Album
Villains
Villains is the seventh studio album by Queens of the Stone Age, released on 25 August 2017 through Matador. It follows ...Like Clockwork and forms the middle part of the band's first trilogy of records for the label, which ended with In Times New Roman... in 2023. Mark Ronson produced it, and the lead single, "The Way You Used to Do", arrived the day after the album was announced, alongside news of a world tour.
It's a record of firsts for the band. Jon Theodore joined on drums as a full-time member, and it is the first Queens album with no guest musicians at all. It was also their first UK number one, and it reached number three on the US Billboard 200. Reviews were widely positive, and it earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album in 2018, losing to The War on Drugs.
Villains: tracklist, credits and charts
9 tracks · 48:03Tracklist
- 1Feet Don’t Fail MeQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme5:42
- 2The Way You Used to DoQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme4:34
- 3Domesticated AnimalsQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme5:20
- 4FortressQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme5:27
- 5Head Like a Haunted HouseQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme3:21
- 6Un‐Reborn AgainQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme6:41
- 7HideawayQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme4:18
- 8The Evil Has LandedQueens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme6:31
- 9Villains of CircumstanceFertita, Homme, Leeuwen, Shuman6:09
- Produced by
- Mark “Top” Rankin, Mark Ronson
- Mixed by
- Alan Moulder
- Mixed at
- Pink Duck Studios
- Engineered by
- Caesar Edmunds, Mark “Top” Rankin
- Mastered by
- Reuben Cohen, Gavin Lurssen
- Artwork
- Boneface
- Recorded
- January–March 2017
- Label
- Matador
- Length
- 48:03
Line-up
- Daphne Chen · violin
- Richard Dodd · cello
- Dean Fertita · keyboard, background vocals, guitar
- Eric Gorfain · violin
- Josh Homme · guitar, lead vocals
- Leah Katz · viola
- Troy Van Leeuwen · guitar, background vocals, keyboard
- The Section Quartet · string quartet
- Michael Shuman · bass, bass guitar, background vocals
- Jon Theodore · drums (drum set)
- James King · saxophone · guest
Singles
- “The Way You Used to Do” · 15 June 2017
- “The Evil Has Landed” · 10 August 2017
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 2017 | 1 |
| US Billboard 200 · 2017 | 3 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 2017 | 1 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) · 2017 | 1 |
| Dutch Albums · 2017 | 1 |
| New Zealand Albums · 2017 | 1 |
| Portuguese Albums · 2017 | 1 |
| Scottish Albums · 2017 | 1 |
| Swiss Albums · 2017 | 1 |
| UK Independent Albums · 2017 | 1 |
All 28 charts
| UK Rock & Metal Albums · 2017 | 1 |
| US Alternative · 2017 | 1 |
| US Top Rock Albums · 2017 | 1 |
| Austrian Albums · 2017 | 2 |
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2017 | 2 |
| Finnish Albums · 2017 | 2 |
| German Albums · 2017 | 2 |
| Ireland 2 · 2017 | 2 |
| Norwegian Albums · 2017 | 2 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) · 2017 | 2 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2017 | 3 |
| French Albums · 2017 | 4 |
| Italian Albums · 2017 | 5 |
| Polish Albums · 2017 | 6 |
| Swedish Albums · 2017 | 7 |
| Danish Albums · 2017 | 8 |
| Czech Albums · 2017 | 15 |
| Hungarian Albums · 2017 | 17 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia · 2024 | Gold |
| Canada · 2023 | Gold |
| New Zealand · 2021 | Gold |
| United Kingdom · 2022 | Gold |
From MusicBrainz and Wikipedia. Only what the sources record is shown.
83.4
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
6.1k
ListenBrainz listeners
68k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
59k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Released the same week
Also released on 25 August
Every year →
Permanent Vacation
Aerosmith · 1987
A Matter of Life and Death
Iron Maiden · 2006
Use Your Illusion
Guns N’ Roses · 1998
Word Gets Around
Stereophonics · 1997
Bananas
Deep Purple · 2003
Road
Alice Cooper · 2023
Vol. 2
Goo Goo Dolls · 2008
Zipper Catches Skin
Alice Cooper · 1982
Force of Habit
Exodus · 1992
Spotify Sessions
Slash · 2014
Live at Wembley Stadium
Foo Fighters · 2008
More Product
Sex Pistols · 2017
More from Queens of the Stone Age
Full discography →
Kyuss / Queens of the Stone Age
1997
The Split CD
1998
Queens of the Stone Age
1998
Rated R
2000
Feel Good Hit of the Summer
2000
Songs for the Deaf
2002
Stone Age Complication
2004
Lullabies to Paralyze
2005
Over the Years and Through the Woods
2005
Era Vulgaris
2007
…Like Clockwork
2013
…Like Cologne
2013
In Times New Roman…
2023
Alive in the Catacombs
2025
Perfecth
2026
The best of 2017
All of 2017 →
One More Light
Linkin Park · 2017
Concrete and Gold
Foo Fighters · 2017
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles · 2017
Songs of Experience
U2 · 2017
Ready Steady Who Three
The Who · 2017
Colors
Beck · 2017
Heaven Upside Down
Marilyn Manson · 2017
Emperor of Sand
Mastodon · 2017
Pacific Daydream
Weezer · 2017
Feed the Machine
Nickelback · 2017
Ladies and Gentlemen... The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones · 2017
One More Light Live
Linkin Park · 2017
More on Matador
The label →Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz + wikidata
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 25 August 2017 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 25 August 2017 | |
| Wikidata | 25 August 2017 | |
| Deezer | 25 August 2017 | |
| US release | 25 August 2017 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 25 August 2017 | earliest UK or European date |
8 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 August 2017 | XW | Matador | 744861112556 | original |
| 25 August 2017 | XE | Matador | 744861112518 | original |
| 25 August 2017 | GB | Matador | 744861112563 | original |
| 25 August 2017 | XW | Matador | 0744861112570 | original |
| 25 August 2017 | US | Matador | 744861112501 | original |
| 25 August 2017 | US | Matador | 744861112525 | original |
| 9 December 2022 | — | Matador | 191401900737 | other |
| 9 December 2022 | — | Matador | 191401900713 | other |
Cover art sources
coverartarchive · native: native 3000x3000
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| coverartarchive ✓ | 3000×3000 | native: native 3000x3000 |
| deezer | 1800×1800 | native |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |