They were already a cool, heavy band from the desert, but "No One Knows" was different. Still heavy and groovy, but suddenly super catchy and cool. That beat, with Dave Grohl on drums, was just infectious, heavy, but you could almost dance to it. His performance is just one of my favourite ever, with every drum fill different from the previous one. All of them are powerful and tasty.
Homme's lyrics are weird and mysterious, like "Heidi says she knows / No one knows."
The music video was all over MTV back in the day and made even more people go, "Who ARE these guys?" "No One Knows" was a huge deal, topping the rock charts and getting played everywhere. It made Songs for the Deaf a massive hit and turned QOTSA into a major rock band. The whole album, with its desert driving theme and fake radio bits, was just them doing their own weird and awesome thing.
It was the desert sound that took over the world and proved rock could be heavy and super catchy. That riff still gets stuck in your head for days. We might not know everything, but we all know this song rocks.