Muse

As some of you may know, i am a Muse fanboy, but recently i have decided to pose a question to you all:

Do you agree that Muse are the best live band in the world at the moment? And one of the most influential rock bands at the moment?

Before you all say: "Your just saying it because you are a fanboy", there are very good reasons behind me saying it.

Muse have always been a great live band, and their Glastonbury 04 performance showed them to be one of the best out there. They closed the festival on the sunday night, and were the best band of thast years glastonbury imo. And after the release of their new album Black Holes and Revelations this year, the question on every Muse fans lips was ""Will their Reading festival performance be better". The answer was a resounding HELL YEAH!!!!!!! Headlining on the sturday, and coming on after a brilliant Artic Monkeys set they blew the crowd away. After their first song Knights of Cydonia, you just knew things were going to be good, and the whole set was amazing. Having 60000 people or however many there were singing along to Feeling Good and Plug in Baby is something pretty spectacular. As one fan described it in a letter to NME magazine: "Muse's performance was like being knocked flat on your face by an alien wielding a gold brick wrapped in lemons." Everyone i talked to after the set were in agreement, that was the best live performance they have ever seen. NME magazince called it the Gig of the Millenium, and the BBC's Joe Whiley, covering the festival on BBC2 and who has covered numeorus Glastonburys, was in awe of the performance, as was Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe. An NME poll had Muse as the best band of the summer at 26%. The 2nd best band had 12% of the vote.

They are also one of the most influential rock bands atm thanks to their great live performances and their mind-blowing latest album Black Holes and Revelations. Whilst stil containing prog rock end of the world tracks such as Take a Bow, Muse experimented a lot on their new album, with a prince-esque disco funk like track Supermassive Black Hole, sci-fi spaghetti western Knights of Cydonia, Map of the Problematique has some slightly trancy parts to it as well. Muse challenged themselves with their latest album, and produced their greatest ever one with the greeatest variety of tracks yet. And it is their first album where i love every single track, on previous albums there have been 1 or 2 i would skip past, but on this one there just aren't.

I can't help but feel that Muse will be one of those bands that in 50 years time will be in a Hall of Fame with people saying stuff like "Now that was a great band".

What are your thoughts/comments on them?

at the momment you're 100% correct...the last album (thnxx for the tips ,btw) is the best ever Muse stuff...if the hold this quality in the next..then you can start with the Hall of fame stuff...i sure hope they will..
D.

I've been listening to Muse for at least 3 years now and I don't intend on stopping any time soon

Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of attending a live concert, but I have listened to their performances and they sound top notch!

Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of attending a live concert, but I have listened to their performances and they sound top notch!

Until you've actually been to one, you just can't understand how awesome they are live.

Originally Posted by Lusted

I can't help but feel that Muse will be one of those bands that in 50 years time will be in a Hall of Fame with people saying stuff like "Now that was a great band".

I think the sentance I've quoted above pretty much sums up my feelings on Muse. They will be mentioned in the same breath as Queen, Floyd, Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc as one of the best rock acts of all time.

When I first heard Muse I was initially put off by the percieved pretentiousness of Matt Bellamy, but over the last 3 or 4 years in they've really, really grown on me. Blackholes and revelations was the icing on the cake, and their performance at Reading this year was the....ermm... Cherry on the icing (?)

The one thing that worries me about Muse is that, because of their immense talent, they may well self-destruct. It seems to happen to all the great bands. Lets just hope we get a few more albums out of them before Matt Bellamy is <insert rock n' Roll cliche here>.

My only gripe with Muse is that they tend to write pretty short songs. A song writer of Bellamy's calibre should not be afraid to write 15 minute long epic's. A song like "Butterflies and Hurricanes" would be even better with an extended piano part, and I think most Muse fan's are mature enough to have the patience to listen to long songs.


As for them being the best live band in the world..... You may have a point. the Reading performance was nothing short of astounding (was Leeds as good? Or did they save their best for Reading?) From my own personal point of view, I'd say that Tool were the best live band in the world at present, but then, I am a Tool fanboy.

Haha, I have heard a lot about Muse, but only heard a bit of their music. Mostly I hear about them from Lusted though

was Leeds as good? Or did they save their best for Reading?

From the letters in NMe magazine Leeds sounded just as good as Reading. I do agree with you sort of on the lengths of their songs. Whilst they are short they are great. But Matt Bellamy could probably write the best rock opera in the world frankly.

Originally Posted by Lusted

From the letters in NMe magazine Leeds sounded just as good as Reading. I do agree with you sort of on the lengths of their songs. Whilst they are short they are great. But Matt Bellamy could probably write the best rock opera in the world frankly.

Exactly, and I for one would pay lots of money to go and see it! It so rare for a (relatively) mainstream band to actually have the guts to break away from the 4 minute pop-song format.
I noticed during the Reading performance that Bellamy quite often started messing around with Riffs between songs, almost like he was itching to just start jamming Led Zep style, but couldn't because he felt that he had to stick rigidly to the set-list.
To be fair though, it was a Festival gig, so bands are expected to that. I've never been to an actual Muse Headlining concert, and I wonder if they feel more free to experiment and mess around with songs at their own shows?

hmmm no i think either iron maiden or judas priest are the best life bands but then again i havent listen to every single band play life

The riffing thing is something he just does in live gigs, he likes his riffs, some are from other Muse songs, others are from other songs. I think he enjoys playing the actual songs too much to go on a fully fledged jam session, though i could see him doing it.

Firstly, dont get me wrong, I *love* Muse. To bits. They deserve all the acclaim they are getting. They've been one of the best live acts around since the get go. I just want to highlight a few little niggles with them.

Firstly, my main niggle. Which is partly my own feeling toward music in general I guess- over saturation. Their recent superstardom status although fully deserverd annoys me. I actually get fed up hearing SMBH or Starlight every hour or so on the radio, or on the TV. Plus they stop playing older classics like Stockholm Syndrome (my personal Muse favorite), Newborn, or Sunburn about. Not a huge issue, since I just switch them on media player instead I guess. But over saturation ruins a band sometimes.

Secondly- more a fan thing, but what on earth is wrong with Hoodoo? Everyone puts it down, but I says its better than Starlight, which although not a bad song, is the archetypal MTV hit. Sure they need sales, but I reckon they can make them even with releasing/having videos for wierder songs like Hoodoo. Same with City of Delusion.

Thirdly- I dont believe in "best band" type arguements. But thats a personal preference. When a band claims they are (At least Muse havnt done so), it majorly annoys me, since there's so much else out there. Again not to do with the band, but I feel the world does hype things too much with regards to super-bands, and it does detract from the band somewhat in some respects- its like everyone loves them now, but why not earlier? Origin is one of my favorite albums ever (in all honesty I prefer it to Absolution and BHaR), yet why didnt they get quite the same level of attention? It's less media friendly than the newer stuff, which is a shame, since people put the benchmark at the most radio friendly work.

SO, I've actually highlighted problems more down to the bands fame than the band itself? Yes. But I love Muse too much to say anything against their ability. They're fooking awesome. The problem is for me I also love so many other bands who are all releasing top notch work lately. Yet not getting the same attention. Yes. My gripe is with the industry.

And hot damn! I've seen some live performances. In various forms. They look fookin awesome too. In my opinion, there's two kinds of good performance- the first, is the awe inspiring ability of a band to play fantastic music, just like its straight of the album. It's explosive, and exciting. And it damn well gets people going. That's my view of Muse (not a bad thing!) Then there's the jamming band. Who will play about on stage, maybe just randomly break into some jamming off the hook, or play songs in totally different ways to what you're used to. OK that does **** some people off. I remember at GnR, the new guys were doing some freeform blues style jamming, and the crowd was like "WTF. MORE APPETITE!". I was like, hot damn! Now thats guitar playing. Once the Pumpkins get their tour on, I fully expect a completely jammed out version of Silver****. Just like the old style...no rules...just off the hook jamming.

As for influence- yeah. Alot of people are going to pick up guitar right now due to the new stuff. And thats how I measure influence myself- does a band spur on the next generation. Muse will definatly do so I'm sure. When/if I get into a band, they'll be a cited influence...along with a helluva lot else though

And remember. Regardless of how this appears to come off upon reading...I do bloody love Muse.

You lie!!! you hate Muse, just admit it..

Heretic!!!! Burn him!!


Nah, you raise some valid points. I totally agree with you about "the jamming band" vs the "awe inspiring band". Ideally, Muse would (perhaps in their older years) move towards being a bit more experimental onstage, but if they did they risk alienating a large part of their fan base.

Muse= Best band in the world, ever.
Grand Omega Bosses= Best Muse song