Songs for the Deaf is the third studio album by the American rock band Queens of the Stone Age, released on August 27, 2002, by Interscope Records.

Songs for the Deaf is a loose concept album, taking the listener on a drive through the California desert from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree, tuning into radio stations from towns along the way such as Banning and Chino Hills.

[6] Songs for the Deaf received critical acclaim and earned Queens of the Stone Age their first gold certification in the United States.

Songs for the Deaf was the first Queens of the Stone Age album that featured Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters on drums, who also toured with the band.

[10] Songs for the Deaf was the last appearance on a Queens of the Stone Age record by Brendon McNichol (lap steel) and Gene Trautmann (drums).

Shneider and Johannes, alongside Songs for the Deaf touring recruits Castillo and Troy Van Leeuwen of Failure and A Perfect Circle would subsequently become full-time Queens of the Stone Age members and contribute to the follow-up album Lullabies to Paralyze, released in 2005.

[citation needed] Several songs on the album are reworked versions of tracks previously recorded and released in the Desert Sessions, a side project of Homme with various guest collaborators.

"You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was the opening track of Volume 5: Poetry for the Masses (Sea Shed Shit Head by the She Sore), with vocals originally performed by Mario Lalli instead of Oliveri.

[11] "Song for the Deaf" and "Go with the Flow" were previously performed as early as 2001 with the former having very different lyrics and vocals completely by Mark Lanegan.

[13] Grohl's drums were recorded in a small, "dead"-sounding isolation booth, to create a "tight, focused, punchy and kind of claustrophobic" sound.

I've always looked at our first three records as a set: the first one was to distance ourselves from Kyuss, the second album fanned out the music into different areas and this one takes that out even a little further, I think.

[20] Grohl put Foo Fighters on hiatus[21][22] and delayed their upcoming album One by One to October 2002[23] to tour for Songs For the Deaf.

[24][25] Songs for the Deaf was Queens of the Stone Age's breakout album and garnered the band international recognition.