10 Greatest Concept Albums In Rock Music History

The key mission statement for every great rock and roll concept record is to take you on a journey with sound. Since all you have is the speakers to work with, you're going to need to put a little something extra into the mix to make your audience feel like they're in a different world with your music. And it turns out that when it came to the idea of conceptual rock, Josh Homme took the idea of going on a journey quite seriously on Songs for the Deaf.

Bringing together some of the best musicians he knew at the time, this entire album acts as a trip through the California desert as the band makes their way to Joshua Tree. There are even more interlude sounding parts put in the middle of the album to add to the mystique, like a death metal radio ad that comes right before the freakout of Six Shooter.

This is still a Queens of the Stone Age record though, and the focus is always on the kind of warped guitar riffs just left of the dial, with the smash hit No One Knows being paired perfectly with the more grandiose cuts like The Sky Is Fallin and the title track. While it's definitely a fun ride, you might want to keep your wits about you in case some funny business ends up going down.