10 Times Hard Rock Bands Went Acoustic (And Nailed It)

10. Mosquito Song - Queens Of The Stone Age

Songs for the Deaf is known as one of the most balls-to-the-wall rock releases of the modern age. With Josh Homme adding Dave Grohl to the mix on drums, the entire album was an assault to your senses, as songs like "No One Knows" and "The Sky is Fallin" blew out speakers at every chance they could. However, after an album with every song dialed up to 11, "Mosquito Song" comes on as a balm to your ears.

Coming out of the blistering title track, "Mosquito Song" is primarily a Homme-led affair on an acoustic, but that doesn't mean that the song is any less disturbed. As Homme takes on a bit of a different vocal affectation, the whole song seems to be teetering right on the edge of sanity with every strum.

After a long journey through the California desert, this is the moment where you've reached the vast landscape of sand, with no sign of civilization anywhere on the horizon.

Homme may have a more soothing tone, but once the horns come in, the dreams of excess and rock and roll debauchery have given way to an acid nightmare with no means of escape. This might be a little downtempo than the other QOTSA songs, but it turns out just when you think you're out of the woods, you're actually just at the beginning of the madness.