Queens of the Stone Age have a new single, and it is called “Where the Goth Girls At?” The song arrives ahead of Perfecth, the band’s upcoming album, and it leans hard into a very specific kind of nostalgia: teenage love in a desert suburb, told through the lens of the goth kids who worked at JCPenney.
Josh Homme, the band’s frontman, does the singing. He recalls his youth in Palm Desert, watching the goth girls who worked the counter at the store, giving “goth makeovers” to older customers while he watched from afar. The press release quotes him directly: “Watching the goth girls working the counter at JCPenney and giving goth makeovers to the old ladies, that’s when I knew the only place I want to be is where the goth girls at.” He adds, “Teenage love, ain’t it grand?”
The Press Release and the Video
The song comes with a music video directed by Christopher Gruse and Tony Wolski. It sets the action in a deserted power plant, where the goth girls hold court and turn everyone they meet into followers of their “ultimate vision,” complete with excessive black ink. The cast includes members of Queens of the Stone Age, plus comedian Steve Agee, dancer Scarlett Kapella, and singer-actress Lou Lou Safran.
“Teenage love, ain’t it grand?”
That line sums up the whole project. Homme is not making a statement about goth culture so much as a confession about his own crushes. The video pushes the idea further, turning the goth girls into something closer to a cult, demanding authority and converting everyone around them.
Singles So Far
“Where the Goth Girls At?” is the third single from Perfecth. The album’s previous releases were “Insignificant Other” and “Easy Street.” The full album is out October 30 via Matador.
Queens of the Stone Age are still touring. They play tomorrow in Louisville, and the schedule runs through Japan and Australia before it ends. The band’s fall tour continues as the album nears its release date.
Comparing the Singles
| Single | Announcement Detail |
|---|---|
| “Where the Goth Girls At?” | Setting: suburban JCPenney / deserted power plant |
| “Insignificant Other” | Announced as a previous single |
| “Easy Street” | Announced as a previous single |
The table shows how each single draws on a different memory or situation. “Where the Goth Girls At?” is the most specific, tied to a particular place and time — Palm Desert, the JCPenney counter, the goth girls giving makeovers to older customers. The other two are mentioned in the announcement without detail.
Our Take on the Single
The song is a genuine oddity. A rock band releasing a single about teenage crushes on goth girls at JCPenney is not something you hear every day. The video’s setting of a deserted power plant populated by goth girls with excessive black ink pushes the absurdity further.
It is also a smart move. The song is specific enough to be memorable but broad enough to appeal to anyone who remembers being a teenager. The goth girls are a stand-in for any group that felt cool at the time, and the song’s sincerity makes it work.
The video pushes the joke too far, but that is the point. Queens of the Stone Age are not afraid to be ridiculous, and this single is proof of that.
“Where the Goth Girls At?” is a fun listen. It is a little silly, a little romantic, and completely committed to its own premise. The video goes further than the song, but both together make for a memorable package.
See the video the story is built around at Pitchfork.
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