Let's Rank All 53 Kyuss Songs!
Kyuss was THE band at the top of the Stoner Metal mountain and much like The Velvet Underground, most people didn’t realize it until they were finished. Their impact and their influence grew after they broke up, with (also like the Velvets) only 4 full length albums left in their wake.
I remember that I was aware of a band called Kyuss in the early 90’s but I didn’t listen to them until my friend Steve told me I had to probably around 1998-99 after they were already done, but I was blown away when I did. In the 80’s there really wasn’t any trend towards playing groovy sludgy trippy metal like early Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. For metal it was either hair, NWOBHM or thrash really. These guys brought that vibe back to a new generation of bands that had way more in common with Sabbath than Ratt, Iron Maiden, or Slayer. The revival was dubbed Stoner Metal. Sure there’s more to it but that’s the very basic story.
I’ve read about these gigs where the band would pass out flyers to meet out in the desert where they would play shows with generators, and how they fed their guitars through bass amps for maximum heaviness. I wish I had a chance to experience that or just to see them live at all - their time was so brief and they weren’t very commercially successful as Kyuss while they were together.
But what a legacy and body of work! Members of the band have gone on to do plenty since - most of which ranges from really good to incredible, including Queens of the Stone Age, but here we’ll dive into the 53 songs Kyuss gave us and rank them!
Let’s Rank All 53 Kyuss Songs!
53. Yeah - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) I like to joke that this is actually the best song ever written. It’s 4 seconds long and it’s just John Garcia saying “Yeah.” But the fact that he says it in a slightly funny obnoxious way and that they listed it as a track with the title Yeah is just hilarious… So no, not really a song at all but about as dumb and genius as it gets. Hehe…
52. Katzenjammer - Wretch (1991) About half of Wretch is wretch…ed. Underproduced, underdeveloped and borderline unlistenable. Katzenjammer has some punk energy I suppose but just, no. And I’m aware that a few of these songs are carryovers from the Sons Of Kyuss EP before they shortened the band name, but the songs that were left behind on that EP are better than the ones they brought to Wretch, so…. who knows.
51. (Beginning Of What’s About To Happen) Hwy 74 - Wretch (1991) The opening track on Wretch. I guess if it’s the beginning of what’s about to happen, it clearly hasn’t started to happen yet. More muddy amateur sounding crap.
50. Love Has Passed Me By - Wretch (1991) More underproduced demo-sounding stuff. Sounds like teenagers trying too hard. I’m fine with this one passing me by.
49. Deadly Kiss - Wretch (1991) Okay. I guess you could say things start to get just a little interesting? Still sounds like crap but there are a few interesting changes. Kinda.
48. Lick Doo - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) A really silly hidden track at the end of Welcome To Sky Valley. Catchy and gloriously stupid. I find myself singing it after I hear it pretty much every time.
47. Black Widow - Wretch (1991) A song with a little swing and dare I say….it’s not bad? Okay I think we’re safely done with the really bad stuff. Things are better from here on out and we can start talking about songs worth jamming.
46. A Day Early and a Dollar Extra - One Inch Man single / Muchas Gracias (1995) More of an interlude than a song - a slight instrumental bit of noodling that is kinda cool and could be good for the desert.
45. Capsized - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) Capsized is actually really cool. It’s a little acoustic interlude that clocks in at 54 seconds. There just isn’t…enough…there to put it higher.
44. Isolation - Wretch (1991) Still raw but slightly better than the stuff at the bottom of the list from Wretch.
43. 800 - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) An interesting instrumental starting with a bit of guitar and then some tribal drumming.
41. (tie) Son Of A Bitch - Wretch (1991) “Goddamn son of a bitch!!!” Lol - gotta love it. This is where tracks start to appear on the list from Wretch that are indeed worthy. And yes, the stuff they wrote for this album specifically (as opposed to the Sons Of Kyuss material) tends to all be solid.
41. (tie) The Law - Wretch (1991) An early attempt at an epic that comes really close. Great intro, ten ton riff, but eventually there’s too much going on. This one could have benefitted from some trimming / streamlining.
40. Hurricane - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) A missed opportunity because something happened to the mix here…. I have no idea how this ended up on the album in this form on the FOURTH album. You just cannot hear John Garcia’s vocals - like they’re there, but they are so far buried in the mix that it almost destroys the song. What saves the song is that it’s still ferocious AF. So yes it still kicks ass right from the Alfredo Hernandez drum intro, it’s just a shame that even the bare minimum of care wasn’t taken to mix it properly. Unless I’m missing something and they meant it that way… Garcia’s vocals aren’t always front and center over the bottom heavy riffs but here it’s worse than usual.
39. I’m Not - Wretch (1991) Pretty good groove, still not very good production. Only… time… will tell….
38. Tangy Zizzle - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) Kyuss has about 5-10 songs that sound just like Tangy Zizzle. This just happens to be the least interesting of them in my opinion. Still good just not great.
37. Big Bikes - Wretch (1991) An over-the-top-crude ode to “bad bitches on big bikes” written by Brant Bjork with a nasty groove that brings it sandwiched by a frantic intro and outro. The pause in Garcia’s delivery each time he tells us he wants to get some from a bad bitch……on a big bike, is pretty hilarious. It took me a bit when I first got to know this one - like is he saying “cuz I want some pussaaaaaayyyyeeaaayeeaaayee?” Yes. Yes he is. Perhaps a little 2 Live Crew influence from 5 years earlier…?
36. Flip The Phase - One Inch Man B-Side (1996) Also known as Fatso Forgotso Phase II (Flip The Phase), this one suffers albeit slightly less in the same way Hurricane does in that the vocals could have used a boost in the mix. But still a rollicking good time at only 2:16 long. Initally released after the band was done on the Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age compilation and then on the Muchas Gracias collection in 2000.
35. Stage III - Wretch (1991) The first really great Kyuss instrumental of many. Of course we’re still talking about Wretch so we’re still talking about muddy production but this is still nice and heavy to close out that album.
34. Writhe - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) This one will sneak up on you - sandwiched between a couple of instrumentals late in the album with Garcia’s understated lower register vocals. But don’t sleep on it, it packs a heavy groovy wallop that crushes, pulls back, stretches out a little that makes it an overall killer in its own right.
33. Mondo Generator - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) I should mention that I LOVE everything at this point. You could have probably said that about ten songs in, so it gets a little tougher at this point. Written and “sung” by bass player, future Queens Of The Stone Age member and resident maniac Nick Oliveri, this is a good groove with a bunch of indecipherable distorted vocals to close out BFTRS before Yeah. Oliveri named his subsequent project after this song. Could easily be ranked higher or lower - wasn’t quite sure what to do with this one.
32. Shine - Split Single with Wool / Muchas Gracias (1996) I believe both Shine and the following Mudfly came out of the …And The Circus Leaves Town sessions but I’m not 100% sure. Shine is a very cool somewhat trippy (even a precursor to the spooky vibes that are a big part of the QOTSA thing) instrumental with a few well placed screaming parts. I love this track and I love the often clean & dry production mix on the material from this time.
31. Mudfly - One Inch Man B-Side / Muchas Gracias (1995) A short but classic kick ass Kyuss instrumental.
30. Thee Ol’ Boozeroony - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) See Mudfly.
29. Un Sandpiper - Gardenia B-Side (1995) My first exposure to this one was on the Muchas Gracias compilation as the opener with the hilarious “Hello Nobody!!!! Tonight we have a very special musical presentation! So, kick back and stretch your sack cuz here’s Kyuss with Un Sandpiper!!!” Cracks me up each time. A great free flowing jam that clocks in at 8 minutes.
28. Catamaran - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) A very un-metal penultimate track for the last album - okay well not all of it. There’s a couple of heavy chords that check in for what you might call the chorus two times in the song. I dig it.
27. Conan Troutman - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) A rocking romp that brings it hard. Brief but powerful and aggressive.
26. N.O. - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) Multiple tempos change off to make for an interesting and yes pretty heavy track.
25. Size Queen - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) Some good slow tempo swing here before the jam really kicks in. Pretty cool.
24. Gloria Lewis - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) “If you wanna riiiiiiiide baby ride the white horse!” Did this line not originate in Laid Back’s song from 1983 saying DON’T ride it? Hehe… The song is a slow heavy stomp but I don’t know who Gloria Lewis is.
23. Jumbo Blimp Jumbo - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) Great instrumental - slower and groovy with Homme hitting some wah wah without overdoing it. Great riff for most of the track and then it picks up pace with a second phase that isn’t quite as interesting but overall it’s really solid.
22. Phototropic - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) I dig this song. Just a chill vibe of instrumental desert vibes for a couple minutes before they drop the hammer. Can’t hear John Garcia’s vocals that well here either but it’s okay.
21. Into The Void - Single (1996) Their only cover and it’s a doozy. Some of the lyrics are different than Sabbath’s version but it’s great to hear the flavor they give this one with the middle part given the groovy extended jam treatment with the bongos. Could easily be ranked higher but I don’t want to put a cover ahead of too many of their best originals.
20. El Rodeo - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) You get the sense as the tension builds with that spare guitar lead that something epic is coming with El Rodeo, as they layer in the bass, then the drums… And don’t get me wrong, it IS an epic in its own way, but it takes an unexpected turn. The song contains no vocals over the first phase before the pounding riffage assault kicks in. Very unconventional track even for these guys - like it’s missing a middle section…. No idea what it’s about - it’s just a track you simply experience and you’ll get it. Don’t think too hard.
19. Allen’s Wrench - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) Allen’s Wrench is an uptempo killer. I annoy the crap out of my wife by singing “Allen’s WRE-ANCH - that’s all you GEH-EE-EEHHHT!” ANY time there is an actual Allen’s Wrench - to put together a chair or whatever… It makes her nuts - it’s kinda fun.
18. Odyssey - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) Behold the rush and the power of Odyssey! Holy crap. This is peak Kyuss - and everything from here on out on this list is the stuff that changed the game for many. “Once you return from the belly of the beast you’re never quite the same” - indeed. And the funky middle part? These guys were masters of dynamics and making songs feel massive and progressive like this one - in only 4 and a half minutes. I guess I never really think of Kyuss as prog rock, but as I go through this exercise trying to paint a picture of what they sound like for the uninitiated, it turns out they really are very much prog metal if you think about it.
17. Apothecaries’ Weight - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) A instrumental epic with a repeating, climbing swirling riff that brings the bonecrushing heavy for the big finish.
16. Whitewater - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) I think Whitewater might be an underrated Kyuss track. My reason for saying this is that many of you may know that Welcome To Sky Valley was originally released on CD with only 3 tracks and a hidden 4th (Lick Doo). The first three lumped the first three tracks, the second three tracks and the final 4 tracks together. Whitewater was the fourth song of the third track. So you couldn’t skip to it and I would venture to guess that not everyone “made it” to this song every time they put on this album if they didn’t listen to the whole thing. But, wow. What a reward if you did. Starts out with the fade in to the somewhat spacey intro before the awesome riffage hits. Arriving home in the valley, and then chilling there as the song calms down, stretches out and goes for a while…..the album just winding down with some awesome instrumental improvisation before it just kind of fades away. Brilliant.
15. Spaceship Landing - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) The longest Kyuss epic by a wide margin at 11:45 to finish the final LP in appropriate fashion. A return to the pounding riffs as thick as a Redwood tree trunk. Multiple stages here for a long journey into multiple dimensions and it all kicks ass. “You’re a fucked up man with a fucked up plan!!!”
14. Thong Song - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) A song that comes across as a bit of a gimmick. The heaviest gimmick ever. And it’s AWESOME. “No shoes, just thongs, I hate, slow songs.” Now THAT’S poetry. One of the best demented John Garcia vocals you’ll hear. Written by Josh Homme seemingly from the perspective of just a stoner who doesn’t give a crap and hooray for youuuuuuuuu if you do? Genius.
13. Molton Universe - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) Yes, instrumentals have high status in the Kyuss canon and there are many so they do appear towards the top of the list like Molton Universe. Not very long but a building theme that starts mellow and escalates until it’s grooving and thumping and crushing by the end. Once again this is a structure that these guys used to great effect on many tracks.
12. Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) So good. Just guitar and vocals to start a la Thong Song before they bring down the hammer… Garcia asks “Did you all enjoy the show?” very early in the track, and the riffs here are yes, quite enjoyable. Fantastic ascending and descending fretwork coming out of what I guess you’d call the choruses as this one pounds away before changing gears in typical Kyuss fashion and finishing with one of the great Kyuss teases making you think the song is ending several times before they finally pull the plug.
11. Demon Cleaner - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) The Demon Cleaner saves the day and brushes the demons away…. I’m going to guess this song with its hypnotic heavy groove is about drugs…? Either way it’s awesome.
10. 100° - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) A 2 1/2 blast of pure fury set up by Josh Homme’s staccato intro before the blast. Pulverizing until the distorted screeching halt.
9. Freedom Run - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) Man this is tough… I don’t think Kyuss has ONE statement song that is clearly the best and the top of this list is really hard to sort… Freedom Run is such an epic and could easily sit atop this ranking. One of Garcia's finest moments throughout
8. Space Cadet - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) Great example of a song that is just uniquely Kyuss. Not sure there’s too many songs like this one. It’s a trippy tribal semi-acoustic thing that even sounds a little heavy even though it’s….not. A fantastic and intimate low key vocal by John Garcia - this song can put you in a trance-like state in the best way. Great for traveling through the desert…
7. One Inch Man - …And The Circus Leaves Town (1995) Such an incredible groove and one that benefits from the production. I love the sound Alfredo Hernandez gets out of his drums here - immediate and dry in the mix which serves this one well. Written by Garcia and Scott Reeder.
6. Gardenia - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) What a great opener - that unmistakable thick riff that then veers off into some trippy universe about halfway through before returning to the heavy for the finish. This track is everything that is great about this band and it was written by drummer Brant Bjork on what would be his last album with the band. I’m a huge Brant Bjork fan and his solo stuff is amazing too.
5. Asteroid - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994) Another spacey, desert, surface of the moon, zooming on an asteroid….. all of these can easily represent this insane instrumental. Menacing, evil, soft, bone crushing, with the runaway ending…. holy crap. I’ll go out on a limb and say there’s never been a metal band of any sort with the resume of instrumentals these guys had.
4. Green Machine - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) Blues For The Red Sun is the place to start with Kyuss in my opinion. For starters it’s probably the best one by a hair, and the first couple songs are relatively conventional for Kyuss which makes them easily digestible without losing any of what makes Kyuss great really. Written by Brant Bjork, Green Machine is a basic verse-chorus-verse structure but it’s so damn ferocious and well executed. And it sets you up pretty well with Homme extending the riff twice as long as you’d expect on the intro so when Bjork attacks his drum kit it packs an ever bigger wallop. A classic.
3. Fatso Forgotso - Into The Void Single / Muchas Gracias (1996) Wearing their Sabbath hearts on their sleeves here - a chugging and grooving jam that weighs about 30 tons. And yeah you could say that about many Kyuss songs so I guess this one is just personally how I hear it, and that’s a good thing. Clocking in at 8:33, the extended second phase with Garcia eventually just repeating “It’s over, it’s over, it’s over, it’s over my F—KING head!” is so good. Josh Homme wrote more songs for Kyuss than the others (which eventually caused tension in the band leading to Bjork’s departure) but Scott Reeder who didn’t join until Sky Valley has two contributions in my top 10 including this one.
2. 50 Million Year Trip - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) 50 Million Year Trip feels like one. Written by Brant Bjork, It’s just under 6 minutes but a lot happens in the 6 minutes starting with the galloping beginning that just feels gigantic - like you’re blasting through space! But then they (as they often do) eventually drop the sledgehammer after the madness of dreaming, drinking, rolling, hiding, with Garcia barking “But I’ll never forget you in any way” repeatedly. Halfway through the song the band audibly puts on the brakes for a groovy couple minutes of just jamming out. Ahhh….
1. Thumb - Blues For The Red Sun (1992) Co-written by Homme and Bjork, Thumb just sets the scene for discovering this band. It’s the first song you should hear. The opener of (maybe) the best album and it starts with what I’d describe as a desert droning sound before the opening theme riff gently makes its entrance easing you into the vibe, giving you almost a full minute to soak it in. And even when the drums kick in you’re like “oh yeah!” this is heavy. But then after four measures when the bottom REALLY arrives you’re like “OH SHIT” this is REALLY HEAVY. And now you know what you’re dealing with, and when Garcia’s vocals come over the top snarling with “You don’t seem to understand the deal. I don’t give two shits on how you feel!” You’re living in thought so - what a great line. And then the song hits you with a very Kyuss second stage so you get a great representation of this band with the finish that leaves your jaw hanging open if it’s your first listen - I remember the first time I heard it. Yep - this song is no anomaly - this is Kyuss.
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