If you like Queens of the Stone Age’s most commercially successful song, you need to thank polka for helping make it happen.
At least, that’s what Josh Homme said during a recent podcast appearance, where he detailed his upbringing and what parts of that influence the music he makes today.
Josh Homme’s Polka Music Past
Homme was a recent guest on the Queer the Music podcast when host Jake Shears asked him about learning to play guitar. The 53-year-old musician said the area around Palm Desert, Calif., where he grew up had limited options when it came to learning guitar.
“In the desert, there wasn’t a lot of guitar teachers, apparently, or they didn’t really look for anyone else,” Homme explained.
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This led to music schools bringing in teachers from backgrounds that weren’t exactly aligned with those wanting to learn rock guitar. That is how Homme came under the instruction of polka musician Tom Polonsky.
“He was a polka guitar teacher, and polka was my original style of music.”
How Polka Influenced ‘No One Knows’
Even as he got older, polka still played a role in Homme’s music, including Queens of the Stone Age’s 2002 album, Songs for the Deaf.
Homme said he was “thankful” to have learned from a polka guitarist as the lessons later helped shape the sound of the massively popular single, “No One Knows.”
“If you listen to ‘No One Knows,’ it goes boomp-boom, boomp-boom and that sort of polka ‘and ah’ going ‘one and, two ah,’ this up, which is also what reggae does.”
All of that influence came from just two years of polka guitar lessons, too. Homme said that polka sound is something he finds himself continually going back to even when he isn’t trying to.
“It’s really sort of like eating too much garlic. It has really stunk up my … it’s permeated everything I do.”
WATCH: Josh Homme on the ‘Queer the Music’ Podcast
When Josh Homme Realized Music Could Be ‘Scary’
Both Queens of the Stone Age’s music and their stage presentation have continued elements of horror through the years.
For example, during The Catacombs Tour, which covered parts of late 2025 and early 2026, Homme would perform while swaying about with a meat cleaver in his hand. The band’s most recent tour alongside the Foo Fighters has included images of melting faces projected behind them onstage.
Homme attributes this aspect of his music to what his parents chose to listen to during his childhood.
“The Doors were the first time I realized music could be terrifying and scary.”
Homme specifically called out the song “The Crystal Ship” from The Doors’ 1967 self-titled debut, which he said his parents frequently listened to on cassette during family road trips.
“In the case of realizing music (can be) terrifying, it’s illuminating corners of a vast space by candlelight. You’re on this ghost sort of mystery, showing me how vast of a space music can occupy.”
Want to influence your kids like Josh Homme’s parents? Keep reading for a list of essential rock and metal albums to pass down to your offspring.
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Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll
