10 Greatest Hard Rock Guitar Solos Of All Time
8. No One Knows - Queens Of The Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age are a band that you don't typically think of as masterful solo crafters. Coming from the stoner rock scene, much of the band's key components center around meaty riffs that wash over your eardrums like cement over gravel. When Josh Homme did want to rip off a solo though, it was one for the ages.
"No One Knows" was the song that put the band on the map, with its off-kilter groove and blown out soundscape, but the real excitement comes towards the middle section.
After a maniacal breakdown with only bass guitar anchoring us, Homme explodes into his solo, complete with different ascending patterns that seem to be on the edge of sanity. The kind of notes that Homme chooses for his lead feels almost out of place at every turn, yet seem to mesh perfectly with the song's aesthetic.
The solo was fine at the start, but the last minute triplets that Homme throws in towards the end leaves the listener reeling before the song stops on a dime with just bass and vocals. It's not the most technically sophisticated solo of all time, but it will leave you with a decent buzz afterwards. Like all of QOTSA's music, it's something that sounds wrong on paper but absolutely beautiful when put into practice.