Them Crooked Vultures star reveals he died on the operating table

Photo by Bill Ebbesen

Literally. Dying on the operating table?

Josh Homme revealed in an interview for England's NME that he died and came back to life on an operating table last year.

He'd been in surgery last autumn to correct longstanding problems with his knee. That's when, he puts it bluntly, "I had an operation and died, and survived on the table."

Details, please?

"I had surgery on my leg and there were complications and I died on the table."

Wow.

"I was in bed for three months, and I've never done that before so I had time to reflect. I got cleared in the middle of December to walk round again and get out [of] bed, so after three months of just living in my mind, I was finally able to walk round again."

Three months without walking?

"So I just sprang into the new year, basically."

So did Robert Plant on New Year's Day 1976 after four months in a wheelchair and on crutches. That was from the auto accident that could have killed him -- and the hospital stay in Greece that could have stopped his life at age 26.

Two singers in bands with John Paul Jones in a similar situation just after tours!

Is Homme serious about this new revelation? NME's Dan Martin, who interviewed him, thinks so. Martin writes: "Josh is prone to exaggeration, but the serenity with which the Queens of the Stone Age leader talks about his flatline leaves us in no doubt that this is not one of his tall stories."

Josh Homme is still with us.

NME issues are available digitally.