Have 'Muse' lost their way?
Discussion
Having heard two Muse songs on the radio today, one recent and one from a few years back, it occured to me that they seem to have lost their way recently (or at least dramatically changed their style/sound/direction to one that I don't like).
I used to be quite fond of the group, and thought 'Plug in baby' and 'Hysteria' were great songs, full of energy with catchy riffs. Supermassive black hole was OK but it seemed to go wrong soon after, and what they have been churning out since has been dreary and weak, and even sounding very similar in places (For example this sounds quite similar to this).
Am I alone in my view or does anyone else feel the same?
I used to be quite fond of the group, and thought 'Plug in baby' and 'Hysteria' were great songs, full of energy with catchy riffs. Supermassive black hole was OK but it seemed to go wrong soon after, and what they have been churning out since has been dreary and weak, and even sounding very similar in places (For example this sounds quite similar to this).
Am I alone in my view or does anyone else feel the same?
Dunno - last album had a couple of crackers on there. Uprising is certainly on form. The thing with Muse is that they change their style every album, so you've no idea what'll come next. I'm hoping they step away from the pomp rock stuff and move either into more classical or more hard rock stuff again. Absolution remains definitive imho.
Yes, I think they need to go a bit back to basics rather than getting ever more ambitious - as this comes off as pretentious. I liked a couple of tracks on the last album, and the symphony thing was pretty good. I hated the Queen-like ones though and this new track on the Twilight soundtrack is just stale.
Supposedly amazing live and stole the show at T in the Park and Oxegen, but what they have released lately is dire.
Stupid bands changing their direction and finding out that that direction sucks. If people like you for what you are dont change FFS.
See Linkin Park, Greenday and Aldous Snow, African Child? What was he thinking?
Are there any well established bands that have dramatically changed and been better for it?
Stupid bands changing their direction and finding out that that direction sucks. If people like you for what you are dont change FFS.
See Linkin Park, Greenday and Aldous Snow, African Child? What was he thinking?
Are there any well established bands that have dramatically changed and been better for it?
Silverbullet767 said:
Absolutely not, if you had seen them on Friday at T in the park, you would have realised how good they are. I was in the golden circle and they were brilliant. Fantastic live, as ever.
I don't doubt they can still perform live, and I'm sure (even if they were having an off day performance wise) a live performance of Hysteria would still be amazing, but it was the song-writing direction I was referring to when I suggested they have lost their way.I don't suppose the crowd were going crazy when 'Invincible' came on (did that even make it to the set list?)
Mr Dave said:
Supposedly amazing live and stole the show at T in the Park and Oxegen, but what they have released lately is dire.
That sounds about right.Yes.
I have original Cave/muscle museum CD singles and a few other early bits and loved their early stuff from the first couple of albums. What they're doing now just seems to have gone a bit too far into over-dramatic prog-rock over produced weirdness. Not a big fan.
Still like them as a band but I think Matt Bellamy is better than the stuff he's currently writing.
I have original Cave/muscle museum CD singles and a few other early bits and loved their early stuff from the first couple of albums. What they're doing now just seems to have gone a bit too far into over-dramatic prog-rock over produced weirdness. Not a big fan.
Still like them as a band but I think Matt Bellamy is better than the stuff he's currently writing.
Mr Dave said:
Are there any well established bands that have dramatically changed and been better for it?
Well the best example is Radiohead. They have continually developed their sound, the big change being the OK Computer album.Another - older and more obvious - example is the Beatles. Their late albums are nothing like their early ones.
I could go on... Queen, The Police, etc.
I think the Muse problem is less about change of direction, but more about rushing an album out without going through the same creative process that led to their earlier efforts.
Hub said:
Yes, I think they need to go a bit back to basics rather than getting ever more ambitious - as this comes off as pretentious. I liked a couple of tracks on the last album, and the symphony thing was pretty good. I hated the Queen-like ones though and this new track on the Twilight soundtrack is just stale.
Couldn't agree more, as a whole the Eclipse soundtrack is actually pretty good - the Muse track feels like a real low point on it!EdJ said:
Well the best example is Radiohead. They have continually developed their sound, the big change being the OK Computer album.
Couldn't agree more, my favourite band by a long way (unless Morrissey & Marr sorted it out!) and the band Muse probably wanted to be early on in their career.Everyone I speak to says they are fantastic live but since Absolution (which is a cracker of an album) they have left me a bit cold with the Prog Rock/Queen type stuff. Each to their own though and I'd stil go and see em if only to see 'Time is Running Out'
The new album is, different. I think the strong tracks make up for the weak ones, Unnatural Selection, MK Ultra, and the whole exogenesis symphony make up for the songs like Guiding Light and Undisclosed Desires.
I am a bit biased as Muse are my favourite band by a mile. I love how in the new album they've managed to write songs about very interesting (conspiracy) theories, such as Eurasia being based on the 'Grand Chessboard' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski) - and MK Ultra about, well, MK Ultra. Also a lot of the album is based on 1984, which is an awesome book. But with this album it really shows that Matt has kind of gone mental (in writing it he read the world was going to end, so he ran out of his house and bought an axe and 50 tins of beans, mental.)
The thing is every album is so different, and I honestly can't say which is my favourite. Although if when I see them in September and they play some Showbiz stuff that would be perfect.
In an interview they said that next year they will start work on a new album. Who knows what direction they'll take it in this time.
Oh, and as for Neutron Star Collision, I actually thought they had sold out, writing a song for Twilight, but when I found out that Matt actually wrote it after he broke up with his fiancée, and the true meaning of the song, it makes it a lot better, kind of reminds me of Showbiz stuff.
Oh, and at TITP they were mind blowing, wish they had played Citizen Erased though!
I am a bit biased as Muse are my favourite band by a mile. I love how in the new album they've managed to write songs about very interesting (conspiracy) theories, such as Eurasia being based on the 'Grand Chessboard' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski) - and MK Ultra about, well, MK Ultra. Also a lot of the album is based on 1984, which is an awesome book. But with this album it really shows that Matt has kind of gone mental (in writing it he read the world was going to end, so he ran out of his house and bought an axe and 50 tins of beans, mental.)
The thing is every album is so different, and I honestly can't say which is my favourite. Although if when I see them in September and they play some Showbiz stuff that would be perfect.
In an interview they said that next year they will start work on a new album. Who knows what direction they'll take it in this time.
Oh, and as for Neutron Star Collision, I actually thought they had sold out, writing a song for Twilight, but when I found out that Matt actually wrote it after he broke up with his fiancée, and the true meaning of the song, it makes it a lot better, kind of reminds me of Showbiz stuff.
Oh, and at TITP they were mind blowing, wish they had played Citizen Erased though!
timlongs said:
Oh, and as for Neutron Star Collision, I actually thought they had sold out, writing a song for Twilight, but when I found out that Matt actually wrote it after he broke up with his fiancée, and the true meaning of the song, it makes it a lot better, kind of reminds me of Showbiz stuff.
I didn't know that.. probably explains why it comes across to me as dreary tbh. Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff