There a pretty great band. Not as overated as some people say they are, as Matt Belamy really is a talented musician. I do agree their first album "showbiz" was very Radiohead-ish, (mainly due to Matt's voice) but once "Origin of Symetry" came out, it was completely obvious that Muse had a sound completely their own. My favorite album of theirs has to be "Absolution" as it was the first album that got me into these guys. But I love how perfect of a Rock/pop album "black holes..." is too. Not a bad song on either of those albums. Their latest was good too, not as perfect as their previous efforts, yet very ambiticious - not unlike LP's ATS - and has very great songs on their, though a few not so great songs too. And no before anyone says; Muse haven't sold out, its just they don't make as much 'heavy' music as they used to. Twilight hasn't helped their image much either xD but I think Bands like Radiohead have a eclipsed them a bit so they are constantly striveing to make better', or at least 'Bigger' albums.
I can't decide if Muse and Thom Yorke being in Twilight is better or worse than LP being in Transformers.
Just because artists have songs on certain soundtracks, it doesn't take away from who they are and what they've done. Radiohead is still considered one of the best bands in the world despite their place on certain soundtracks, as is Muse. Muse hasn't sold out, and with the sort of talent they have, they're still bound to do amazing things over the course of the rest of their time together. Bands change, so just because Muse doesn't sound like Origin of Symmetry anymore, it doesn't mean that they've lost some sort of validity or have sold out or anything. That's the sort of naivety we see with fans of Linkin Park regarding A Thousand Suns.
I agree, Louis. And you honestly can't blame a band for letting a song of theirs be slapped on to a big movie soundtrack. It's good money for them.
Exactly. It's a wise marketing decision, even if it looks a bit silly. You get a bigger audience to hear your music. Nothing wrong with that.
While I get your point, LP genuinely matured everything about their music with ATS whereas The Resistance was not nearly as experimental or wide-ranging in scope as their earlier albums, and in my own opinion, not nearly as good.
The only way for a band never to sell out is if they stay in your parents' garage forever... I suppose you could move to a room in your own house, if you ever get/save the money to buy one... but seriously.. to hear a CD that isn't local, then the band has "sold out" to some degree.. it's pretty much how it goes... I personally love it when bands stretch their wings and try something new. ATS is my favourite LP album since HT... Also, The Resistance is my favourite Muse album since Absolution. (Not that I didn't love Black Holes and Revelations, mind you!) Some directions I like better than others, but it's all a matter of preference. Its alright not to like something.... but it is also important to enjoy new albums as their own art piece! ...sent out for dissection by the masses. Every time an artist creates an album, it is new and different from the others.. Also the band members are not the same people after 10 years... So why would they be singing songs about they stuff they went through so long ago rather than their thoughts, feelings, or experiences that they see or envision now. Also, when you are in the business for a while, you get freedoms and perks that you couldn't get before, so maybe, some of the new albums are experiments for the direction the bands really wanted to go in, but the labels wouldn't allow... Who knows really. I also don't particularly mind that these bands are getting a wider fan-base either... I imagine it must have been a huge leap of faith for Muse and Radiohead both to send their music over seas to America. I'm sure many hardcore fans thought they sold out then, but I'm very happy they did! oooh Damien Rice too <333 lol most of my favourite bands are from the UK it seems! XD
How could you say that The Resistance was not as experimental? The album extended its reach to various genres that Muse hadn't really touched before. "Undisclosed Desires" sounds more Depeche Mode than it does Muse. "Resistance" has sort of a classic rock feel to it during the "It could be wrong" portion of it. "United States of Eurasia" sounds more Queen than it does Muse. "I Belong to You" has a portion sung in a different language, and Muse has never done that before. Muse has also never created a 13-minute symphony to close an album. Forgive me, but the idea that Muse for some reason were not as experimental on The Resistance as they were on other albums is garbage. Whether or not you like it as much as other albums is a different story, and isn't something I will argue with you about because that is your opinion. But the level of experimentation on this album isn't really any different than on other albums. They are still very much trying new things. Selling out means compromising your values for the sake of earning more money. I have a hard time believing Muse compromised their values by putting their song on a Twilight soundtrack. So, no, that's not the definition of selling out, thank you.
You're right about the fact that they did pull from a whole new range of influences for this album, but I wouldn't call that experimental. Sounding like Depeche Mode, or Queen or classic rock is a step away from having their own unique sound, which they very much so had on Absolution; there was quite literally no band that sounded the same as Muse as that point. If anything, this makes the album, in a sense, 'poppier' than their earlier records because you're not really being challenged any more with the sense of familiarity you feel in hear in all the songs. I'll give you Exogenesis, because that was truly pushing the bill for a modern rock band, but none of The Resistance's ballads (Guiding Light/Undisclosed Desires) or heavier songs (Unnatural Selection/MK Ultra) can hold a candle to the complexity of stuff like Endlessly/Falling Away with You and Stockholm Syndrome/Apocalypse Please. As far as I'm concerned, Absolution is when Muse stopped their exponential musical growth with every album, instead opting for a more accessible sound. This is not to say they've stagnated since or that BH&R and TR were subpar albums; they were both still fantastic but less experimental and challenging and therefore less engaging.
I would argue though that because of the fact that they were willing to try different genres of music that it counts as being experimental. Sure, it's not as experimental in the sense that they're trying to be truly innovative, in which case I think your point holds a lot of validity and I can agree with it, but to say that The Resistance was not experimental at all just comes off to me as a little absurd, which is what I was concerned about. I do agree that they were going for somewhat of a poppier direction, but I still think that Muse expanded with the album, simply because of their touch on the genres they experimented with. Sure, "United States of Eurasia" was very Queen-influenced, but it also had a middle-eastern touch to it that gave it a unique touch, not to mention it closed out with what I felt was a beautiful interpretation of one of Chopin's best pieces. Sure, "Undisclosed Desires" was very Depeche Mode, but they put a lot of little quirks into that song that made it unique. There is no guitar in the song. The bass is played with a slap style and sounds very raw. I'm not going to argue anything for "Guiding Light" because I don't really like that song very much. But yeah, I will give you that they were not as experimental and as challenging as previous efforts. I could agree with that.
Brilliant observations. Totally agree with you with those 3 songs you mentioned. It's definitely not a huge departure in sound like ATS, but the album on the whole as few moments here and there that really stick out for being 'different'.
[video=youtube;IqFZGnfMLMw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqFZGnfMLMw&list=UUGGhM6XCSJFQ6DTRffnKRIw&index=1&feature=plcp[/video] A trailer for Muse's new album, "The 2nd Law," is out now.
First 90 seconds: Wow, this sounds epic! Last 30 seconds: Dubstep? Uh-oh... I won't fret too much, as Muse would have to try pretty hard to go wrong.
Yeah. There also seems to be a running theme in the album about the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which is the theory of how energy changes forms. It's interesting because it sounds like some of that dubstep is being played on guitar. The energy of electronic music transferred into a different form?