Queens Of The Stone Age's Joshua Homme

For the alt-rock titans’ new LP, Villains (out now), Queens of the Stone Age frontman Joshua Homme teamed with a surprising collaborator: “Uptown Funk!” producer Mark Ronson. Here, Homme, 44, shares the similarly unexpected influences that shaped him.

- Eric Renner Brown

THE ALBUM THAT REMINDS ME OF GROWING UP

I would spend summer in a small town in Idaho. Those were the days when you would let cassette tapes just flip over and play. On these long drives [from Palm Desert, Calif.], my folks would always listen to Running on Empty by [1] Jackson Browne—which strangely was recorded on and [was] completely about the road.

THE FIRST ARTIST I WAS OBSESSED WITH AS A KID

At about 8, I saw Carl Perkins play in Idaho, at a thing called the Festival at Sandpoint. This was the type of festival [where] you could bring your own fried chicken and wine and dance in a small-town baseball diamond. It put me in this understanding of Elvis Presley and Sun Records all in one swoop. It was an eye opener for me.

THE FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY