MUSE

Muse (band)
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Muse

Muse, from left to right: Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard, and Christopher Wolstenholme.

Background information
Place of birth
Teignmouth, Devon, United Kingdom
Type(s) of music
Alternative rockProgressive rock
Years active
1994 – present
Label(s)
Warner Bros. RecordsTaste MediaMushroomHelium3
Website
Muse.mu
Members
Matthew BellamyChristopher WolstenholmeDominic Howard
Muse are an English Alternative rock band. They formed in Teignmouth in 1994. There are three members: Matthew Bellamy (Guitar, Piano, Vocals), Chris Wolstenholme (Bass and background vocals) and Dominic Howard (Drums). They're sub-classified as mainly Progressive rock, and play music with melody and fast tempo, but they play many other styles of music too, especially on their older albums like Showbiz. Their latest albums, Black Holes and Revelations and Absolution, have been successful in the US, UK and most western countries of the world.
Contents[hide]

1 History
1.1 Creation and early EPs
1.2 Showbiz
1.3 Origin of Symmetry
1.4 Absolution
1.5 Black Holes & Revelations
1.6 The Resistance
2 References
3 Other websites
//

History

Creation and early EPs
Matthew Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard grew up in a small town called Teignmouth in Devon. They were bored there, so they started playing music together. When they were 13 years old, they made a band called Gothic Plague. The band was later called Fixed penalty, and then Rocket Baby Dolls. In 1994, while they were called Rocket Baby Dolls, they won a Battle of the Bands competition. During this competition, they broke their instruments, but still won.[1] In 1997 they chose the name Muse.[2] Muse's members did not like Teignmouth. In an interview in 1999 Bellamy said that it was full of people who took drugs, and that it was like a "living hell".[3]
Muse left Teignmouth and met producer Dennis Smith. He liked their work and offered them a contract with his record label, Dangerous Records. Muse released their first EP called Muse in 1997. The band went to more band competitions and won several.[4] In 1998 they released their second EP, Muscle Museum.[2] The EP was popular, and Muse toured around Europe and Australia.[5][6]

Showbiz
Muscle Museum was popular enough to get Muse a record contract with Maverick Records in the United States.[2] The band started to work on a new album. They already had eighty songs written, but they wrote new ones for their next album. The other songs they used were already on their EPs.[7] Muse worked with producer John Leckie, who produced Radiohead's album, The Bends.[8]
Muse's first album, Showbiz, came out in 1999. In the United States, Maverick used a large advertising campaign to make Muse more popular.[9] Muse were already popular in the UK, and NME said they were "the first great British guitar band of the 21st century".[10] US magazine Rolling Stone said Showbiz sounded a lot like Radiohead. Matthew Bellamy didn't like that comparison, but people would still compare Muse and Radiohead in the future.[11][12] Other reviewers said the band had a lot of potential after listening to Showbiz.[13]

Origin of Symmetry
In the year 2000, Muse toured a lot to promote Showbiz. The highlight of the tour was touring with Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters.[14] The band played at over 50 music festivals in Europe, and several in Japan. While they were touring, the band recorded some songs for their next album. In January 2001, they started working on the rest with producer John Leckie, in Peter Gabriele's studio.[15]
Muse began touring again in May 2001, after finishing the album. They had not released it, but Bellamy told BBC he thought the best way to promote it was to play live music. The band's second album, Origin of Symmetry, was released in June 2001 in the UK.[16] However, it was only released in North America in 2005.[17] The album did not do well on charts, but was popular with critics. NME praised the album for the songs on it being very loud and angry.[18] Allmusic said the album was very loud and sometimes ridiculous because of the instruments and riffs used on it, but that it was still very good.[19]
Nescafé used the song "Feeling Good" from Origin of Symmetry (which was a cover of a Nina Simone song) in an advertisement once. Muse sued Nescafé because they did not agree with how the company did business. They received money from Nescafé after suing and donated it to Oxfam.[20] Muse almost sued Celine Dion when she tried to use the name Muse as the title of a performance in Las Vegas.[21]

Absolution
Muse's third album was recorded in many studios in places including London and Los Angeles. The band were very committed to making music; in the recording sessions for their older albums, they had wasted more time.[22] Muse started work in September 2003 with producer Paul Reeve, but they could not make many songs they liked. They took a break for Christmas, and then changed their producer to Rich Costey. Most of the album was recorded in 2004.[23] The album's themes included politics, death, and the Apocalypse.[24][25] The guitar performances on the new album were simpler than on Origin of Symmetry. Bellamy used on brand of guitar for the whole album, and this gave an "immense" sound according to Total Guitar magazine.[23]
To promote Absolution, Muse toured around the UK and North America. During their first show in the United States, in Atlanta, Bellamy injured his mouth by accidentally hitting himself with his guitar, and needed stitches.[26] The band had to cancel several shows, but kept going with the tour.[27] Muse played at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2004. After the concert, they said it was "the best gig of our lives".[28] Shortly after the show, however, Howard's father died. While they were very said that he died, Bellamy said they were happy that Howard's father had been at the concert and had seen the band's "finest moment".[28] In 2005, Muse played four songs at Live 8.

Black Holes & Revelations
In January 2005 Muse finished their world tour with two big concerts in London. Bellamy said they wanted to make new music after this, but they also wanted to tour the US again, because they became popular there for the first time. Costey produced the band's new album, like he did for Absolution.[29] The band recorded their fourth album, Black Holes & Revelations, in a château in the countryside of France, because they didn't want to be distracted. However, they still recorded the album very slowly.[30]

The Resistance
By February 2, 2009, Muse had started recording songs for their new album. In an interview, Bellamy said that the album is "all very orchestral," and would sound similar to classical music.[31]
On March 24, 2009, Muse's website said that the band would be going on tour after the album is released. They said that they would go to France on this tour, and have two concerts in London. On July 2, 2009, the band said that the tour was to start in Finland on October 22, 2009. They also said that the tour would end on December 4, 2009, in Italy. The 95,000 tickets went on sale at 9:00 am on June 5. They were sold out within minutes.[32]
On May 22, 2009, the website said that the album would be called The Resistance. It also said that one of the songs would be called "United States of Eurasia".[33][34]
On June 16, 2009, the band's website said that the album would be released on September 14, 2009.
On July 3, 2009, the band's Twitter account released the names of the songs on the album. The following song names were released:
1. Uprising2. Resistance3. Undisclosed Desires4. The United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)5. Guiding Light6. Unnatural Selection7. MK Ultra8. I Belong to You (+Mon Coeur S'Ouvre A Ta Voix)9. Exogenesis : Symphony Part I (Overture)10. Exogenesis: Symphony Part II (Cross Pollination)11. Exogenesis: Symphony Part III (Redemption)