
Muse are a multi award-winning English
alternative rock band that formed in
Teignmouth,
Devon in 1994. Since its inception, the band has comprised vocalist, guitarist and pianist
Matthew Bellamy; bassist and backing vocalist
Christopher Wolstenholme; and drummer
Dominic Howard. Muse are known for their energetic and extravagant live performances
[1][2][3][4] and their fusion of many
music genres, including
progressive rock,
classical music and
electronica.
[5]Muse have released five studio albums –
Showbiz (1999);
Origin of Symmetry (2001);
Absolution (2003);
Black Holes and Revelations (2006), which earned the band a
Mercury Prize nomination and a third place finish in the
NME Albums of the Year list for 2006;
[6] and
The Resistance (2009). Muse have won
many other music awards throughout their career, including five
MTV Europe Music Awards, five
Q Awards, six
NME Awards, two
BRIT awards and four
Kerrang! Awards. The majority of these awards have been attributed to their live performances.
Muse have been involved with
Teenage Cancer Trust and have performed at the
Royal Albert Hall where they donated all money made from the merchandise stands to the charity. On the 25th of September 2008 all three members of the band were awarded
Honorary Doctorates of the Arts by Plymouth University.
Formation and early years (1992–1997)
The members of Muse played in separate bands during their stay at
Teignmouth Community College and
Coombeshead College in the early 1990s, but soon the formation of Muse began when Bellamy successfully auditioned for the part of guitarist in Dominic Howard's band. They asked Chris Wolstenholme, who played drums at the time, to learn to play bass guitar for the band. Wolstenholme agreed and took up lessons.
In 1994 the band used the name Rocket Baby Dolls with a goth/glam image to compete in a local
battle of the bands. The band won the contest, smashing their equipment in the process.
"It was supposed to be a protest, a statement," Bellamy said, "so, when we actually won, it was a real shock. A massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." Shortly after the contest, the three decided to forget university, quit their jobs, change the band name to Muse, and move away from Teignmouth.
[
edit] Black Holes and Revelations and HAARP (2006–2008)
In July 2006, Muse released their fourth album, co-produced by Muse and by Rich Costey, titled
Black Holes and Revelations. The album was released officially in Japan on 28 June 2006, in Europe on 3 July 2006 and, in North America on 11 July 2006. The album charted at No. 1 in the UK, much of Europe, and Australia. It was also a success in the United States, reaching number nine on the
Billboard 200 album chart.
[23] Black Holes and Revelations was nominated for the 2006
Mercury Music Prize, but lost to
Arctic Monkeys. The album did, however, earn a
Platinum Europe Award after selling one million copies in the continent.
[24] The album's title and themes are the result of the band's fascination with science fiction and political outrage.
[25][26] In August 2006, Muse recorded a live session at
Abbey Road Studios for
Live from Abbey Road.
The first single from the album, "
Supermassive Black Hole", was released as a download on 9 May 2006 and accompanied by a music video directed by
Floria Sigismondi. It was later followed by general releases as a single the next month, all ahead of the main album release. The second single, "
Starlight", was released on 4 September 2006. "
Knights of Cydonia" was released in the U. S. as a radio-only single on 13 June 2006 and in the UK on 27 November 2006. It also had a six-minute promotional video filmed in
Romania and was featured on the popular video game
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It was also voted number 1 in the world's largest music poll Australian Radio's
Triple J Hottest 100 for 2007 and 18th in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. The fourth single from the album, "
Invincible", was then released on 9 April 2007.
[27] Another single, "
Map of the Problematique", was released for digital download only on 18 June 2007, following the band's performance at Wembley Stadium.
[
edit] The Resistance (2009–present)
Main article:
The Resistance (album)The Resistance was released on 11 September in Italy, Germany and Australia and the Benelux, 14 September in the UK, and 15 September in the U.S. and Canada. It is the first Muse album to have been produced by the band themselves. The album was mixed by
Mark Stent [43]On its release, it topped the album charts in 19 countries and reached number 3 on the American album chart. It also beat its predecessor, Black Holes and Revelations, in relative album sales in its debut week in the UK with approximately 148,000 copies sold.
[44] The first single "
Uprising" was released 7 days earlier.
[45]On 2 June 2009, the band announced through e-mails and their website that they would begin a tour of Europe and the UK, beginning on 22 October 2009, at
Hartwall Arena, Finland, and ending on 4 December, at Pala Olimpico, Turin, Italy, and including two nights at London's
O2 Arena. A full list of tour dates can be found at their official website.
[46] This tour had completely sold out their UK 95,000 allocated tickets within minutes from the general sale at 9 a.m. on 5 June.
On 14 July 2009, it was announced that the band will play their first televised United States performance at the
MTV Video Music Awards on 13 September 2009, performing "Uprising".
The song "United States of Eurasia" is available for download along with Collateral Damage at the official Muse website.[The song was unlocked after a worldwide treasure hunt, 'Project Eurasia', consisting of USB keys with song data hidden in seven major cities: Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York. Each of the first six USB flash drives contained 1/6 of the song, which was uploaded to the Muse website once it was found. Until the last New York flash drive was found users could only listen to the song on the site, and were unable to download it. After the data from the New York flash drive was uploaded, the song was made available as a free download.
Zane Lowe played approximately 36 seconds of "Uprising" on 28 July 2009, ahead of its first full airplay on 3 August 2009 at 7:30 pm [BST]. This was the only clip made available to Radio 1 at the time. On 3 and 4 August, several radio stations aired "Uprising".
The band played live for the first time since recording, at two special homecoming gigs on a specially erected stage on the Den, a grassy area in Teignmouth, Devon, on 4 and 5 September 2009; dubbed '
A Seaside Rendezvous', where 30,000 more people turned up than bought tickets.
The
East Coast of the U.S will get a big introduction to Muse when they open for
U2 360° Tour 23 September to 14 October, 2009.
[50] This portion of the tour will include
New York City,
Washington, D.C.,
Charlottesville (VA),
Raleigh (NC),
Atlanta,
Tampa (FL),
Dallas and
Houston.
They have been confirmed as headliners for the
Big Day Out Australian Music Festival. This will be part of their outdoor tour to take place throughout 2010. The band are also confirmed to play at the
Stade de France, in
Paris, the biggest French stadium, on 12 June 2010. There are many rumours of a proposed return to
Wembley Stadium, where the band last played to 180,000 fans over two nights on 16 & 17 June 2007. There are also strong rumours that the band will play at the
Reading Festival and
Leeds Festival in
England in August of 2010 after
Melvin Benn, the organiser of both festivals disclosed to British newspaper
The Daily Telegraph that
Festival Republic were close to striking a deal with the band.
In the "Breakfast with Muse Concert"
KROQ held, Muse was asked how long they would be on tour. They commented saying in a paraphrase, "We will probably be touring until the end of next year. We will be doing this
U2 and
European tour and ship off to
Australia and
Asia and return for an extensive
US tour. It will actually be our longest US tour to date. Starting at about the end of February or March."