Muse

Muse is an infusion of Queen and Radiohead if Radiohead wanted to rock harder and please the masses.

They are bombastic, melodramatic, over the top, theatrical, and excellent.

You can knock Muse a bit for the lyrics. But the instrumentation, the vocals, the evolving sound is all top notch.

Absolution is a classic.

2nd Law is the excellent electronic black sheep of the bunch.

Resistance is literally a rock opera.

Drones is a concept album.

And if all of those offerings don't satisfy your palette, Showbiz, Symmetry, and Black Holes will rock your sox off for good measure

England currently has a 3 headed musical government.

Radiohead is King
Muse is the muscle--the military
Coldplay is the Diplomat---It's All About the Togetherness

I know, this isn't the most well received band ever and with good reason, they've clearly sold out and are just having fun with it at this point. (Matt Bellamy has invested in a Drones Racing League and would love to see a Drones musical, he's clearly in it for craps and giggles) But that doesn't change the fact that I never would've gotten into rock without them. Initially discovering them in 2006 with BH&R, I quickly went looking through all their catalogue and found two other albums I loved and one I liked. Nowadays I recognize the genius of other bands such as Radiohead, Arcade Fire, etc. But without Muse I may not even be on this website today.

From Dingerbell 04/15/2013 16:55 | #73249

I agree with RIG. The 2nd Law is a pile of crap, with Panic Station, Animals, and Unsustainable the only half decent songs. The Resistance, as well, horrible apart from Exogenesis. I love this band for the first four albums they produced, as well as the many b-sides that are better than the songs on some of the albums. If you've not heard them, check out Hyper Chondriac Music (a beautiful song that is a down-tempo version of Hyper Music), the Groove (an excellent, catchy bass-line) and Fury as the best three.

If you get the chance to catch them live, I would thoroughly recommend it. I've seen them twice, and am seeing them a third time this summer.

Well, I think Applerill makes a very good point with his comparason to MCR and that kind of stuff. In the first two albums i didn´t mind so much, I quite enjoyed several of their songs. But when I listened to the third album and they endulged into that even further I suddenly got very, very tired of the whole concept. There is no subtlety, every goddamn song is like it´s the end of the world.
It´s really just glorified emo music.
One other aspect I´d like to bring into the equasion is their references to classical music. There is the references to Rachmaninovs 2nd piano concerto in "Space dementia" and other songs, which is quite ok, and in one other song, can´t remember which, there´s a quasi Tchaikovsky concerto thing going on. All that´s fine I guess, if they can get people interested in classical music that´s a very good thing of course. But when I heard "United States of Eurasia", with a chopin nocturne, which has been played do death by every 11 year old piano student, accompanied by a really really tacky string orchestra I decided never to listen to Muse ever again. It really pisses me off that people think they know classical music. As I mentioned their familiarity with classical music is at the same level as that of a child studying the piano. I would be more ok with it if they weren´t revered by so many people as some of the most genious musicians of our time.
And there are other bands who have done much cooler stuff with classical music than Muse. I can´t say I´ve listened so much to Emerson Lake and Palmer, but I heard a version they made of Bartok´s Allegro Barbaro which is vastly supperior to anything Muse has ever done in that field. And Jonny Greenwood has composed excellent symphonic music.
Which brings me to the comparisons with Radiohead. Setting aside the difference in quality between the bands, they both make very different music from oneanother. I´m tired of the whole Radiohead vs Muse discussion, it couldn´t be more pointless.
Oh and one more thing, I really can´t stand that Matt Bellamy guy, whenever I see him I just wanna punch him in the face, the smug bastard.
Is that elaborate enough for you?:)

From 9999 TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/07/2015 15:36 | #151115

Matt Bellamy must be one of the most vocally overacted and affected singers of all time. I mean, I can enjoy some drama, but listening to this guy is like listening to Thom Yorke playing Jesus Christ Superstar right after telling him that his mother has died and while a football player kicks his balls.