Rated R

This was the band's first record for Interscope and the first to carry Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan. The opening "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" is nothing but a list of drugs and drink; Josh Homme has said he came up with it stumbling through the desert after a New Year's party, trying to work out what he had taken. Lanegan sings backing vocals on "Auto Pilot" and "I Think I Lost My Headache" and takes the lead on "In the Fade". Oliveri sings "Tension Head" and "Quick and to the Pointless", the latter cut live in a single take — the vocal was meant as a guide and stayed, and two of its verses are in Dutch. The closer is Homme's own favourite on the album, built on a 15/8 introduction and ending in several minutes of a deliberately grating horn part. The sleeve uses the 1970s MPAA "R" rating card with the line "RESTRICTED TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME". It is a jab at Interscope, which thought the themes too controversial; by printing a warning for each song in the booklet the band got the record out without a parental advisory sticker. It reached number 54 in the United Kingdom and was certified gold by the BPI. The running order here is the original American release's as printed.