001 before songs were commonly recorded by the audience and inevitably stolen.
The video was directed by a group of UK filmmakers known as Shynola, and involved airbrushing the band members black and white, then setting them on a red animated background. Near the end, you'll see two bits of Queens Of The Stone Age iconography: a tuning fork and sperm.

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters played drums on most of the album, but not on "Go With The Flow," which has drumming by Gene Trautmann, who was slated to be the main drummer before Grohl offered his services.

Also on Go With The Flow is Brendon McNichol who played the lap steel guitar.

Songs For The Deaf is loosely considered as a concept album, taking the listener on a drive from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree while tuning into radio stations from towns on the way. Said frontman Josh Homme to the now-defunct Blog.JR.com: "This record was supposed to sound bizarre - like lightning in a bottle. We also were extremely f--ked up. It even sounds that way to me, like a crazy person. The radio interludes are supposed to be like the drive from LA to Joshua Tree, a drive that makes you feel like you're letting go - more David Lynch with every mile."

When touring Songs For The Deaf in England, a group of deaf people turned up at one show expecting a special event for the hard of hearing. Josh Homme recalled to Q magazine: "I actually went down to speak with them but everybody had already dispersed. I think they got their money back. I distinctly remember there was one person at the show holding a balloon so they could feel the vibrations. Our soundman, Hutch, used to do deaf dances where they hold balloons and stand next to the sub-woofers."

Lead singer Josh Homme says that Little Sister inspired by the "sort of sexual twist" of the song "Little Sister," which Elvis Presley recorded in 1961.

Little Sister was recorded in one take.

Queens of the Stone Age performed Little Sister on Saturday Night Live. Will Ferrell, who was hosting the show, joined the band onstage and played the cowbell dressed as his character from the famous "More Cowbell" sketch, which parodied the usage of the cowbell in Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper." The Cowbell sound in the song is actually a Jam Block.