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Muse are an English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band from
Teignmouth, Devon
Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at th ...
, formed in 1994. The band consists of
Matt Bellamy
Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English singer, musician, producer, and songwriter. He is primarily known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccen ...
(lead vocals, guitar, keyboards),
Chris Wolstenholme
Christopher Tony Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978) is an English musician. He is the bassist and backing vocalist for the rock band Muse.
Early life
Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, D ...
(bass guitar, backing vocals), and
Dominic Howard
Dominic James Howard (born 7 December 1977) is an English musician who is the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Muse.
Early life
Howard was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. When he was around 8 years old he moved with hi ...
(drums).
Muse released their debut album, ''
Showbiz'', in 1999, showcasing Bellamy's
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
and a melancholic
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
style. Their second album, ''
Origin of Symmetry
''Origin of Symmetry'' is the second studio album by English rock band Muse, released on 18 June 2001 through Taste Media. It was produced by John Leckie, who produced Muse's debut album '' Showbiz'' (1999), and David Bottrill.
''Origin of Symm ...
'' (2001), incorporated wider instrumentation and
romantic classical influences and earned them a reputation for energetic live performances.
''
Absolution
Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...
'' (2003) saw further classical influence, with strings on tracks such as "
Butterflies and Hurricanes
"Butterflies and Hurricanes" is a song by English rock band Muse. It was released as the sixth and final single from their third studio album, ''Absolution'' (2003), on 20 September 2004. Unlike ''Absolution'', the single was released through ...
", and was the first of seven consecutive
UK number-one albums.
''
Black Holes and Revelations
''Black Holes and Revelations'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 3 July 2006 through Warner Bros. Records and Muse's Helium-3 imprint. It was recorded over four months with producer Rich Costey in New Y ...
'' (2006) incorporated
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
and
pop elements, displayed in singles such as "
Supermassive Black Hole
A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...
",
and brought Muse wider international success. ''
The Resistance'' (2009) and ''
The 2nd Law
''The 2nd Law'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 28 September 2012 through Warner Bros. Records and the band's own Helium-3 imprint. Recording of the album took place in studios between London and Los An ...
'' (2012) explored themes of government oppression and civil uprising and cemented Muse as one of the world's major stadium acts. ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' stated the band possessed "stadium-crushing songs".
Topping the US
''Billboard'' 200, their seventh album, ''
Drones'' (2015), was a
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
about
drone warfare
Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakis ...
and returned to a harder rock sound. Their eighth album, ''
Simulation Theory'' (2018), prominently featured
synthesisers and was influenced by
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and the
simulation hypothesis. Their ninth album, ''
Will of the People'' (2022), which combined many genres and themes from their previous albums, was released in August 2022.
Muse have won
numerous awards, including two
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
s, two
Brit Awards
The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
, five
MTV Europe Music Awards
The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...
and eight
NME Awards
The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding of ...
. In 2012 they received the
Ivor Novello Award
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...
for International Achievement from the
British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
The Ivors Academy (formerly the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy exists to support, protect, and campaign for the interests ...
. , they have sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
History
Early years (1994–1997)
The members of Muse played in separate school bands during their time at
Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s. Guitarist
Matt Bellamy
Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English singer, musician, producer, and songwriter. He is primarily known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccen ...
successfully auditioned for drummer
Dominic Howard
Dominic James Howard (born 7 December 1977) is an English musician who is the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Muse.
Early life
Howard was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. When he was around 8 years old he moved with hi ...
's band, Carnage Mayhem, becoming its singer and songwriter. They renamed the band Gothic Plague. They asked
Chris Wolstenholme
Christopher Tony Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978) is an English musician. He is the bassist and backing vocalist for the rock band Muse.
Early life
Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, D ...
– at that time the drummer for Fixed Penalty – to join as bassist; he agreed and took up bass lessons. The band was renamed Rocket Baby Dolls and adopted a
goth
A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were:
*Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history
*Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history
Goth or Goths may also refer to:
* Goth (surname) ...
-
glam image. Around this time, they received a £150 grant from
the Prince's Trust
The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...
for equipment.
In 1994, Rocket Baby Dolls won a local
battle of the bands, smashing their equipment in the process. Bellamy said, "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement, so, when we actually won, it was a real shock, a massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." The band quit their jobs, changed their name to Muse, and moved away from Teignmouth. The band liked that the new name was short and thought that it looked good on a poster. According to journalist Mark Beaumont, the band wanted the name to reflect "the sense Matt had that he had somehow 'summoned up' this band, the way mediums could summon up inspirational spirits at times of emotional need".
First EPs and ''Showbiz'' (1998–2000)
![Muse logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Muse_logo.svg)
After a few years building a fanbase, Muse played their first gigs in London and
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
supporting
Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie are a British rock band whose members include Skin (lead vocals, guitar), Cass (bass, guitar, backing vocals), Ace (guitar, backing vocals) and Mark Richardson (drums and percussion).
Skunk Anansie formed in 1994, disbanded in 2 ...
on tour. They had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of
Sawmills Studio
Sawmills Studios, founded in 1974 by record producer Tony Cox, is a recording studio near Golant on the banks of the River Fowey in Cornwall.
The studio building is located on its own tidal creek on the banks of the Fowey. Sawmills was one ...
, situated in a converted water mill in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. He had seen the three boys grow up as he knew their parents, and had a production company with their future manager
Safta Jaffery, with whom he had recently started the record label
Taste Media
Taste Media is a record label and production company that has released records for bands such as Muse and Shed Seven. The company was formed by Safta Jaffery (former executive of Decca and Magnet Records A&R) and Dennis Smith, who owned the S ...
. The meeting led to their first serious recordings and the release of the
''Muse'' EP on 11 May 1998 on Sawmills' in-house
Dangerous
Dangerous may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Dangerous'' (1935 film), an American film starring Bette Davis
* '' Dangerous: The Short Films'', a 1993 collection of music videos by Michael Jackson
* ''Dangerous'' (2021 film), a Canadian-Ameri ...
label, produced by Paul Reeve. Their second EP, the ''
Muscle Museum EP'', also produced by Reeve, was released on 11 January 1999. It reached number 3 in the indie singles chart and attracted the attention of British radio broadcaster
Steve Lamacq
Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music.
Early life
He attended The Ramsey Academy ...
and the weekly British music publication ''NME''. Later in 1999, Muse performed on the Emerging Artist's stage at
Woodstock '99
Woodstock '99 (also called Woodstock 1999) was a music festival held from July 22 to July 25, 1999, in Rome, New York. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 1969 Woodstock fe ...
and signed with Smith and Jaffery. Despite the success of their second EP, British record companies were reluctant to sign Muse. After a trip to New York's CMJ Festival, Nanci Walker, then Sr. Director of A&R at Columbia Records, flew Muse to the US to showcase for Columbia Records' then-Senior Vice-president of A&R,
Tim Devine
Tim Devine is an American music executive and entrepreneur. The founder of Webcastr, Devine is best known for his work as an a&r executive.
Early life and education
Devine spent his childhood in Chicago, Kansas City, New York and New Jersey a ...
, as well as for American Recording's Rick Rubin. During this trip, on 24 December 1998, Muse signed a deal with American record label Maverick Records. Upon their return to England, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them control over their career in individual countries.
John Leckie
John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's ''25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...
was brought in alongside Reeve to produce the band's first album, ''
Showbiz'' (1999). The album showcased Muse's aggressive yet melancholic musical style, with lyrics about relationships and their difficulties trying to establish themselves in their hometown.
''Origin of Symmetry'' and ''Hullabaloo'' (2000–2002)
![Muse at Roskilde Festival 2000](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Muse_at_Roskilde_Festival_2000.jpg)
During the production of their second album, ''Origin of Symmetry'' (2001), Muse experimented with instrumentation such as a
church organ
Carol Williams performing at the United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.">West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.
...
,
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
, animal bones, and an expanded drum kit. There was more of Bellamy's falsetto,
arpeggiated
A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves.
An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
guitar, and piano playing. Bellamy cites guitar influences such as
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
and
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello ...
(of
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...
), the latter evident in the more
riff
A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...
-based songs in ''Origin of Symmetry'' and in Bellamy's use of guitar
pitch-shifting effects. The album features a cover of
Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leading ...
and
Leslie Bricusse
Leslie Bricusse OBE (; 29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films ''Do ...
's "
Feeling Good", voted in various polls one of the greatest cover versions of all time. It was released as a
double A-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
single, "
Hyper Music/Feeling Good
"Hyper Music" and "Feeling Good" are songs by English alternative rock band Muse, recorded for their second album ''Origin of Symmetry'' (2001). They were released together as a double A-side single on 19 November 2001.
Composition
"Hype ...
".
''Origin of Symmetry'' received positive reviews by critics; NME gave the album 9/10 and wrote: "It's amazing for such a young band to load up with a heritage that includes the darker visions of
Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...
and
Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...
,
Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
and
The Tiger Lillies
The Tiger Lillies are a cult British musical trio formed in 1989 by singer-songwriter Martyn Jacques. Described as the forefathers of Brechtian Punk Cabaret, the Tiger Lillies are well known for their unique sound and style which merges "the ...
,
Cronenberg and
Schoenberg, and make a sexy, populist album." Maverick, Muse's American label, did not consider Bellamy's vocals "radio-friendly" and asked Muse to rerecord the song for the US release. The band refused and left Maverick; the album was not released in the US until September 2005, after Muse signed to Warner Bros.
''Origin of Symmetry'' has made appearances on lists of the greatest rock albums of the 2000s, both poll-based and on publication lists. In 2006, it placed at number 74 on ''Q'' magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of All-Time,
while in February 2008, the album placed at number 28 on a list of the Best British Albums of All Time determined by the magazine's readers. ''Kerrang!'' placed the album at number 20 in its 100 Best British Rock Albums Ever! List and at number 13 on its 50 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.
Acclaimed Music
Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
ranks ''Origin of Symmetry'' as the 1,247th greatest album of all time.
In 2002, Muse released the first live DVD, ''
Hullabaloo'', featuring footage recorded during Muse's two gigs at
Le Zenith in Paris in 2001, and a documentary film of the band on tour. A double album, ''Hullabaloo Soundtrack'', was released at the same time, containing a compilation of
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
s and a disc of recordings of songs from the Le Zenith performances. A double-A side single was also released featuring the new songs "
In Your World" and "
Dead Star".
In 2002, Muse threatened
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...
with legal action when she planned to name her
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
show "Muse", as Muse have worldwide performing rights to the name. Dion offered Muse $50,000 for the rights, but they turned it down and Dion backed down. Bellamy said: "We don't want to turn up there with people thinking we're Celine Dion's backing band."
''Absolution'' (2003–2005)
![MuseToronto2004-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/MuseToronto2004-1.JPG)
Muse's third album, ''Absolution'', produced by
Rich Costey
Rich may refer to:
Common uses
* Rich, an entity possessing wealth
* Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling
** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting
Places United States
* Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated comm ...
, Paul Reeve and
John Cornfield
John Richard Cornfield (born 10 December 1958 in Epsom, Surrey) is a British record producer and sound engineer. He has been working from Sawmills Studios in Cornwall since 1982.
Discography As sound engineer or sound assistant
* The Dukes of S ...
was released on 15 September 2003. It debuted at number one in the UK and produced Muse's first top-ten hit, "
Time Is Running Out", and three top-twenty hits: "
Hysteria
Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...
", "
Sing for Absolution" and "
Butterflies and Hurricanes
"Butterflies and Hurricanes" is a song by English rock band Muse. It was released as the sixth and final single from their third studio album, ''Absolution'' (2003), on 20 September 2004. Unlike ''Absolution'', the single was released through ...
". ''Absolution'' was eventually certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
in the US. Muse undertook a year-long international tour in support of the album, visiting Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and France. On the 2004 US leg of the tour, Bellamy injured himself onstage during the opening show in Atlanta; the tour resumed after Bellamy received stitches.
In June 2004, Muse headlined the
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
, which they later described as "the best gig of our lives". Howard's father, William Howard, who attended the festival to watch the band, died from a heart attack shortly after the performance. Bellamy said: "It was the biggest feeling of achievement we've ever had after coming offstage. It was almost surreal that an hour later his dad died. It was almost not believable. We spent about a week sort of just with Dom trying to support him. I think he was happy that at least his dad got to see him at probably what was the finest moment so far of the band's life."
Muse won two MTV Europe awards, including "Best Alternative Act", and a Q Award for "Best Live Act",
and received an award for "Best British Live Act" at the
Brit Awards
The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
.
[''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2008'' p.561 Taylor and Francis, 2008] On 2 July 2005, they participated in the
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...
concert in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. In 2003, the band successfully sued
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
for using their cover "Feeling Good" for a
Nescafé
Nescafé is a brand of coffee made by Nestlé. It comes in many different forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé first introduced their flagship coffee brand in Switzerland on 1 April 1938.
History
Nestl ...
advertisement without permission and donated the money won from the lawsuit to
Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
. An unofficial DVD biography, ''Manic Depression'', was released in April 2005.
Muse released another live DVD on 12 December 2005, ''
Absolution Tour
''Absolution Tour'' is a Live album, live Video, video album by English alternative rock band Muse (band), Muse. Released on 12 December 2005, the DVD release documents the band's performance at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival. It also features addit ...
'', containing edited and remastered highlights from their Glastonbury performance unseen footage from their performances at London
Earls Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
,
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...
, and the
Wiltern Theatre
The Pellissier Building and adjoining Wiltern Theatre is a 12-story, Art Deco landmark at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is commonly referred to as the Wiltern Center. Clad in a ...
in Los Angeles. During the 2004 Absolution tour, Bellamy smashed 140 guitars, a world record for the most guitars smashed in a tour.
''Black Holes and Revelations'' and ''HAARP'' (2006–2008)
![Muse playing Starlight at Leeds Festival 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Muse_playing_Starlight_at_Leeds_Festival_2006.jpg)
In 2006, Muse released their fourth album, ''Black Holes and Revelations'', co-produced once again with Rich Costey. The album's title and themes reflect the band's interest in science fiction. The album charted at number one in the UK, much of Europe, and Australia.
In the US, it reached number nine on the
''Billboard'' 200.
Before the release of the new album, Muse made several promotional TV appearances starting on 13 May 2006 at
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Radio 1's Big Weekend
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend (R1BW) (previously known as One Big Weekend, for 2012 as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, and for 2018 as BBC Music's Biggest Weekend) is a British music festival run by the BBC's radio station. It is held once a year, in a ...
. The
Black Holes and Revelations Tour
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...
started before the release of their album and initially consisted mostly of festival appearances, including a headline slot at the
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
in August 2006.
The band's main touring itinerary started with a tour of North America from late July to early August 2006. After the last of the summer festivals, a tour of Europe began, including a large arena tour of the UK.
Muse recruited an additional touring member,
Morgan Nicholls
Morgan Daniel Nicholls (born 18 March 1971) is an English musician, member of English pop band Senseless Things and best known for performing with Muse, Gorillaz, The Streets and Lily Allen. He has released one solo album under the mononym Morg ...
, on keys, percussion and guitar; he performed with them until 2022.
''Black Holes and Revelations'' was nominated for the 2006
Mercury Music Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
, but lost to
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, back ...
. It earned a
Platinum Europe Award
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
after selling one million copies in Europe. The first single from the album, "
Supermassive Black Hole
A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...
", was released as a download in May 2006. In August 2006, Muse recorded a live session at
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
for the ''
Live from Abbey Road
''Live from Abbey Road'' is a 12-part, one-hour performance series/ documentary that began filming its first season during 2006 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Season 2 was filmed between 2007 and 2008, season 3 was filmed in 2009 and Season ...
'' television show. The second single, "
Starlight
Starlight is the light emitted by stars. It typically refers to visible electromagnetic radiation from stars other than the Sun, observable from Earth at night, although a component of starlight is observable from Earth during daytime.
Sunligh ...
", was released in September 2006. "
Knights of Cydonia
"Knights of Cydonia" is a song by English alternative rock band Muse and is the closing track on their 2006 album ''Black Holes and Revelations''. The song's title refers to the Cydonia region of Mars, which gained public attention from the ill ...
" was released in the US as a radio-only single in June 2006 and in the UK in November 2006. The fourth single, "
Invincible
Invincible may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism
* ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane
...
", was released in April 2007. Another single, "
Map of the Problematique
"Map of the Problematique" is a song by English alternative rock band Muse (band), Muse, released as the fifth single from their fourth studio album ''Black Holes and Revelations'' on 18 June 2007 as a Music download, download. The release date ...
", was released for download only in June 2007, following the band's performance at Wembley Stadium.
![Muse rip](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Muse_rip.jpg)
Muse spent November and much of December 2006 touring Europe with British band
Noisettes
Noisettes are an English indie rock band from London, currently composed of singer and bassist Shingai Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith. The band first achieved commercial success and nationwide recognition with the second single of their se ...
as the supporting act. The tour continued in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia in early 2007 before returning to England for the summer.
At the
2007 Brit Awards in February, Muse received their second award for Best British Live Act. They performed two gigs at the newly rebuilt
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
on 16 and 17 June 2007, where they became the first band to sell out the venue. Both concerts were recorded for a DVD/CD, ''
HAARP
The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) was initiated as an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Ag ...
'', released in early 2008. It was named the 40th greatest live album of all time by ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
''.
The tour continued across Europe in July 2007 before returning to the US in August, where Muse played to a sold-out crowd at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
, New York City.
They headlined the second night of the
Austin City Limits Music Festival
The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-base ...
on 15 September 2007, and performed at the October 2007
Vegoose
Vegoose was an annual Halloween music and arts festival that took place in 2005, 2006, and 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike the Bonnaroo Music Festival — put on by the same organizers, Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment — Vegoose does ...
in Las Vegas with bands including
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...
,
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
and
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line- ...
.
Muse continued touring in Eastern Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand in 2007
before going to South Africa, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Ireland, and the UK in 2008.
On 12 April, they played a one-off concert at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
, London in aid of the
Teenage Cancer Trust
Teenage Cancer Trust is a cancer care and support charity in the UK that exists to improve the cancer experience of young people aged 13–24. Founded in 1990, the charity's key service is providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals. It ...
.
Muse performed at
Rock in Rio
''Rock in Rio'' is a recurring music festival originating in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas.
Nine incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, ...
Lisboa
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
on 6 June 2008, alongside bands including
Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...
,
the Offspring
The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guita ...
and
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...
. They also performed in
Marlay Park
Marlay Park () is an suburban public park located in Rathfarnham in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. Lying about nine kilometres (5.5 miles) from Dublin city centre, the parkland comprises woodlands, ponds and walks. Recreational spaces inc ...
, Dublin, on 13 August. A few days later, Muse headlined the 2008
V Festival, playing in Chelmsford on Saturday 16 August and Staffordshire on Sunday 17 August. On 25 September 2008, Bellamy, Howard and Wolstenholme all received an
Honorary Doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
of Arts from the
University of Plymouth
The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...
for their contributions to music.
''The Resistance'' (2009–2011)
![MuseNIA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/MuseNIA.JPG)
During the recording of Muse's fifth studio album ''The Resistance'', Wolstenholme checked into
rehab to deal with his
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
, which was threatening the band's future. Howard said: "I've always believed in band integrity and sticking together. There's something about the fact we all grew up together. We've been together for 18 years now, which is over half our lives."
''The Resistance'' was released in September 2009, the first album produced by Muse, with engineering by
Adrian Bushby
Adrian Bushby is a recording engineer, mixer and producer. He works from his home studio in London, England and has recorded and mixed for artists including; New Order, Placebo, U2, Spice Girls, Feeder, Jamie T and Maxïmo Park. In 2008 he ...
and mixing by
Mark Stent
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fin ...
. It topped album charts in 19 countries, became the band's third
number one album in the UK, and reached number three on the
''Billboard'' 200. Reviews were mostly positive, with praise for its ambition, classical influences and the three-part "
Exogenesis: Symphony". ''The Resistance'' beat its predecessor ''Black Holes and Revelations'' in album sales in its debut week in the UK with approximately 148,000 copies sold. The first single, "
Uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
", was released seven days earlier. On 13 September, Muse performed "Uprising" at the
2009 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.
The Resistance Tour
The Resistance Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English alternative rock band Muse in support of their fifth studio album '' The Resistance''. The opening European leg began on 22 October 2009 and ended on 4 December 2009, comprising 30 show ...
began with
A Seaside Rendezvous
A Seaside Rendezvous was a 2009 pair of concerts by English alternative rock band Muse (band), Muse. Held at The Den in Teignmouth, Devon, the town in which the band's members spent their childhoods and began their musical careers, the homecomi ...
in Muse's hometown of Teignmouth, Devon, in September 2009. It included headline slots the following year at festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury,
Oxegen
Oxegen was a music festival in Ireland, first held from 2004–2011 as a rock and pop festival and again in 2013 with dance and chart acts only. The event was regularly cited as Ireland's biggest music festival, and, by 2009, it was being ci ...
, Hovefestivalen,
T in the Park
T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...
,
Austin City Limits
''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...
and the Australian
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...
. Between September and November, Muse toured North America.
Muse provided the lead single for the film ''
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'', "
Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)
"Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)" is a song by the English alternative rock band Muse, featured on the soundtrack to the 2010 film '' The Twilight Saga: Eclipse''. Recorded by the band in 2010, the song was released as the lead single ...
", released on 17 May 2010. In June, Muse headlined
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
for the second time; after U2 canceled their headline slot following singer
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
's back injury, U2 guitarist the
Edge
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
joined Muse to play the U2 track "
Where the Streets Have No Name
"Where the Streets Have No Name" is a song by Irish rock music, rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1987 album ''The Joshua Tree'' and was released as the album's third single (music), single in August 1987. The song's hook (music) ...
".
For their live performances, Muse received the O2
Silver Clef Award
The O2 Silver Clef Awards is an annual UK Popular music, music awards lunch which has been running since 1976.
History
The Silver Clef fundraising committee was founded in 1976 by musicians and managers from across the British music industry, who ...
in London on 2 July 2010, presented by
Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to:
*Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen
*Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran
*Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series
*Roger Taylor (college pr ...
and
Brian May
Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...
of
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
; Taylor described the trio as "probably the greatest live act in the world today". On 12 September 2010, Muse won an
MTV Video Music Award
The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
in the category of Best Special Effects, for the "Uprising" video. On 21 November, Muse took home an
American Music Award
The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...
for Favorite Artist in the Alternative Rock Music Category. On 2 December, Muse were nominated for three awards for the
53rd Grammy Awards on 13 February 2011, for which they won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album for ''The Resistance''.
Based on having the largest airplay and sales in the US, Muse were named the ''Billboard''
Alternative Songs
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
and
Rock Songs
Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alterna ...
artist for 2010 with "Uprising", "Resistance" and "Undisclosed Desires" achieving 1st, 6th and 49th on the year end Alternative Song chart respectively. On 30 July 2011, Muse supported
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...
at their only 2011 gig at the L.A. Rising festival. On 13 August, Muse headlined the
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is a music festival held annually in San Francisco, California, at Golden Gate Park. The festival is produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents, and Starr Hill Presents. It is the l ...
in San Francisco. Muse headlined the
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
in August 2011. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of their second studio album ''Origin of Symmetry'' (2001), the band performed all eleven tracks. Muse also headlined
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
's
Grant Park in August 2011.
''The 2nd Law'' and ''Live at Rome Olympic Stadium'' (2012–2013)
![Muse at Air Canada Centre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Muse_at_Air_Canada_Centre.jpg)
In an April 2012 interview, Bellamy said Muse's next album would include influences from acts such as
French house
French house, also known as French touch, filter house and tekfunk, is a style of house music originally produced by French musicians in the 1990s. It is a form of Euro disco and a popular strand of the late 1990s and 2000s European dance m ...
duo
Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
and UK
electronic rock
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...
group
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Does It Offend You, Yeah? are a British dance-punk band from Reading, Berkshire. They played what was to be their final show on 12 December 2015 at the Electric Ballroom, Camden Town. In September 2021, they announced a new album, titled ''We ...
. On 6 June 2012, Muse released a trailer for their next album, ''The 2nd Law'', with a countdown on the band's website. The trailer, which included
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
elements, was met with mixed reactions. On 7 June, Muse announced a European Arena tour, the first leg of
The 2nd Law Tour
The 2nd Law World Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English alternative rock band Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of lit ...
. The leg included dates in France, Spain and the UK. The first single from the album, "
Survival
Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...
", was the official song of the
London 2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, and Muse performed it at the Olympics
closing ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event. .
Muse revealed the ''2nd Law'' tracklist on 13 July 2012. The second single, "
Madness", was released on 20 August 2012, with a music video on 5 September. Muse played at the
Roundhouse on 30 September as part of the
iTunes Festival. ''The 2nd Law'' was released worldwide on 1 October, and on 2 October 2012 in the US; it reached number one in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, and number two on the US
''Billboard'' 200. The song "
Madness" earned a nomination in the
Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...
category and the album itself was nominated for the
Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sev ...
at the
55th Grammy Awards
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...
, 2013. The band performed the album's opening song, "
Supremacy", with an orchestra at the
2013 Brit Awards
Brit Awards 2013 was held on 20 February 2013. This was the 33rd edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual Brit Awards. The awards ceremony was held at The O2 Arena in London, and was presented for the third time in three years by J ...
on 20 February 2013. The album was a nominee for
Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sev ...
at the
2013 Grammy Awards
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...
. The song "Madness" was also nominated for
Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...
. The album listed at number 46 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s list of the top 50 albums of 2012, saying "In an era of diminished expectations, Muse make stadium-crushing songs that mix the legacies of
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
,
King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
,
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
and
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
while making almost every other current band seem tiny."
Muse released their fourth live album, ''
Live at Rome Olympic Stadium
''Live at Rome Olympic Stadium'' is a live album and video by English rock band Muse, which was released on 29 November 2013 in CD/DVD formats. On 5 November 2013, the film received theatrical screenings in 20 cities worldwide, and the next day ...
'', on 29 November 2013 on CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray formats. In November 2013, the film had theatrical screenings in 20 cities worldwide. The album contains the band's performance at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
's
Stadio Olimpico
The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...
on 6 July 2013, in front of over 60,000 people; it was the first concert filmed in
4K format.
The concert was a part of the Unsustainable Tour, Muse's mid-2013 tour of Europe.
''Drones'' (2014–2016)
![Phil Guest - 25957169210](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Phil_Guest_-_25957169210.jpg)
Muse began writing their seventh album soon after the Rome concert. The band felt that the electronic side of their music was becoming too dominant, and wanted to return to a simpler rock sound.
After self-producing their previous two albums, the band hired producer
Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Robert John "Mutt" Lange (born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer and songwriter, mainly known for his work in rock music as well as his previous marriage to Canadian singer Shania Twain, for whom he wrote and produced several ...
so they could focus on performance and spend less time mixing and reviewing takes.
Recording took place in the Vancouver
Warehouse Studio from October 2014 to April 2015.
Muse announced their seventh album, ''
Drones'', on 11 March 2015. The following day, they released a
lyric video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "
Psycho" on their
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel,
and made the song available for instant download with the album pre-order. Another single, "
Dead Inside", was released on 23 March.
From 15 March to 16 May, Muse embarked on a short tour in small venues throughout the UK and the US, the
Psycho Tour.
Live performances of new songs from these concerts are included on the DVD accompanying the album along with bonus studio footage.
On 18 May 2015, Muse released a lyric video for "Mercy" on their YouTube channel, and made the song available for instant download with the album pre-order.
''Drones'' was released on 8 June 2015.
A
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
about the dehumanisation of modern warfare,
it returned to a simpler rock sound with less elaborate production and genre experimentation.
It topped the album charts in the UK, the US, Australia and most major markets. Muse headlined
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
Berlin on 13 September 2015. On 15 February 2016, ''Drones'' won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the
58th Grammy Awards. On 24 June, Muse headlined the
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
for a third time, becoming the first act to have headlined each day of the festival (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). On 30 November 2016, Muse were announced to headline Reading and Leeds 2017.
''Simulation Theory'' and reissues (2017–2021)
![Muse in Sydney](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Muse_in_Sydney.jpg)
In 2017, Muse toured North America supported by
Thirty Seconds to Mars
Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Leto (drums, pe ...
and
PVRIS
Pvris (pronounced "Paris" and stylized PVRIS) is an American pop rock act formed by multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer Lyndsey Gunnulfsen. Over her decade-long career, Gunnulfsen has released three studio LPs: ''White Nois ...
. Howard confirmed in February that the band were back in the studio.
On 18 May, Muse released "
Dig Down", the first single from their eighth album.
In November, they performed at the
BlizzCon
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and ''Overwatch''.
The first BlizzCon was hel ...
festival.
"
Thought Contagion", the second single, was released on 15 February 2018, accompanied by an 1980s-styled music video. In June, Muse opened the
Rock In Rio
''Rock in Rio'' is a recurring music festival originating in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas.
Nine incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, ...
festival. On 24 February, they played a one-off show at
La Cigale
La Cigale (; English: ''The Cicada'') is a theatre located at 120, boulevard de Rochechouart near Place Pigalle, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The theatre is part of a complex connected to the Le Trabendo concert venue and the Boule No ...
in France with a setlist voted for fans online. A concert video, ''
Muse: Drones World Tour'', was released in cinemas worldwide on 12 July 2018.
On 19 July 2018, Muse released the third single from their upcoming album, "Something Human". On 30 August 2018, they announced their eighth studio album, ''
Simulation Theory'', to be released on 9 November. The announcement was accompanied by another single and video, "The Dark Side".
The fifth single, "Pressure", was released on 27 September. The
Simulation Theory World Tour began in Houston on 3 February 2019 and concluded on 15 October in Lima. A film based on the album and tour, ''
Muse – Simulation Theory'', combining concert footage and narrative scenes, was released in August 2020.
In December 2019, Muse released ''
Origin of Muse
''Origin of Muse'' is a box set by the English rock band Muse, released on 6 December 2019 through Muse's Helium 3 label and Warner Records. It includes remastered editions of Muse's first two albums, '' Showbiz'' (1999) and ''Origin of Symmetry' ...
'', a box set comprising remastered versions of ''Showbiz'' and ''Origin of Symmetry'' plus previously unreleased material. For the 20th anniversary of ''Origin of Symmetry'' in June 2021, Muse released a remixed and remastered version, ''Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX''.
''Will of the People'' (2022–present)
On 13 January 2022, Muse released the single "
Won't Stand Down
"Won't Stand Down" is a song by British rock band Muse. Released as a single on 13 January 2022, it is their first single from '' Will of the People'', their ninth studio album. It topped the UK Rock & Metal chart and reached number 56 ...
", which marked a return to the band's heavier early sound.
On 9 March 2022, Muse posted a 35-second clip across various social media platforms depicting large busts of the band members being torn down. On 17 March 2022, Muse announced their ninth album, ''
Will of the People'', with a release date of 26 August 2022. Ahead of the album's release, the band released four more singles; "
Compliance", "
Will of the People", "
Kill or Be Killed" and "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween". For the
Will of the People World Tour, which began in April 2022, Muse's touring member
Morgan Nicholls
Morgan Daniel Nicholls (born 18 March 1971) is an English musician, member of English pop band Senseless Things and best known for performing with Muse, Gorillaz, The Streets and Lily Allen. He has released one solo album under the mononym Morg ...
was replaced by
Dan Lancaster
Dan Lancaster is a producer, mixer, songwriter and artist from the UK.
He is best known for his mixing and production work in contemporary rock music, and has worked with prominent global acts such as Blink-182, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Bring ...
on additional keys, percussion, guitar and backing vocals.
Musical style
Described as a band that fuse
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
,
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
,
space rock
Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...
,
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
,
art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...
,
electronic rock
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...
,
progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...
,
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
and
pop,
Muse also mix sounds from genres such as
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
and
R&B,
with forms such as
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
and
rock opera
A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...
, among many others, also being included.
In 2002, Bellamy described Muse as a "trashy three-piece".
In 2005, ''Pitchfork'' described Muse's music as "firmly ol' skool at heart: proggy hard rock that forgoes any pretensions to restraint ... their songs use full-stacked guitars and thunderous drums to evoke God's footsteps".
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
described their sound as a "fusion of progressive rock,
glam, electronica, and
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
-influenced experimentation".
On the band's association with progressive rock, Howard said: "I associate
rogressive rockwith 10-minute guitar solos, but I guess we kind of come into the category. A lot of bands are quite ambitious with their music, mixing lots of different styles – and when I see that I think it's great. I've noticed that kind of thing becoming a bit more mainstream."
![Muse - Supremacy - Roma](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Muse_-_Supremacy_-_Roma.jpg)
For their second album, ''
Origin of Symmetry
''Origin of Symmetry'' is the second studio album by English rock band Muse, released on 18 June 2001 through Taste Media. It was produced by John Leckie, who produced Muse's debut album '' Showbiz'' (1999), and David Bottrill.
''Origin of Symm ...
'' (2001), Muse aimed to craft a "heavier", more aggressive sound. Their third album, ''
Absolution
Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...
'' (2003), features prominent string arrangements and drew influences from artists such as
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
. Their fourth album, ''
Black Holes and Revelations
''Black Holes and Revelations'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 3 July 2006 through Warner Bros. Records and Muse's Helium-3 imprint. It was recorded over four months with producer Rich Costey in New Y ...
'' (2006) was influenced by artists including
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting).
Depeche ...
and
Lightning Bolt, as well as Asian and European music such as
Naples music. The band listened to radio stations from the Middle East during the album's recording sessions. The Queen guitarist
Brian May
Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...
praised Muse in 2009, calling them "extraordinary musicians" who "let their madness show through, always a good thing in an artist."
Muse's sixth album, ''
The 2nd Law
''The 2nd Law'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 28 September 2012 through Warner Bros. Records and the band's own Helium-3 imprint. Recording of the album took place in studios between London and Los An ...
'' (2012) has a broader range of influences, ranging from
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
and
film scores
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
to electronica and
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
. ''The 2nd Law'' is influenced by rock acts such as Queen and
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
(on "
Supremacy") as well as dubstep producer
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead sing ...
and
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
(on "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" and "
Follow Me", with the latter being co-produced by Nero),
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
(on "Panic Station" which features musicians who performed on Stevie Wonder's "
Superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
") and
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...
. The album features two songs with lyrics written and sung by bassist Wolstenholme, who wrote about his battle with
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
. It features extensive electronic instrumentation, including
Modular synthesisers and the French Connection, a synthesiser controller similar to the
ondes martenot
The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player ...
.
Musicianship
Many Muse songs are recognisable by Bellamy's vocal
vibrato
Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
,
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
, and
melismatic phrasing, influenced by
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
. As a pianist, Bellamy often uses
arpeggio
A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves.
An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
s. Bellamy's compositions often suggest or quote late
classical and
romantic era
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
composers such as
Sergei Rachmaninov (in "
Space Dementia" and "
Butterflies and Hurricanes
"Butterflies and Hurricanes" is a song by English rock band Muse. It was released as the sixth and final single from their third studio album, ''Absolution'' (2003), on 20 September 2004. Unlike ''Absolution'', the single was released through ...
"),
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...
(in "I Belong to You (+Mon Cœur S'ouvre a ta Voix)") and
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...
(in "
United States of Eurasia
"United States of Eurasia" is a song by British alternative rock band Muse, featured on their fifth studio album '' The Resistance''. The song was made available as a free download online on 21 July 2009. It is followed by an instrumental sol ...
"). As a guitarist, Bellamy often uses
arpeggiator
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...
and
pitch-shift effects to create a more "electronic" sound, citing
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
and
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello ...
as influences.
His guitar playing is also influenced by
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Spanish guitar music; Bellamy said: "I just think that music is really passionate...It has so much feel and flair to it. I’ve spent important times of my life in Spain and Greece, and various deep things happened there – falling in love, stuff like that. So maybe that rubbed off somewhere."
Wolstenholme's
bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
s provide a motif for many Muse songs; the band combines bass guitar with
effects
Effect may refer to:
* A result or change of something
** List of effects
** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality
Pharmacy and pharmacology
* Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug
** Therapeutic effect, a ...
and synthesisers to create overdriven
fuzz bass
Fuzz bass is a style of playing the electric bass or modifying its signal that produces a buzzy, distorted, overdriven sound, as the name implies. Overdriving a bass signal significantly changes the timbre, adds higher overtones (harmonics) ...
tones. Bellamy and Wolstenholme use touch-screen controllers, often built into their instruments, to control synthesisers and effects including
Kaoss Pad
The Kaoss Pad is an audio sampling instrument and multi-effects processor originally launched by Korg in 1999. It allows users to record and process audio samples and apply various effects using an X-Y touchscreen.
Features
Kaoss Pads allow use ...
s and
Digitech Whammy
The DigiTech Whammy is a pitch shifter pedal manufactured by DigiTech. It was the first widely used effects pedal that could do foot-controlled pitch shifting effects. The pedal emulates sounds that a guitarist normally makes using the vibrato ...
pedals.
Lyrics
Most earlier Muse songs lyrically dealt with introspective themes, including relationships, social alienation, and difficulties they had encountered while trying to establish themselves in their hometown. However, with the band's progress, their song concepts have become more ambitious, addressing issues such as the fear of the evolution of technology in their ''
Origin of Symmetry
''Origin of Symmetry'' is the second studio album by English rock band Muse, released on 18 June 2001 through Taste Media. It was produced by John Leckie, who produced Muse's debut album '' Showbiz'' (1999), and David Bottrill.
''Origin of Symm ...
'' (2001) album. They deal mainly with the
apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...
in ''
Absolution
Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...
'' (2003) and with catastrophic war in ''
Black Holes and Revelations
''Black Holes and Revelations'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 3 July 2006 through Warner Bros. Records and Muse's Helium-3 imprint. It was recorded over four months with producer Rich Costey in New Y ...
'' (2006). ''
The Resistance'' (2009) focused on themes of government oppression, uprising, love, and
panspermia
Panspermia () is the hypothesis, first proposed in the 5th century BCE by the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids, as well as by spacec ...
. The album itself was mainly inspired by ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...
'' by
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
. Their sixth studio album, ''
The 2nd Law
''The 2nd Law'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 28 September 2012 through Warner Bros. Records and the band's own Helium-3 imprint. Recording of the album took place in studios between London and Los An ...
'' (2012) relates to economics, thermodynamics, and apocalyptic themes. Their 2015 album ''
Drones'', is a concept album that uses autonomous killing drones as a metaphor for brainwashing and loss of empathy.
Books that have influenced Muse's lyrical themes include ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', ''
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
''Confessions of an Economic Hit Man'' is a Semi-autobiographical, semi-autobiographical book written by John Perkins (author), John Perkins, first published in 2004.John Perkins (author), Perkins, John. 2006 004 New York: Plume (publisher), ...
'' by
John Perkins, ''
Hyperspace
In science fiction, hyperspace (also known as nulspace, subspace, overspace, jumpspace and similar terms) is a concept relating to higher dimensions as well as parallel universes and a faster-than-light (FTL) method of interstellar travel. ...
'' by
Michio Kaku
Michio Kaku (, ; born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, futurist, and popular science, popularizer of science (science communicator). He is a professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New ...
, ''
The 12th Planet'' by
Zecharia Sitchin
Zecharia Sitchin (July 11, 1920 – October 9, 2010) was an author of a number of books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributed the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the ''Anunnaki'' ...
, ''Rule by Secrecy'' by
Jim Marrs
James Farrell Marrs Jr. (December 5, 1943 – August 2, 2017) was an American newspaper journalist and ''New York Times'' best-selling author of books and articles on a wide range of alleged cover-ups and conspiracies. Marrs was a prominent ...
and ''Trance Formation of America'' by
Cathy O'Brien.
Band members
*
Matt Bellamy
Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English singer, musician, producer, and songwriter. He is primarily known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccen ...
–
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
,
guitars
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
*
Dominic Howard
Dominic James Howard (born 7 December 1977) is an English musician who is the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Muse.
Early life
Howard was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. When he was around 8 years old he moved with hi ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussions
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...
*
Chris Wolstenholme
Christopher Tony Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978) is an English musician. He is the bassist and backing vocalist for the rock band Muse.
Early life
Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, D ...
–
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
,
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
;Touring musicians
*
Morgan Nicholls
Morgan Daniel Nicholls (born 18 March 1971) is an English musician, member of English pop band Senseless Things and best known for performing with Muse, Gorillaz, The Streets and Lily Allen. He has released one solo album under the mononym Morg ...
– keyboards, synthesisers, guitars, percussion, backing vocals, samples, bass (2004, 2006–2022)
*
Dan "The Trumpet Man" Newell –
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
(2006–2008)
*
Alessandro Cortini
Alessandro Cortini (born 24 May 1976) is an Italian musician best known for being the keyboard, guitar, and bass player in the industrial band Nine Inch Nails. Cortini is also the frontman for the Los Angeles-based electronic-alternative band ...
– keyboards, synthesisers (2009, substitute)
*
Dan Lancaster
Dan Lancaster is a producer, mixer, songwriter and artist from the UK.
He is best known for his mixing and production work in contemporary rock music, and has worked with prominent global acts such as Blink-182, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Bring ...
- keyboards, synthesisers, guitars, percussion, backing vocals (2022–present)
Discography
* ''
Showbiz'' (1999)
* ''
Origin of Symmetry
''Origin of Symmetry'' is the second studio album by English rock band Muse, released on 18 June 2001 through Taste Media. It was produced by John Leckie, who produced Muse's debut album '' Showbiz'' (1999), and David Bottrill.
''Origin of Symm ...
'' (2001)
* ''
Absolution
Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...
'' (2003)
* ''
Black Holes and Revelations
''Black Holes and Revelations'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 3 July 2006 through Warner Bros. Records and Muse's Helium-3 imprint. It was recorded over four months with producer Rich Costey in New Y ...
'' (2006)
* ''
The Resistance'' (2009)
* ''
The 2nd Law
''The 2nd Law'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Muse, first released on 28 September 2012 through Warner Bros. Records and the band's own Helium-3 imprint. Recording of the album took place in studios between London and Los An ...
'' (2012)
* ''
Drones'' (2015)
* ''
Simulation Theory'' (2018)
* ''
Will of the People'' (2022)
Concert tours
* Showbiz Tour (1998–2000)
* Origin of Symmetry Tour (2000–2002)
* Absolution Tour (2003–2004)
* US Campus Invasion Tour 2005 (2005)
*
Black Holes and Revelations Tour
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...
(2006–2008)
*
The Resistance Tour
The Resistance Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English alternative rock band Muse in support of their fifth studio album '' The Resistance''. The opening European leg began on 22 October 2009 and ended on 4 December 2009, comprising 30 show ...
(2009–2011)
*
The 2nd Law World Tour
The 2nd Law World Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English alternative rock band Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of lit ...
(2012–2014)
*
Psycho Tour (2015)
*
Drones World Tour
The Drones World Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English Rock music, rock band Muse (band), Muse. Staged in support of the band's 2015 album ''Drones (Muse album), Drones'', the tour visited arenas and festivals throughout 2015 and is ...
(2015–2016)
* North American Tour
(with Thirty Seconds to Mars
Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Leto (drums, pe ...
and Pvris
Pvris (pronounced "Paris" and stylized PVRIS) is an American pop rock act formed by multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer Lyndsey Gunnulfsen. Over her decade-long career, Gunnulfsen has released three studio LPs: ''White Nois ...
) (2017)
*
Simulation Theory World Tour (2019)
*
Will of the People World Tour (2022–2023)
See also
*
List of awards and nominations received by Muse
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
List of Muse songs
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muse
English art rock groups
Brit Award winners
Grammy Award winners
English alternative rock groups
English electronic rock musical groups
English hard rock musical groups
English progressive rock groups
Kerrang! Awards winners
NME Awards winners
British musical trios
Musical groups established in 1994
Maverick Records artists
Warner Records artists
Musical groups from Devon
Ivor Novello Award winners
English space rock musical groups
Political music groups
MTV Europe Music Award winners
BT Digital Music Awards winners