There was a Ninja, some woman with green hair named Gertrude, probably my sister Vengeance, and Lord Skywalker. You know. The one that likes to snorkle.) colabed on a story! Justice sets aside his muse to give his musings on a music band that people mustn’t miss. Patreon Reward for TheGreatEater. · 1:54am Nov 13th, 2018
Heya, folks!
Well, not that my illness is mostly something I’ve run over and have left in the review mirror like a freshly smashed into dimension hopping telephone booth and rental store out in the middle of nowhere—
That’s right… Making references right out of the gate.
—I figured I’d take this opportunity to soak up one of the freebie blog rewards I’ve been accumulating courtesy of TheGreatEater. I have a few ideas rolling around my brain, but because a an album came out that I keep listening to from a band that I love that I won’t shut up about, I figured I’d spread the good word of a post-grunge, permanent wave band that has absolutely no problem making political and social commentary in their music as well as doing a damn good Queen impression. If for some reason you haven’t picked up on all the hints or just are completely blind to these subgenres of music, I’m of course talking about the band Rocket Baby Doll
Bam! Second reference! and I’m not even out of the opening paragraph.
Seriously though, everyone should at least try listening to some Muse. There are probably quite a few good reasons I could give, but I think a good one that’s hard to argue with is despite the fact that the band routinely churns out Platinum award-winning albums, pretty much their entire song catalog is available for free on youtube through their official channel.
Go ahead and check out some songs if it feels like you’re reading about some fictional band I made up in an over-medicated induced fever dream (sadly, I’ve only had like one of these over the last month and a half.) However, speaking of things that might have been made on drugs, there’s a better than not chance you’ve heard this song of theirs:
About the most unkind thing I can say about them is maybe don’t start with Showbiz, their first album. This one certainly feels like they're still figuring out their sound a bit, but I personally think they nail it down in the second one. Also, Youtube is telling me PewDiePie is a related channel? I mean, I’d have trouble believing that’s not some sort of attempt by Muse’s political enemies to discredit them somehow, but that also means I’d have to assume these people are both hip enough to know about Muse and tech-savvy enough to spoof what I imagine is an algorithm based on related likes.
Also, going to count the above as yet another reference to Simulation Theory because I’m feeling particularly rebellious.
On the nicer side, they’re a band that’s constantly exploring new directions to take its sound while staying true to their overall tone, which is a pretty hard thing to do. Stray too far and you have an album-title-that’s-probably-too-soon-to-bring-up (hint: if I owned a stove-top hat to go with my long beard, I’d probably wear it at the park). On the other hand, keeping with the same sound time and time again can get stale and makes it hard to devour entire discographies, like… (scans Chrome for tabs that have been open for literal months) Jimmy Eat World.
I’m sure some music critics would probably disagree that Muse hit the mark with their latest album, some saying they mislike the fact that Muse’s (intentionally riffing off 80s culture and bands) newest album is too poppy in places and could use an orchestra in places (they got a marching band and it’s transcendent, you trog!). I bet these reviewers just looooove Metallica’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.
Yeah, I said it!
Seriously though… Death Magnetic? Good album.
Anyhow, my final point is that Muse has been making good music for nigh-on two decades at this point. That’s a good reason to plug in, baby.
Okay, I’ll stop… for now.
Alright, thanks to TheGreatEater for just letting me do whateves for his Patreon rewards. Stay tuned for more of whatever I want to talk about and a bunch of what other peeps want me to talk about if I can keep my act together this month.
This post let me listen to Knights of Cydonia, so it's a good post. :)
(I also like Plug in Baby.)
I like Showbiz though. I agree it isn't a good introduction, but Muscle Museum, Showbiz and Overdue (though here the 1998 version is better imo) are some of my favourites.
That is my all time favorite Muse Song. It's good to see your amazing tastes spread to not just Best Princess and co. And you're welcome ^_^.
Death Magnetic was an album I deleted after it wasn't worth what I paid for it. And that was the one they gave away for free.
4972142
I actually thought it was a pretty good blend of their original sound with the black album, load, and reload stuff. Where's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct was kind of a boring slurry of their different sounds.
4972147 It felt like they were writing the songs the fans wanted them to write, with The Day That Never Comes being a One copy, with yet another Unforgiven etc, rather than the stuff they actually wanted to write like St. Anger and Lulu. Both of which were bad for very different reasons, of course. But I think they've pretty much lost it now, too far removed from everything. I haven't even bothered with Hardwired; Lulu was the last straw!
I really liked some of the Load/Reload-era stuff; all those tracks sounded amazing on S & M.