Better Living Through Chemistry (Live) - Queens of the Stone Age

Since 2007, well as long as I've been friends with my buddy Brandon, I've been force-fed Queens of the Stone Age. Can't say I was really into on the first go, I liked tracks like Little Sister and Go With The Flow, but these songs just scratch the surface of where this band has taken music. 

Queens' sound is unreplicatable. 

Queens just played a new song in Brazil this weekend at Lollapalooza, however this post is about a song from a few albums back. Originally featured on their 2000 release Rated R this track has often been played live. 

Queens usually takes this song and elongates and manipulates it. This particular recording at the 2011 Werchter Festival in Belgium proves just that. On the album this track runs 5 minutes even while this version is 8 and a half. 

Like most of their songs, there is no clearcut answer about what the song is completely about, but Josh (lead singer) does mention to an interviewer, "I think lots of the things that deal with drugs in our music are misunderstood. Like, we have a song called Better Living Through Chemistry which is an anti-drug song. It's saying it's okay, [that] the government says it's okay, for you to take Prozac everyday, every single day, to feel better and feel absolutely numb. Don't smoke that joint, though, you! (points finger)." 

This particular version is taken one step further instrumentally and introduces techniques and instrumentation not often seen in live performances. Guitar solos are layered with synth and much more expressive than that studio version. 

However, the most interesting dynamic of this song is fading out of almost all instrumentation all together. At about 4:30 there is only a sprinkling of cymbal splashes over a few strung out guitar notes. 

Josh and company harmonize a verse of "ooooohs" over this simple breakdown. Josh moves his mouth away from the mic to fade his vocals out after each one. After an explosive snare roll, the noisy solo begins right where it left off. 

I feel this track in particular is a great place to start if you are trying to get into Queens.

 Yeah, you could easily just download their studio records and be content, but when it comes to these guys it's completely worth it to invest some time into finding live recordings.

 It's worth the comparison. 

The blue pill opens your eyes
Is there a better way
A new religion prescribed
To those without the faith
The hero holding a knife
And blood is not enough
Is it too late to go back?
Is it too late to go?